Last week I reviewed and benchmarked the HP Mini 1000 in the article: “HP Mini 1000 review and benchmark with HP Mini 110“. I that article I already mentioned that I would follow-up and share my experiences of running Windows 7 on the HP Mini 1000. In this article I will have a look at the new features in Windows 7 and share my practical experiences as well.

Installation Windows 7

For both Windows 7 beta (build 7000) and Windows 7 RC (build 7100) an ISO-image was provided for download (in 32-bit and 64-bit versions). Unfortunately the Windows 7 RC ISO isn’t available for download anymore, since Windows 7 is released to manufacturing and will hit shopshelves in October 2009.

I have downloaded the Windows 7 RC ISO-file and burned it on a rewritable disc. After that it is a matter of simply connecting my LG Slim External Super-Multi DVD Drive to the HP Mini 1000 and boot from it. That was my approach, but not everyone has an external DVD Drive for his netbook. In that case I would like to recommend two articles.

Joel Evans, Editor in chief on Geek.com, has written an excellent resource “Installing Windows 7 RC straight from the ISO” and furthermore on the Into Windows website a tutorial can be found for a step by step  install from a removable USB flashdrive: “How To: Install Windows 7/Vista From USB Drive” I do think you can’t go wrong with both resources, while you have ben offered different ways to install Windows 7 on your notebook / netbook.

The installation itself went very easy and smooth. Most remarkable fact is that during the installation wireless networks are recognized and during this phase of the installation you simply configure the connection with a wireless (home) network. Another “new” aspect was the so called “Homegroup” configuration, which I will discuss later in the article.

Overall the installation was easy, and all the hardware in the HP Mini 1000 was recognized instantly. So I was very happy, because you don’t need to mess around with driver discs !

Overview of new features in Windows 7

There is already a great deal of information about Windows 7 out there, and you should certainly check out the official Windows 7 product page to find out what’s new and have a look at some cool videos. Furthermore I could also recommend to follow @MSWindows on Twitter, since valuable information is published via that channel as well (e.g. the article: “18 cool things Windows 7 does that Vista doesn’t” ! In this section I would like to have a look at some new features and tell about my perception of these features.

Improved taskbar

The Windows taskbar has improved in many different ways, and in this paragraph I will try to cover those changes with help of screenshots. The first thing you notice is that the Windows taskbar is bigger compared to Windows Vista or Windows XP.

“In Windows 7 you can pin any program to the taskbar so it’s always just a click away, and you can rearrange the icons on the taskbar just by clicking and dragging.”

Furthermore on the left you see some large icons in the taskbar, which you can pin or unpin. In other words there is not separate quick launch anymore, which you need to activate. When you open a program in Windows Vista, a window is shown in the taskbar as a rectangular “bar”, but in Windows 7 you simply see just the big icon without text. If there are more Windows open from one application these are grouped in a kind of layered overview of icons.

“Hover over the icons and you’ll see thumbnails of every file or window that open in that program, and if you hover over the thumbnail, you’ll see a full-screen preview of that window.”

On the right side next to the date and clock you see a bar, which is the “shortcut” to go to your desktop. It is always on the same place and easy to find, while you needed to activate the quick launch in Windows Vista and Windows XP to get this functionality.

Left to the battery icon in the Windows 7 taskbar you notice a new icon (a flag), which opens the action center. The action center gives you for example notifications if there is a Windows Update available for download, or that you need to schedule a back-up of your system. From the taskbar icon it is also easy to open the action center, without first opening the control panel and access it via that way.

Left next to the flag-icon in the taskbar, there is an arrow pointing upwards. When you click on this arrow, it opens a “box” with notification icons. This is a more elegant solution, since in Windows Vista these icons we’re unfolded and collapsed from right to the left, while now it doesn’t influence the “middle space” of the Windows taskbar.

Furthermore choosing the option “customize” makes it very simple to configure the notification icons. It is possible not to show certain icons both in the taskbar and notification “box”, while you can also choose for one of the two options. My personal experience is that it’s a more elegant solution compared to Windows Vista and Windows XP.

The Windows 7 taskbar has some additional functionality embedded, but these parts will be discussed in the paragraphs below.

Jumplist

Another new feature in Windows 7 is the so-called jumplist, which in essence is a kind of application specific quick menu. While this is an improvement mainly aimed at improving productivity and efficiency, it certainly is one of the features you easily get used to.

“It’s a handy way to quickly reach the files you’ve been working with. To see the files you’ve used recently, just right click on the icon on your taskbar. So right-clicking on the Word icon will show your most recent Word documents. Plus, if there are other files you want to keep handy, you can just pin them to the Jump List so they’ll always appear. Some programs, such as Windows Media Player, can pre-populate their Jump Lists with common tasks.”

