HP 2133 Mini-Note PC

My son was going into middle school, and we decided it was time he had a small portable computer. We didn't want to spend a lot of money for a standard laptop, so we decided on a mini PC.

We found the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC at Circuit City for $299.99. This was well within the budget, and gave us what we wanted for our son.

The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is small, just over an inch thick, and the screen is 8.9 inches. The QWERTY keyboard is a bit small for adult hands, but is perfect for a middle schooler.

The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC has more power and storage than you would think for its small size. We were amazed to discover when I researched this that it has a 120 GB hard drive. (We had to make sure to tell our son not to load it up with MP3s and videos!)

The operating system that came with the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC was Linux, but we did discover that it is compatible with Windows Vista Home Basic. However our son started playing with it, and decided that he liked learning to use Linux. As it turns out this is just has well. We have since learned that the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC doesn't handle Vista all that well.

We also were impressed with the built in safeguards the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC has. It features a shock resistant system that shuts down the hard drive if it is dropped or jarred suddenly while in operation. Since this is going to be used buy a child, we thought this was one of the best ideas yet.

The HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is lightweight, so he can carry it in his backpack, or in the carrying case that comes with it.

Our son was a bit disappointed that there was no CD-ROM drive in the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC but we explained that he could connect it to one of the computers in the house to install anything, or run a game. We also explained that this was mostly for school work, and not playing with.

One problem we have discovered is that the battery life of the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC is not what we would have liked. You have a couple of options. You can use three cell style rechargeable batty which is great for keeping the weight of the machine down, or the six cell which has a bit longer life. We opted fo the latter, but still found that it barely lasts three hours.

Apart from that, our son has gotten a lot of use out of the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC and still uses it.