My new toy... HP Mini 1000

Finally got ourselves a netbook, a HP Mini Netbook 1000.... and so far, we are quite pleased with it.

So, now I'm back to switching back and forth between my Mac and a PC. Gone back to the 'Dark Force" mainly because the netbook is small and light. With a mobile connection, it's actually not much hassle lugging it around. Can kepit the bag with 2 fingers and still won't drop! 8) The weight (or the lack of it) is a real plus point! Last Sunday night, I took it to church and as I was listening to the sermon, typed down the sermon synopsis for the church website. Published it after dinner as most of the work was done while listening. One stone, two birds kinda thing. And the easiness of bringing this thing around made things all the more easier. 8)

Specs wise.. good enough for us to surf.. with the mobile broadband, it gives you enough room to do some real reading and see good-sized pictures. Smart phone screens are still way too small for comfortable viewing of web pages. The Atom N280 processor is good enough for us to upload pictures and even do some touching up. Of course, you can't multitask too much with it cos it'll just hang, processor power (lack of it) plus lack of RAM probably. 160GB of HDD is also sufficient to store things on the go.

Keyboard size is comfortable enough for typing. But I'm a bit uncomfortable with the Up, Down, Left and Right buttons though cos they are smaller than the rest of the keys. Been hitting the adjacent buttons as a result. And the small mouse pad means less space to manouver. A lighted keypad would be a plus point... then I don't have to be hitting the backspace button so often in the dark. 8)

Do wish that the battery life can be slightly longer but what can you expect from a 3-cell. A 6-cell will increase the battery life but might mean I no longer can kepit the bag safely with my 2 fingers. And HP batteries are so expensive. So, I'll have to make do with the 2 hour plus on a single charge for now. I hear Nokia just launched a netbook with more than 12 hours of battery life, which is just simply awesome, I think.

Would be nice though if there is a SIM card slot incorporated. Then there is no need to make sure I don't forget my modem. But overall I can't complain much. Oh ya! There was some hoo-hah about their Syncables software too (supposed to sync seamlessly with the Desktop) but I've yet to use that.

Now I wonder if Apple were to come out with their own version of Netbook... lotsa rumours flying around on that too but knowing Apple products, it'd be a tardy bit more expensive... And since I've started using a PC, I'm back to facing the system 'hanging' more on me too... 8( That's one of the more noticeable things.. cos that's a cause for trepidation when saving my work. When the screen stays unmoving for too long after you've hit the Save button, you wonder whether you have to hit the Crtl-Alt-Del button next. Kinda makes you want to pull your hair and &*(%$^ Windows... I've digressed...tis not the software that's the focus here but the hardware. HP Mini 110-1006TU is actually not too bad-lah.

And oh ya! I also got a wireless mouse for my HP Mini for RM55. The nano receiver is so unobtrusive that I plug it there all the time. Good thing this Mini comes with 3 USB ports. Earlier I bought one Logitech Nano 550 for RM159 for Other Half. It's supposed to have at least one year battery life. This China brand (Cliptech) that I bought claims a 3 month battery life. I'd be quite happy with that if this claim is true.

So, there... another venture into 2 gadgets.