The screenshot above shows the jumplist in the start menu, which from a look and feel shows a lot of similarities with the start menu in Windows Vista (except for the jumplist-feature). As an example I selected the “Getting Started” item from the start menu (remark there is an arrow pointing to the right), while a kind of quick menu with most used or most common commands is opened.

If you ask my personal opinion, very clever designed and it makes daily life a lot more easy. If you thought that jumplists are only available in the start menu, you are wrong. Also by right clicking on a program icon in the taskbar opens a jumplist, with application specific items. In the screenshot below I right clicked on the Control Panel icon in the taskbar, and the jumplist shows recent items I have visited.

Overall I experience that you have less need to open up the start menu and browse for an application, or execute a common command.

Desktop enhancements

I already mentioned button on the right of the taskbar and explained the function as “shortcut to go to your desktop“. That is certainly the core functionality, but it has some additional coolness. If you have multiple Windows open you sometimes need to quickly check your desktop to look at the status of a gadget (widget) or simply look if a file has been downloaded on your desktop.

It would normally require to do some alt+tab work to go through the different Windows, before you end at the desktop view. If you go with your mouse to the button in the right of the taskbar (without clicking on it) the current openend Windows become transparent so you can have a look at your desktop. Remark without clicking to “open” it.

Sometimes I need to compare the specifications of two Windows Phones on te internet. In Windows Vista I need to resize the Windows manually to have them each equally cover the half of the screen. In Windows 7 I can simply move the active Window and “bump” it against the side of the screen (you see a visual effect that the Window “bumps”). The result is great, since the Windows docks on the side and it covers the half of the screen. Very easy to compare two Internet Explorer windows, or compare two Microsoft Word documents.

A final cool feature is about shaking the active Window, resulting in the action of minimizing all other Windows to the taskbar.

Windows search

I don’t want to use many words on this improvement, which has been introduced with Windows Vista and is further improved under Windows 7. On the Windows 7 product page you can read, that Microsoft has created a similar experience where you simply enter a word in a search box and hit enter.

“Just click on the Start button and you’ll see a search box at the bottom of the Start menu. Just enter a word or few letters in the name or file you want, and you’ll get an organized list of results.”

This web-search-experience is brought to your Windows 7 powered notebook in a better structured way and it is easier to find what you are looking for simply through a clever way of providing the search results. Some of the concept behind this is:

“Windows 7 uses libraries to show all content of a particular type in one spot. By collecting things into a single view, libraries make it simpler to find what you’re looking for. They’re even more powerful with Windows Search.”

Internet Explorer 8

Brandon LeBlanc has written an article on the Windows 7 teamblog:  ”Update on Windows 7 in Europe” in which he describes that, at least here in Europe, Internet Explorer 8 might not be pre-loaded as the default Windows 7 browser due to some legislation restrictions by the European Commission. However Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 is my personal default browser on Windows Vista, and this version is also pre-loaded in Windows 7 RC (build 7100).

Joel Evans, editor in chief from Geek.com, has reviewed the first release candidate of Internet Explorer earlier this year in the article: “Review: Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1“. In this article Joel Evans covers the new features:  accelerators, compatibility view, inprivate browsing, webslices, search provider, smart screen filter, tabs, and highlighting domain in URL. Take your time to read this article and check out the new features.

However I would like to cover some Internet Explorer coolness as well. In the screenshot below you can see that there are three tabs open, and there is one file download in progress. In the Windows 7 taskbar there are also three grouped Internet Explorer icons grouped, and you probably notice that one is highlighted grreen. Do you see the similarities with the download progress meter in the active window ? Yes, you can see the download progress in the taskbar as well, very convenient when you start a download and continue with other tasks.

Remark again the fact that I have opened three tabs in Internet Explorer 8, and minimized all Windows to the taskbar. When you move the mouse over the grouped Internet Explorer icons in the Windows 7 taskbar, a grid with preview Windows is opened. You can select the Window you want to navigate to directly, without opening Internet Explorer first and select the specific tab after that.

While this preview functionality is also available for other applications as well, it is extremely helpful in Internet Explorer and therefore it is covered in this section of the review.

Better device management

Better device management is also one of the key features in Windows 7. Although I didn’t connect as many devices and printers as possible I was suprised that every piece of hardware in the HP Mini 1000 was instantly recognized. However also from the device management perspective there are two great improvements:

“With Windows 7, you’ll use a single Devices and Printers screen to connect, manage, and use whatever printers, phones, and other devices you have on-hand.”

While this single screen simplyfies the management of devices and printers Microsoft has gone even a step further with the implementation of a concept called “device stage”:

“Device Stage helps you interact with any compatible device connected to your computer. From Device Stage you can see device status and run common tasks from a single window. There are even pictures of the devices which makes it really easy to see what’s there. Device manufacturers can customize Device Stage.”

