Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Good things come in small packages!

In case you didnt know it already, I am gadget queen. I love technology! My newest acquisition is this mini laptop from HP appropriately called HP MINI



How cute is this? But other than the cuteness factor I bought it for a reason. I travel a lot and because I like to be connected when I do, I always carry my laptop but its not always convenient to carry it with me. Not to mention risk losing it.

This little beauty is perfect for travel! When I saw it in Costco, I did a quick price comparison on my Blackberry and before I knew it, the mini came home with me.

But wait, before you go out and splurge on this little beauty, here are some tips to
figure out if this is the right choice for you.

There are a lot of mini laptops available these days. Check the computer configuration before buying.

Mine has:

1 GB RAM, 60 GB Hard Drive, Intel Processor, Wireless Card built in. That's the geeky stuff. If you don't foresee yourself using too many things at once 512 RAM is good enough but 1 GB is better. I have 4GB on my regular laptop and sometimes even that is not enough ;-)

It has 2 USB ports, an SD card reader (to transfer your photos directly to your laptop, a webcam built it (although its not very good). It doesn't have bluetooth but can be added if needed later on. For me BT is not a big deal so it didn't bother me.

Pros
1. Very lightweight. This weighs only about 2 lbs.
2. Size – very small, can fit anywhere. Size of a typical magazine. In the picture below, its placed on a regular 8.5" X 11" sheet of paper. You can see how small it is.
3. It has a built in webcam, comes with xp home installed. So you can skype and pretty much do whatever you want.


Cons
1. The screen is really very small for regular browsing. Vertically nothing fits so you’ll have to keep scrolling. Annoying.
2. The keyboard is cramped so if you are used to 10 finger typing, its slightly harder in this.
3. The touchpad is not very smooth, but its very easy to attach a laptop mouse to it.

Because of the reasons above, I don't recommend this as your primary computer, but if you're looking to purchase another one for travel or as a portable "family laptop" for browsing its perfect! Between Gagan and I it'll be used for travel. I've installed all my programs on it and it's primed and ready to go on it's first trip to COSTA RICA!!!!

5 comments:

Birgitte said...

That is one cute laptop- great buy! Have a lovely time in Costa Rica. Happy Holidays, Deepika!

cidell said...

It's so CUTE! I know, I know. But, like you, I love a great gadget. Thanks for the tips. I'll be talking to the boy about it ASAP.

Anonymous said...

I bought the same one for college, it is just a great size for that! and for travelling, it is so much lighter than my regular laptop. I really like it, and it is cute too.

Erica B. said...

Very cute! I just purchased a mini notebook also. I got the Acer Aspire One. I haven't had it long enough to know if I love it or not. LOL

Annika said...

I got a mini Sony Vaio which I adore. I bought it only for writing the great American novel whilst sitting in various coffee shops, but have managed to take it on a trip to LA for a convention and I ended up tranferring a lot of video with the laptop (then dumping it on dvd). Like yours, mine has only 2 usb ports, and a wireless bluetooth thingy. I love that the battery is good for approx 9 hours!!