I’m not sure what is it with HP recently, making products (or at least their product and order pages) available first before an actual announcement. But regardless, they’ve just come out with a new Touchsmart-like (similar form factor with no touchscreen here), budget net-top computer – the Compaq CQ1. The CQ1 may look a whole lot like the more expensive Touchsmart PC’s in terms of design but their similarities end there. The CQ1 has a 18.5 inch non-touch display, a dual core Intel Atom processor, 2 DDR2 RAM slots, runs Windows XP (what year are we living in again?) and has a relatively affordable starting price of $430. The CQ1 also sports its fair share of ports and a slot-loading optical drive.
I suddenly had the urge to watch Pirates of the Caribbean yesterday in full HD, I’m not sure why (but nevermind that) – perfect, I thought, to try it out on my newly acquired HP Mini 5101. I booted up the Mini’s trusty, musty Windows XP system and opened the movie in VLC. While the movie’s surround sound was mind blowing, it was no better than if a radio station tried to play a movie – if you know what I mean: No video. Yes, audio plays back well but without video. Gahh… anyone know of any software that plays 1080p movies on a graphic-less Intel Atom N280 system?
On a side note, I know a few friends who just received their Mini 5101′s, some with unresponsive/faulty keyboards – any Mini 5101 owners out there with faulty/unresponsive keyboards or Mini 5101′s with stuck keys? Well, my copy works fine, so the issue seems to affect only certain units.
I’ve had the HP Mini 5101 for almost 48 hours now and so far my impressions of it are very positive. I thought I’d post my initial feelings about the Mini 5101 now (I’m using Windows XP on it since it turns out Windows 7 64-bit can’t run on Intel Atom. I’ll have to get hold of a copy of Windows 7 32-bit RTM next week). I’ve brought it out and about with me for the past two days, and I’m absolutely thrilled at almost everything it has to offer.
Things I love about the HP Mini 5101 (this comes from me, a HP Mini 2133 user for almost 18 months now):
- Design – the Mini 5101 looks exactly like a mini-me version of the HP ProBook series, from the exterior design down to fine things like the touchpad and color of its status lights. The Mini 5101 looks very business-like and its non-flashy, very un-conspicuous design is an attraction on its own. I had friends asking me “is that a new phone inside that HP box” – alright, so with its lid closed, the Mini 5101 looks like a pretty little box (you know, like the one’s they used to ship the Voodoo Envy 133 in) – not exactly a bad thing since it brings in the right kind of attraction. Build quality is excellent – it’s metal case feels solid (unlike some of the plasticky-ProBooks).
- Keyboard – Yes, this has got to be the biggest feature that everyone’s after in the Mini 5101. The chiclet keyboard (95% full-size I believe) is the best thing that I’ve EVER used in a while, and easy the best in the ‘netbook’ class/market. Not only are the individual keys nicely sized and well-spaced, they have a soft rubber-like feel and give very good tactile/click feedback. For the last two days, I’ve been hard-pressed trying to decide whether to type out some reports on the Mini 5101 because of its nice keyboard, or on the dv4 because of the larger screen – that’s how good the keyboard is and I’m not exaggerating (I recommend anyone to go out to your nearest computer store and try typing a few blog posts or something on the Mini 5101*)
*I’m not liable for any sudden urges to snap out that wallet to buy a HP Mini 5101 after your experience
- Matte screen – The second best thing on the HP Mini 5101 after the nice keyboard. It seems forever that I’ve been waiting for netbooks to have matte screens and finally, here’s one that does! I won’t deny – I’m a matte-screen purist (hey, I started out young) and I want all the non-glossy, non-reflective, great visibility goodness that I can find. Here’s my reasoning: Matte screen’s non-glare nature = Ability to turn down brightness while still being able to view the screen = Extended battery life. Oh, did I mention I’m a big fan of long battery life as well? I do have one issue with the Mini 5101′s screen but it’s not really HP’s fault… more on that later.
