HP Fansite

I love this Elitebook!!

Netbook? Who needs a netbook when you can have THIS! The HP Elitebook 2530p blows away literally any netbook in the market, looking utterly stylish (sexy?) while at it. Of course, such greatness comes at a price – you could buy several netbooks with the price of just ONE Elitebook.

Still, that won’t stop me from comparing the Elitebook 2530p to my humble Mini 2133 and the 2140… (excuse the tiny wireless mouse dongle connected to the Elitebook in the picture above)

The Elitebook 2530p is wider and slightly longer than the HP Mini 2133/Mini 2140. I’d gladly carry a slightly larger bag if I owned one though! Oh, naturally the Elitebook 2530p is about 300 grams heavier than the Mini 2140 but the weight difference wasn’t too significant though.

In terms of thickness, the Elitebook 2530p is a wee bit slimmer than the Mini 2133/Mini 2140. HP says the Elitebook 2530p is 25.2 mm thin while the Mini 2140 is 26.7 mm thin. Put on the Mini 2133/2140′s 6 cell extended battery and it becomes a different story – I like the Elitebook 2530p’s 6 cell battery which sticks out the back of the notebook, as opposed to the Mini’s 6 cell battery which extends downwards so you have a thick bulge at the back that makes the notebook hard to store.

One other thing is that the Elitebook 2530p’s keyboard is about the same size as the one on the HP Mini’s except the arrow keys are larger on the Elitebook while its function keys at the top row are a tad smaller. The Elitebook 2530p also has dedicated Page Up and Page Down keys, something I appreciate a lot. Well, that’s all for today, the Elitebook 2530p is perfect for what it is and dare I say, flawless… with the exception of price and the fact I can’t keep it =( , of course.

HP Mini 2140: Where are the speakers?!!

When I first saw the HP Mini 2140 with the bigger screen, and naturally, reduced bezel around it, I wondered to myself “Just where did the speakers go?”. From the initial press pictures and “virtual demo” on Hewlett Packard’s website, I couldn’t see the speakers in ANY of the press photos at all. And apparently, many of our readers’ enquiring minds wanted to know as well…

Thankfully, a HP Mini 2140 dropped into my hands about an hour after the official announcement and as soon as it did, I inspected the entire netbook for the speakers… just about everything, down to the arrangement of the various connectivity ports, was the same as on the Mini 2133. I lifted the Mini 2140 up (making it activate the 3D Drive Guard HDD protection system) but no speakers underneath either.

Within minutes of posting my hands on with the HP Mini 2140, my Outlook account became swamped with emails from people asking (and demanding to know) “where are the Mini 2140′s speakers?”.

Alright, enough with the suspense, the HP Mini 2140′s speakers are located just below its 10 inch screen – in the gap between the screen and battery so it’s not really visible (See the blue arrow in the picture above). Rest assured, there are TWO speakers (for those who cannot live without stereo sound).

Sound quality of the HP Mini 2140′s speakers were very good – I’ve played some movies and several albums of music on this netbook already. The speakers here are louder than most other netbooks; louder than its predecessor Mini 2133 even! The secret behind this is probably the speaker placement which I just mentioned – which allows the sound to be “bounced” off the battery to the screen to you (this also seems to give the sound more ‘depth’)… or maybe HP just put in better speakers in the Mini 2140.

Something worthy of note is that the HP Mini 2133 and HP Mini 2140 have speakers which are sensibly and strategically place; which aren’t blocked by anything. Most netbooks have their speakers in odd places, like on the underside of the netbook, which tends to muffle sound… yuck.

However, left-right stereo separation on the Mini 2140 is less noticeable compared to the HP Mini 2133 (Whose speakers were placed on the extreme edges of the screen). This shouldn’t be an issue for most people… if you want good and very noticeable stereo separation, you probably should be using headphones anyway, instead of your netbook’s built-in speakers.

Hey look, HP Mini 2140 hands on!

My hands on the HP Mini 2140 that is! For those who are thinking “huh? you mean Mini 2133″, HP just announced the successor to the 2133 last night, and it’s called the HP Mini 2140. From far, it looks just like the Mini 2133, but look closely and you’ll spot a couple of design differences in some areas as well as a larger, higher-resolution (yes!!) 10 inch LCD. Under the hood, the Mini 2140 packs Intel’s 1.6 GHz Atom processor like other netbooks (versus a VIA processor in the 2133).

Of course THIS IS THE (unofficial) HP FANSITE and I’ve got some hands on photos of the Mini 2140! I’m also glad to report that the HP Mini 2140 runs a LOT cooler than its VIA-processor sibling, the 2133.

I know these aren’t the best photos in the world, but hey, I’ve barely spent a few hours with the Mini 2140.

Look, it’s the HP Mini 2140! (Left: HP Mini 2133, right: HP Mini 2140) Note the screen size difference.

Probably one of the factors that contributes to the HP Mini 2140 being “cooler” than the Mini 2133, besides the obvious processor difference, is the new air vent design. The Mini 2140 (bottom) lacks the additional grills, which probably reduce air flow, found on the Mini 2133 (top).

There’s also some differences on the underside of the netbook – a whole lot more vents (apparently, the white sticker on the upper right side is covering another big airvent). Mini 2133 on the left, Mini 2140 on the right. Oh, and for those who are curious, the new HP Mini 2140 uses the exact same 3-cell and 6-cell battery units as the Mini 2133 (great news for those existing owners planning for an upgrade).

You can see over here how there’s less bezel and more screen on the HP Mini 2140 (Mini 2133 on left, Mini 2140 on right).