On the Windows 7 blog, Brandon LeBlanc has posted an extensive article called “The Device Experience in Windows 7“ on behalf of Jack Tao, Program Manager on the Windows 7 Devices & Media Team. In this article both device management and the device stage concept are extensively covered and are certainly interesting to read.

Homegroup

“HomeGroup, a new feature in Windows 7, makes connecting the computers in your home a painless process. HomeGroup is set up automatically when you add the first PC running Windows 7 to your home network. Adding more PCs running Windows 7 to the HomeGroup is an easy process. You can specify exactly what you want to share from each PC with all the PCs in the HomeGroup. Then, sharing files across the various PCs in your home—and many other devices—is as easy as if all your data were on a single hard drive.”

If you ever tried to set-up your home network, you know it requires quite some configuration (and some specific knowledge as well). For techies this probably isn’t a problem, but I think it’s a good move from Microsoft to simplify these configurations and the set-up process.

Although I haven’t looked into detail into this  feature, I added the HP Mini 1000 to a Homegroup, and I directly noticed the Homegroup mode in Internet Explorer 8 as well. I think this an intranet-like concept, and it will be cool to look into during additional “testing” of Windows 7.

View available network

Nowadays there are many different ways to connect to the internet, wired, wireless or using a mobile data connection for both personal- and work usage-scenario’s. In Windows Vista Microsoft has introduced the Network and Sharing Center, via which you can configure and manage the network connections. However to do different tasks you are always a few clicks away, or you need to switch different Windows.

“Windows 7 makes viewing and connecting to all of your networks simple and consistent. You’ll always have one-click access to available networks, regardless of whether those networks are based on Wi-Fi, mobile broadband, dial-up, or your corporate VPN.”

The screenshot above shows the new one-click implementation in Windows 7, to view and select your available network connections. More and more notebooks hit the market with an embedded HSDPA-modem, so this is one of the features that makes the daily life of a mobile professional easier. Especially integrating the different Windows from the Vista implementation into a one-click solution on the toplevel deserves a compliment to Microsoft.

I hope this section shows a systematic overview of the new Windows 7 main features and gives a little more insight in the new opportunities that Windows 7 provides to the end-users. The features covered in this section are mainly effeciency related and help you to get more things done, but Windows 7 also makes new things possible, for example the improved media center capabilities that I haven’t tested so far. Therefore I would recommend to have a look at the official Windows 7 product page and check the “makes new things possible section” !!

Windows 7 on the HP Mini 1000 netbook

While the new features really show a great deal of Windows 7 coolness, you might be curious to hear about my practical experiences as well. In this section I will cover some complementary things I found worth mentioning about Windows 7 and some thoughts to consider working on the combination Lenovo X60 tablet – HP Mini 1000 netbook.

One of the core elements of the Windows operating system is the so called Explorer, and in Windows 7 the layout of the Windows Explorer has changed compared to the previous versions in Windows Vista and Windows XP. Let me put forward that the improvements are again productivity and efficiency related, but they are really clever designed. Let’s have a look at the changes with help of the screenshot above:

1. At the top you start with a list af favorites: shortcut to your Windows Desktop, shortcut to the Downloads folder and a shortcut to your most Recent Places.
2. Below the favorites there is a list with libraries:  shortcuts to your Documents, your Music files, your Pictures and Video’s.
3. The new homegroup-feature is also integrated into the Windows Explorer, and helps you to easily share files in the home network. The position between my Libraries and my Computer makes perfectly sense to do.

At first both the Desktop- and Download folders are folders which I use very often, and complemented with the shortcut to recent places the number of times you need to open the Start Menu are really declining. Furthermore the use of the libraries is not only because of a logical structure, but as mentioned in the new features section the libraries are also used for a powerful search experience within Windows 7.

Overall I think the Windows Explorer has got some great improvements, while some of the concepts started in Windows Vista have further improved and are better and deeper integrated into the operating system.

When I was planning to write this Windows 7 review, I hoped to be approved to the Microsoft Office 2010 Tech Preview, which is a beta program for the upcoming new version of the popular Microsoft Office suite. I covered some of the great Microsoft Exchange 2010 improvements in the article “Microsoft Exchange 2010 updates for Windows Mobile“, and it would have been great to experience and share thoughts on the overall three-screen user experience between Microsoft Exchange 2010, Microsoft Office 2010 on the PC and Windows Mobile 6.5 on a Windows Phone.

“Microsoft® Office 2010 gives you powerful new tools to express your ideas and work together, wherever your life takes you.”