- Touchpad buttons – The re-location of the touchpad buttons to the more ‘traditional’, below-touchpad position was/is touted by many as yet another improvement that edges the Mini 5101 closer to being the ‘perfect netbook’. I think that statement is kind of overrated as I have no problems, even now, with the ‘side’ touchpad buttons of the Mini 2133. The REAL improvement here is the ‘button click’ feeling of the touchpad buttons – still tactile as ever, but requiring less pressure than on the Mini 2133 to register a click. The touchpad lock feature is missing from the Mini 5101 but I have yet to find that an issue, as of the 5634 words I’ve typed on the Mini 5101.
- Light-weight and battery design – Being a HP Mini 2133 owner has its benefits (sort of): I was able to directly compare both the Mini 2133 and Mini 5101 in terms of weight and the Mini 5101 is noticeably lighter! Not that the Mini 2133 is a burden to carry but if HP could maintain the solid build quality on the Mini 5101 while making it lighter, who wouldn’t take it? The 4-cell battery I have sits flush with the Mini, so fitting the 5101 into my bag is much easier a task now. I’ve seen (but wasn’t given) the 6-cell battery and it sticks out less, and not as awkwardly, compared to the 2133/2140.
- Battery life – I received the 4-cell battery for my copy of the Mini 5101 and so far, I’ve ran it through two full discharge cycles. Battery life is very good as far as I can tell – the first charge lasted 3+ hours with moderate screen brightness and a few minutes of music while the second charge lasted almost 4 hours of internet surfing at moderate brightness. HP says the 6-cell battery will power the Mini 5101 for twice as long, but I’ve yet to try out the 6-cell.
Right, I have a few issues with the Mini 5101 I received (yes, I’m picky) but they are fairly minor problems and most of them are fixable:
- Low resolution LCD (fixable) – Since beggars can’t be choosers, the Mini 5101 I got has a 1024 x 600 screen which is noticeably lower in resolution and fits in less ‘lines’ than my Mini 2133′s 1280 x 768 screen. HP offers a ‘HD upgrade’ for the Mini 5101 (which, of course, costs extra) which will give you a boost to 1366 x 768.
- Windows XP (fixable) – I have been a Windows Vista user for a few years now since it became official and have never looked back. Going back to Windows XP is just… ugh, going backwards, for me. I can’t do ‘Aero’ previews of open windows, I can’t just type in a name when I open the Start menu to find a program, and suddenly file management in Windows Explorer and updating Windows is a challenge, etc. I’ll be going on and on, all day, if I were to continue with my rants about Windows XP since I moved to Vista… but the point is, I’ll be slapping on Windows 7 ASAP on the Mini as soon as I can a hold of the 32-bit edition.
- Glossy trackpad/touchpad – this is one thing that is UNFIXABLE. The HP Mini 5101 is unbelievably sexy (for a computer) and its clean, simple lines are just so good looking… no sign of gloss or bling anywhere until you reach the touchpad. The Mini 5101 makes me wonder why HP couldn’t have just put one of the Elitebook-style trackpads instead of the glossy one they have now. The HP Mini 5101′s touchpad is both glossy and it picks up (& shows) fingerprints fast.
- Quick Launch buttons – the HP Mini 5101 has two physical Quick Launch buttons which start up your default browser and e-mail client respectively. On one hand, I love the ability to instantly launch Firefox in just one press. On the other, if you already have an instance of Firefox open, pressing the Quick Launch button will NOT open another browser – instead it brings you back to your homepage *slaps own forehead*. And since I’m not some busy businessman, neither do I need to use a dedicated mail client on a netbook (I just use webmail and leave Outlook to my dv4), the second Quick Launch button is completely useless to me – I’d love it if we (users) could customize the functions of the two QL buttons. Firmware update, anyone?
- Direct-access function buttons – The HP Mini 5101 has ‘direct access’ Function buttons, like on the Envy 13 and Envy 15 (and Apple Macbooks too). That means the “F” function has been relegated to a secondary position while another feature takes its place (such as volume up/down, mute, screen brightness up/down). That means in order for the Mini to register “F5″, you’ll have to hold the “Fn” and “F5″ keys together. Sadly, the Sleep function is located on the F5 key and I accidentally put the system into standby a few times when I meant to refresh a browser page.
See, not so bad, right? More on the Mini 5101 experience as I continue to use it in the coming weeks.
As for the title of this post, means I won’t be sending my Mini 2133 into retirement (AKA send it back) yet, not till I get a Mini 5101 with the high-res screen option and 6 cell battery.
