Solid Performance, Graphics
With the Mini 1000, HP nixed the VIA C7-M processor it uses in the 2133 for Intel’s reliable (and ubiquitous) 1.6-GHz Atom processor. Along with 1GB of RAM, the Mini 1000 provided the netbook performance we’ve come to expect. We couldn’t run our usual PCMark05 test on the system, but in our hands-on experience, the Mini 1000 was snappy. Firefox and Windows Media Player opened quickly, and we saw no performance hit when we conducted video calls over Skype, surfed the Web, and streamed music.
The Intel 945GSE Express integrated graphics chip with 64MB of memory delivered a score of 743 in 3DMark03, about 200 points above the category average and 169 points higher than the Lenovo IdeaPad S10’s 574, though just 4 points higher than the ASUS Eee PC 1000H. Watching a downloaded episode of the TV show Mad Men was smooth at full screen.
Hard Drive and Boot Time
Compared with other netbooks, the Mini 1000’s hard drive holds a relatively low 60GB and runs at a slow 4,200 rpm, a trade-off for its very compact footprint. The ASUS Eee PC 1000H, MSI Wind, and Samsung NC10 are each available with a 160GB, 5,400-rpm hard drive.
The Mini 1000 booted Windows XP Home in a disappointing 64 seconds. The LAPTOP Transfer test (copying a 4.97GB folder of mixed media) took a sluggish 10 minutes and 59 seconds, a rate of 7.7 MBps. Other 10-inch netbooks in this class sport 5,400-rpm hard drives, which is why the Mini 1000 was significantly slower than the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 (4:53/17.4 MBps) and the Samsung NC10 (6:50/12.4 MBps). It is our hope that the 8GB and 16GB SSD storage options for the Mini 1000 will be faster.
Wi-Fi and Battery Life
The HP Mini 1000’s 802.11b/g Wi-Fi card had the fastest transfer rates we’ve yet seen from a netbook, delivering a whopping 21.3 Mbps and 19.4 Mbps from 15 and 50 feet respectively. This blew away the MSI Wind (14.5/7.7 Mbps) and even the 802.11n-equipped ASUS Eee PC 1000H (10.4/6.1 Mbps). The only system with similar numbers was the Eee PC S101. You should be able to move a good distance away from your router at home or at hotspots and still expect good connectivity. Additionally, we enjoyed a strong connection in our day-to-day Web activities; streaming music over Slacker was fluid and watching video clips on Hulu.com were devoid of any pauses.
While HP tells us that a six-cell battery will be available in January, as of this writing, all the configurations available from HP feature three-cell batteries, as did our review unit. On our LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi), the battery lasted 2 hours and 56 minutes, which is better than the three-cell battery on the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 with XP, which lasted 2 hours and 23 minutes. If battery life is important, hold out for a Mini 1000 with a six-cell battery, which will protrude slightly from the bottom of the system. You’ll likely get around 5 hours of endurance, given that the MSI Wind and Samsung NC10, both of which feature six-cell batteries, lasted 5:13 and 7:34, respectively.