On the Microsoft Office 2010 product page you can find a detailed description and complementary video for each Microsoft Office 2010 Application. In addition Paul Thurrott, from Paul Thurrott’s SuperSite for Windows, has written an extensive review -consisting of 7 parts- on the Microsoft Office 2010 Tech Preview, which is certainly recommended to read.

Unfortunately, and dont get me wrong I do understand the dynamics of limited capacity, I haven’t been approved yet so I installed Microsoft Office 2007 on the HP Mini 1000 running Windows 7 RC. The installation went very easy and even the resource intesive Microsoft Outlook 2007 runs smooth. However configuring the Microsoft Hosted Exchange account with Sherweb, was a little different. The Microsoft Social forums however provided me with the right answer to set-up the account.

Another not Windows 7 specific challenge is the ability to keep your documents in sync, while you work on two different machines (in my situation the Lenovo X60 tablet and the HP Mini 1000 netbook). I use a set of different solutions:  (1) Microsoft Live Mesh, (2) Microsoft Office Live Workspace, and (3) Gladinet Cloud Desktop. Microsoft Live Mesh perfectly integrates with Windows Explorer (you can see the blue folders on the right in the screenshot above), while Microsoft Office Live Workspace integrates with Microsoft Office 2007. Also very convenient is the tool Gladinet Cloud Desktop, which I reviewed not that long ago, which gives you the ability to mount cloud storage as a (local) harddrive.

With the design of Windows 7, Microsoft has really thought well about the ability to run on different machines and different screen sizes and according resolutions. The screenshot below for example shows the icon grid of the control panel, with the option ”View by Small Icons” selected and the result of no need to scroll. Perfect everything on one single overview. Furthermore I haven’t used any additional driver CD, nor have I downloaded a single driver. It was just a matter of “basic” installing Windows 7 and Windows Update took care of everything else.

Overall conclusions on Windows 7

Let me start the overall conclusions by a quick comparison between Windows 7 Beta (build 7000) and Windows 7 RC (build 7100). Joel Evans, Editor in chief on Geek.com, concluded some first impressions on the differences in the article “Installing Windows 7 RC straight from the ISO“:

• “The hard drive doesn’t spin as often;
• The experience of navigating the UI is much speedier;
• Wireless connectivity seems to be much more stable. I’ve been connected without interruption for over three hours now. Windows 7 used to randomly disconnect and reconnect from my router;
• No more popping noise! Previously on the HP Mini 1000 running Windows 7 I would hear a strange popping noise. I figured it was a bug and thankfully it has been fixed in Windows 7 RC.”

I have to admit the there is a huge difference between Windows 7 Beta and Windows 7 RC, since the latter feels not only speedier but also much more solid and stable. In other words it felt much more mature, and I couldn’t get it cause a blue screen in the time that I’m using it (which is since the first day of availability of Windows 7 RC).

You might be curious on the differences betwee Windows 7 RC (build 7100) and Windows 7 RTM? Paul Miller, Editor on Engadget.com, has written an extensive- and highly recommended review with lots of visual material about the Windows 7 release to manufacturing (RTM) version. Furthermore people who have a TechNet or MSDN subscription have the possibility to download the Windows 7 RTM version as well, while the rest of us have to wait for another few weeks.

You hear some people describe Windows 7 as: “The stability of Windows XP combined with the Interface of Windows Vista”, but honestly Microsoft has takes Windows 7 even some steps further. A lot of attention is spend on productivity- and efficiency improvements. Therefore I’m really curious to test the integrated package of Microsoft Exchange server 2010, Microsoft Office 2010, Windows 7 and last but not least Windows Mobile 6.5.

Windows Mobile 6.5 and its additional services will hit the market on October 6th, and I received word over twitter that Sherweb will be implementing Microsof Exchange 2010, while Windows 7 is on the shopshelves by the end of October. That means I only need to wait for Microsoft Office 2010 to experience the total experience.

Finally I must compliment Microsoft with an excellent, rock solid operating system, that has a lot of new features, productivity and cleverness build in. While I played a little with Windows 7 Beta on a HP Touch Smart during CNTRSTG earlier this year, I can’t wait for the Windows 7 final version to hit the storeshelves so I can install it on my Lenovo X60 tablet, and experience what changes have been made in Windows 7 for tablet computing !!

This article will cover the functional design of the HP Mini 1000 netbook and benchmark this device with its successor the HP Mini 110, which is reviewed by Clinton Fitch. I’m really curious to find out what HP has changed in the design and functionality of this great compact but powerfull netbook.

Short introduction

Readers of my personal blog might remember the article last year: “CntrStg the place-to-be during CES 2009 (Las Vegas)!“ in which I explaind the goal and background of the CntrStg-event. It certainly was the place to be and for me it was a great place to spend time to make new friends and catch-up with old friends.

But it got even better, since just after the CntrStg event I received the great news that I became the fourth winner of a HP Mini 1000 netbook, awesome! I’m really looking forward to the next edition, since it solves a lot of problems of writing from these large tech events, and certainly not for the give-aways!

After using this HP Mini 1000 first in the standard configuration, I used it for testing Windows 7 (build 7000) and Windows 7 RC (build 7100). I will share my thoughts and expriences  about both the use of the HP Mini 1000 and some modifications I did, and in a later follow-up article about the the ongoing use of Windows 7 on this device.

Clinton Fitch, Windows Mobile MVP & Editor in Chief of Clinton Fitch (Dot) Com, has recently published a great review about the HP Mini 110 (HP Mini 1000 successor) in the article: “Review of the HP Mini 110 Netbook PC“. I will use his review as a benchmark tool, to see what has changed in the functional design between these two at first sight equally looking models.

Let’s start first with having a detailed look at the hardware and functional design combined with the review above as a benchmark tool to look at some differences.

HP Mini 1000 hardware- & functional design

Let’s start with a reference to a detailed overview with specifications of the HP Mini 1000 with product number FT313UA#ABA. This will give you the feeling of what the HP Mini 1000 has to offer.

HP Mini 1000 “sides-tour”

On the front there are two slider buttons with a build-in led in the round part. The left slider button is to turn the HP Mini 1000 on, and has a white LED embedded. Right next to the slider you can find an LED for showing harddisk-activity, and one LED which shows the if the HP Mini 1000 is connected to the power supply or not.

Furthermore you can find on the front edge the second slider button which is for control of the wireless connections Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. With one sliding gesture you can turn these wireless radio’s on and off. The build-in LED shows blue light when the wireless radio’s are on and red light when the radio’s are turned off.

In comparison with my Lenovo X60 tablet and other business notebooks there is no locking mechanism to lock the screen in the closed situation. However the screen closes very well and there is just a ver small gap between the two parts of the HP Mini 1000 netbook.

On the HP Mini 110 a slight change in the design can be noticed. Between the two slider buttons you will find a number of slits, which are not present on the HP Mini 1000. This change in functional design is probably made for a better air flow and being able to cool the Intel Atom N270 Processor (running on 1.6 GHz) more efficiently. However it’s a first noticable change in the design.

Looking at the right side of the HP Mini 1000 you first notice an embedded 5-in-1 multimedia-card reader. Above this multimedia-card reader you will notice 5 slits, probably to transport some heat out of the HP Mini 1000. The 5-in-1 multimedia-card reader holds a Transcend 16 GB class 6 SDHC card, on which I keep some personal data on an encrypted partition and use it for locally backing-up important documents. The 60 GB harddisk however provides enough space to load the neccesary software on the HP Mini 1000.

Second there is one USB 2.0 port on the right side, to connect a printer or removable storage drive. In addition you can see a removable lid, which is to connect the HP Mini Mobile Drive if you own the HP Mini 1000 in an SSD-configuration. With the  HP Mini Mobile Drive you can plug-in additional storage in addition to the build-in SSD. If I’m informed correctly, the HDD-configurations don’t have the needed connections on the mainboard to use this functionality. And honeslty with the use of the 5-in-1 multimedicard reader it would be a little over the top.

Finally on the right side there is a special designed edge to connect a lanyard to the HP Mini 1000. I really wouldn’t do this myself, and I prefer to carry the HP Mini 1000 in a high quality Waterfield Sleevecase which custom fits the HP Mini 1000.

Comparing the right side of the HP Mini 1000 with the HP Mini 110, we can see that HP Engineers have done more changes in the functional design. The right side of the HP Mini 110 has two USB 2.0 ports (instead on just one), and furthermore the Ethernet port and a VGA port to hook up the HP Mini 110 to a beamer or external screen.

At first I think it’s a good job that HP has opted for a standardized VGA-port instead of the proprietary port and cable which are implemented on the HP Mini 1000. Despite it is an optional accessorie this kind of functionality should be standard for the travelling professional. Furthermore by adding an additional USB-port and moving the Ethernet-port to the right side edge the overall design becomes more balanced, while the left side edge on the HP Mini 1000 is a little packed.

Tha backside of the HP Mini 1000 doesn’t have any connectors for peripherical devices, and almost the whole width is taken by the rotating mechanism for the screen / upper part of the netbook. In short nothing special on the backside !

The leftside of the HP Mini 100 is pretty packed and on the left you can see the connector for the power supply and a second USB 2.0 port. In the middle there are a number of slits which are used for the air outflow of the fan to keep the processor, memory and harddisk of the HP Mini 1000 nice and cool.

Now we come to  a special part of the HP Mini 1000, which is a proprietary port to hook up this machine with an External monitor or beamer. And despite that HP offers an accessoiry called the HP Mini VGA cable, I think that HP had to include this cable in the box or should have implemented the more standard VGA port.

The functionality to connect the HP Mini 1000 to an external monitor or beamer is a basic feature for the mobile professional. Luckily the HP engineers have listened to the feedback and changed this part in the functional design of the HP Mini 110 as well.

Next to this proprietary port you can find a 3.5 mm jack to connect your headphones or a microphone to the HP Mini 1000 and finally covered behind a rubber flap there is an Ethernet port on the left side edge of the HP Mini 1000.

The bottom of the HP Mini 1000 is characterized by the 3-cell battery which provides the device with enough power to work approximately 3 – 4 hours but keeping the overall size compact. Rob Bushway from Gottabemobile.com did a nice comparison between the 3-cell and 6-cell extended battery: “GBM Shortcut: Hands On With HP’s Mini 1000 6-Cell Battery“

Although I have bought an extended battery for the Lenovo X60 tablet I doubt if I will do for the HP Mini 1000.

1. The first argument is the price of the battery compared to the HP Mini 1000′s price (byuing a new battery vs buying a new HP Mini).
2. The second argument is that the 3-cell battery keeps the overall formfactor very compact and sleek, while the 6-cell battery adds more volume.
3. The third argument is does the 6-cell bettary provided significant more battery performance, resulting in a noticable difference in working time (amount of mAh vs time on battery).

Clinton Fitch answers some of the questions above in his review of the HP Mini 110:

“HP sent me a 6-cell battery which provided me nearly 8 hours of life while testing versus the 3-cell which provides an advertised 3 hours of life.  The 6-cell battery does add some weight to the unit and it protrudes about 1/2″ from the base of the unit.  This, however, is a good thing in that it tilts the unit up at the rear and provides a more ergonomic typing experience.”

The nearly 8 hours of battery life are impressive and combined with the more ergonomic tilt it certainly is an option to consider. However I’m still balancing on three thoughts, compact design vs batterylife improvement vs pricepoint.

Furthermore there is a removable lid to access the RAM-memory via an extremly clever designed mechanism. You don’t need any special tools or screwdrivers, and you can exchange or upgrade the memory easily within half a minute.

Personally I have upgraded the memory of the HP Mini 1000 to 2 GB and used the tutorial by Xavier Lanier from Notebooks.com: “HP MIni 1000: How to Upgrade RAM in Less Than 20 Seconds (video)” My feeling is that things like the Windows Aero interface run more smooth on the HP Mini 1000 and it helps CPU intensive applications like Microsoft Outlook 2007 Ultimate.

Finally the bottom of the HP Mini 1000 has four rubber feet, which provide a great grip of the device on a slippery surface.

HP Mini 1000 opened and ready for use

When the HP Mini 1000 is closed and you look on top of the device, you will see a black surface with a very cool silver design in it and a HP logo in the upper left corner. While the overall black finish gives the device a kind of business look the silver design breaks this a little bit. Don’t get me wrong the design is great and makes the netbook a little personal. Would be cool if you could a your custom design on the back of the screen.

About the keyboard on the HP Mini 1000 I just can fully agree with Clinton Fitch’s conclusions about the keyboard on the  HP Mini 110:

“The keyboard on the 110 is fantastic and is by far the best Netbook keyboard I have used to date – and one of the best for a Notebook for that matter.  It is 92% of full size and provides a comfortable typing experience with good feedback during typing.  The keyboard is more logically laid out in my opinion with the left and right Shift keys bigger and easier to use.  This has been on of my biggest complaints about other Netbooks and I’m glad to see HP has well-and-truly simply shrunk a QWERTY keyboard, not re-arranged it to make it fit.”

Also the size of the keys contributes to the great overall typing experience on the HP Mini 1000, and despite the keys seem to look flat these are slightly ergonomically curved. The point from Clinton Fitch about the bigger left and right shift keys is certainly true, and I could compare this first hand with an Asus EEE 701 and 901 machine.

Finally there is just one thing that I don’t like about netbook keyboards in general. On ym Lenovo X60 tablet I do have dedicated hardeware keys for “Home”, “End”, “PgUp” and “PgDn” but on the HP Mini 1000 (and all other netbooks) you need to access these commands via Fn + arrowkey.

Under the hardware keyboard you can see the touchpad, which also has some new design aspects. While we are used to have the left and right mouse button below the touch pad, these buttons are now positioned on the left and on the right side of the touchpad. You really get easily used to this “new” set-up and furthermore on the right side of the touchpad there is a vertical scroll bar, which allows you to scroll down webpages and documents easily.

Since I do use a black Microsoft Bluetooth 5000 mouse with the HP Mini 1000 I can turn off the touchpad completely by pressing the small backlight button between the keyboard and the touchpad. If turned off the LED shines red, and this implementation shows that sometimes small improvements count in the overall product design.

Furthermore there are two items I want to address about the  HP Mini 1000: (1) the screen, and (2) the webcam.

“The 10.1″ display of the Mini 110 is fantastic as well.  I found the screen easy to view in low or moderately bright light situations and the larger screen eased eye strain.  I highly recommend that if you are considering a Netbook to not compromise and get a 10″ screen over an 8″ one.  Your eyes will thank you later.”

I do fully agree with Clinton Fitch on this one, since the 10.1″ screen offers an acceptable 1024 x 600 resolution. Ok it would be awesome strive for even a higher resolution, but more powerfull applications like Adobe PhotoShop or AutoDesk AutoCAD where you need a large screen and high resolution you won’t use very often on a netbook.

Despite I’m not a (heavy) webcam user there might be some concerns about the quality of the webcam in less-light-condictions. For me personally this is not a problem because I rarely use it, but it certainly is a problem noticed by different websites. A good article that summarizes the dynamics and probable cause of the problem is written by Judie Lipsett from GearDiary in ”An HP Mini Note Webcam Fix On the Way?”

“The built-in webcam on the Mini 110 does a great job as well.  I found that it worked quite well with Live Messenger as well as Cisco Video Advantage (which I use for my corporate work) with no issues with either application.  Video quality was quite good in normal lighting situations while it did suffer a bit in low light situations.  All-in-all though I’ll take it.  Having the camera built-in means there is one less thing I have carry with me when I travel.”

Overall conclusions and thoughts to wrap-up

The HP Mini 1000 is an extremely compact, nice and versatile machine to work on, and the complementary reviews of Julie Strietelmeier from The-Gadgeteer.com, and Joel Evans from Geek.com are certainly recommended (in addition to the review of Clinton Fitch).

Since I mainly use the HP Mini 1000 when I travel there might be one feature that I do miss, embedded 3G, despite I always take my Huawei E160 dongle with me all the time. Darren Humphries, Windows Mobile MVP and Editor and MobileJaw has covered this in his news item: “Rogers Introduces Canada’s First 3.5G Embedded Netbooks“

“The HP Mini 110 netbooks now available include embedded mobile broadband technology to connect to the Web [...] offering customers the freedom to choose when and where they enjoy a true broadband Internet experience. With download speeds up to 7.2 Mbps, Rogers mobile Internet ready netbooks deliver the ultimate convenience and productivity for work or play online with just a few clicks – no need to search for WiFi or wired access.”

Despite this comment I certainly will advise the HP Mini 1000 (or HP Mini 110) to you readers, since it is one of the best designed netbooks I have used. The great keyboard, and the option to get 8 hours of battery life with the extended 6-cell battery are very attractive for the mobile professional today. The 10.1″ screen and almost all possible connectivity options make the HP Mini 1000 a very complete and usable solution.

Furthermore Rob Tillotson from The-Gadgeteer.com has written a cool artile ”HP Mini 1000 Netbook – Running Linux“, in which he shares his experiences loading Ubuntu on the HP Mini 1000. This fact also adresses one point about the operating system on the HP Mini 1000, as described by Clinton Fitch in his review:

“From an Operating System perspective the Mini 110 comes loaded with Windows XP Professional which is a bit of a disappointment given the age and the flexibility that Windows Vista offers.  However, because of the limited amount of memory the Mini – and every other Netbook – has, Vista simply is not a good option from a performance perspective.  Thankfully Microsoft will be releasing a version of Windows 7 for NetBooks and while you won’t be able to get upgrade pricing, you can get a more secure and feature rich OS experience when it is released.  I nor HP make any claim Windows 7 will work flawlessly on the Mini 110 but having used Windows 7 RC 1 on a similarly configured Netbook from Acer, I expect there to be no problems.”

As pointed out in the introduction I have been using the HP Mini 1000 for testing Windows 7 beta (build 7000) and Windows 7 RC 9build 7100) and in a follow-up article I will share my thoughts and experiences on running Windows 7 on a netbook like the HP Mini 1000.

Finally  I would like to compliment HP Engineering for listening to customer feedback and use it this feedback in the product development of the next itteration of the HP Mini 1000 (which happens to be the HP Mini 110).  HP also brings software innovations to the HP Mini 110 (netbook platform with their Syncables desktop solution. Mixing the facts of Clinton Fitch’s review as a benchmark clearly shows that HP Engineering has applied various product changes for a better functional design of the HP Mini family !

Interested ? You should certainly vistit the Back to School website and make a chance to win one of the latest HP Machines and more !!

About a month ago I have published a review about the Waterfield Sleevecase for my Lenovo X60 tablet here @ mobilityminded. While in that article I elaborated on the Waterfield Sleevecase itself, I wanted to show a comparison of the Waterfield Sleevecase for HP Mini 1000 with a no-name neoprene sleeve from eBaY and discuss my findings about differences in design, user experience and price.

The comparison

The two pictures above show both the Waterfield Sleevecase for the HP Mini 1000 and the eBaY sleeve for the HP Mini 1000 next to each other.Let me start with a brief description of the eBaY sleeve, and compare the Waterfield Sleevecase for the HP Mini 1000 to it later on.

Noname “eBaY” sleeve for HP Mini 1000

The eBaY sleeve is simple in design and is actually vertically oriented to slide in the HP Mini 1000. The sleeve is made of neoprene and is very simple finished with a red ribbon, but there is no velcro or zipper to fully close the sleeve with the risk for the HP Mini 1000 to fall out. There are no additional flaps or compartments in this sleeve, and the neoprene material is about 2 or 3 mm. think so there is not much thickness to cushion impact. Very sharp is the pricepoint of $12,- including shipment.

Waterfield Sleevecase for HP Mini 1000

When you pick up the Waterfield Sleevecase for the HP Mini 1000 on the contrary you immediately feel the difference in used materials. Remark the material hightlights of the Waterfield Sleevecase:

• “Custom-made, domestically produced ballistic nylon exterior.
• 6 mm high-grade neoprene interior.  (We use the neoprene because it is very dense and has much better shock-absorbing qualities than foam.)
• Lead colored Indium trim at the bottom.
• One-inch nylon webbing loop at bottom for users to hold while removing laptop.” [ref04]

Remarkable is double the thickness of the protective neoprene interior, while on the noname eBaY sleeve there also isn’t a protective exterior. The Waterfield Sleevecase in comparison has a ballistic nylon exterior which protects  the Waterfield Sleevecase for the daily abuse we expose  our notebooks and netbooks to.

But not only the difference in materials is noticeable. Also on the functional design there are huge differences. First let me emphasize that the Waterfield Sleevecase for the HP Mini 1000 has a wide opening for easy sliding the HP Mini 1000 in and out the Sleevecase. The noname eBaY sleeve has a vertical entry, but this is “blocked” since the design is like a fixed flap (while the Waterfield Sleevecase has an easy to open flap, creating the easy entry).

In my journey to find a sleevecase with a good custom fit for the Lenovo X60 tablet I could only conclude that Waterfield does an amazing job on this level. Despite the fact that the eBaY sleeve was also particular for the HP Mini 1000, there is unnecessary free space of 2 cm .in wdth and even 3 cm. in the height of the sleeve. On the contrary the Waterfield Sleevecase has a really good custom fit.

Finally one of the best features of the Waterfield Sleevecases is the additional “compartment” on the back. When I use my netbook on the go, it is simply because I want to travel light. In the back compartment I put my Moleskine notebook and a Caran d’Ache Ecridor-series ballpoint and you are ready for a conference, meeting, visit or technology show.

Thoughts and overall conclusions

I hope this article provides a little insight in the differences in quality and price between the Waterfield Sleevecase for HP Mini 1000 and a no-name case a friend of mine ordered over eBaY somewhere in Asia.

The comparison above really shows huge differences both in used materials, as well in functional design. The conclusion on these points is very easy, since the Waterfield Sleevecase for the Hp Mini 1000 outperforms on every single point.

Personally I don’t think this is surprising given the background and experience of the designers. Certainly if ballistic nylon is good enough to be used in bulletproof vests, than it certainly protects my netbook or notebook.

Critics might want to discuss about the difference in price: $12,- for the no-name eBaY sleeve in comparison to $38,- for the Waterfield Sleevecase and 15$ for additional customizations.I will give you my reasoning below.

The HP Mini 1000 is about a $500,- machine, so why would you reduce costs of $40 on the protection of such a great device. Honestly and from my personal experience the Waterfield Sleevecase is worth every dollar more, simply because of the high quality, the excellent design, the level of possible customizations and the used materials.

Summarizing, getting the Waterfield Sleevecase for the HP Mini 1000 or every other netbook, is a rocksolid investment in the daily protection of the device.

Finally special thanks to Julie Strietelmeier from the-gadgeteer.com for the Watefield Sleevecase tip, and to Heidi Marzke from Waterfield Design for the excellent help and fast communication !! Go ahead and find your personalized Waterfield Sleevecase over here !

Reference list

1. MOBILITYMINDED:  Waterfield Sleevecase for Lenovo X60 Tablet (8-cell battery) Review
2. WATERFIELD:  Netbook Sleevecases