HP Mini 2140 Review

Our pre-production HP Mini 2140 features the following specifications:

• Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (Vista or SUSE Linux also available)
• Processor: Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.60GHz (512 KB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB)
• Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM, 800MHz, one SODIMM memory slot, supports up to 2GB
• Internal Storage: 160GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD with HP 3D DriveGuard (also available with 160GB 7200 rpm SATA with HP 3D DriveGuard or 80GB Solid State Drive)
• Display: 10.1-inch diagonal (1024 x 576) 
• Graphics: Intel GMA 950
• Wireless: Broadcom 802.11a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.0, HP Wireless Assistant
• Expansion slots: (1) ExpressCard/54 slot, Secure Digital (SD) slot
• Ports and connectors: (2) USB 2.0 ports, VGA, power connector, RJ-45/Ethernet (Gigabit), stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in, VGA webcam
• Input device: 92% full-sized keyboard, touchpad with scroll zone
• Dimensions (H x W x D): 1.05 (at front) x 10.3 x 6.5 inches
• Weight: 2.4 lb with 3-cell battery and hard drive, 2.93 lb with 6-cell battery and hard drive (not including weight of AC adapter).
• Power: 6-cell (55 WHr) or 3-cell (28 WHr) Lithium-Ion battery, 65W HP Smart AC Adapter with HP Fast Charge
• Warranty: One-year standard parts and labor warranty, pick-up or carry-in, and toll-free 7 x 24 hardware technical phone support.

Pricing for the HP Mini 2140 starts from as little as $499 for the base configuration.

Build and Design

The HP Mini 2140, like last year's Mini-note 2133, has a great design. Everyone in our office agrees that this ultra-mobile laptop has a solid chassis and attractive look. The brushed aluminum and plastic casing is durable and hides fingerprints well. It also keeps the Mini 2140 lightweight; only weighing in around 2.4 lbs as configured. The sleek business appeal feels at home in the corporate world, but the Mini 2140 is targeted toward students as well. One look at this machine and you can see why. Who wouldn't want an inexpensive mini notebook to toss in a backpack between classes, especially one that pretty much has a full-size keyboard?

HP was smart to keep the design of the 2140 mostly unchanged from the 2133. Nothing about the Mini 2140 feels cheap. The chassis is solid thanks to a combination of aluminum, plastic, and a magnesium alloy support structure inside. The larger 10.1" display is beautiful and easy to read indoors despite putting off some significant glare outdoors because of the protective coating. The Mini 2140 also comes with enough ports and storage capacity (thanks to the 160GB hard drive) that you might even consider using this business-grade netbook as your primary computer.

As I mentioned above, the keyboard is almost full size. It is 92% of a full sized keyboard, which is quite impressive for such a small form factor. It is much more comfortable to type on compared to the keyboards found on most 10-inch netbooks. However, the touchpad can be awkward since the placement of the right and left touchpad buttons are on the right and left sides rather than beneath the touchpad. As you can see from the pictures in this review the Mini 2140 also has neat power and Wi-Fi switches that light up and change from blue when on to orange when off.

Screen

Compared to the screens on other netbooks with 10-inch screens, the screen on the HP Mini 2140 is a bit of a mixed blessing. On one hand, the screen is nice and large with bright colors and good contrast. The screen doesn't offer wide viewing angles so people sitting around you won't have the best view of your screen. However, the biggest annoyance with the screen is the meager resolution of 1024 x 576 in the base configuration. This is actually lower resolution than the 8.9-inch screen used on last year's Mini-note 2133 which featured a 1280 x 768 resolution. The lower resolution on the Mini 2140 makes it easier to read small text, but the tradeoff is you can't fit as much text on the screen at one time. This means you have to scroll up and down more when viewing websites and some software menus might not fit on the screen as they should (since many software designers assume a modern computer screen has at least 600 pixels worth of vertical resolution.

Beyond the limited resolution the only additional issue that caused concern with the screen on the Mini 2140 was the use of an additional protective layer of glossy plastic over the screen. While this extra layer of plastic helps protect the display, the unfortunate side effect is significant reflection. We're not talking about a typical glossy screen you might have seen on notebooks prior to 2008. We're talking about a screen with a completely separate glossy layer applied over (and in front of) the actual display surface.

The reflections on the screen aren't noticeable at all in a dark room, but most people don't use their notebooks in the dark unless they're just watching movies. If you aren't sensitive to reflections then the screen is beautiful when viewed from straight ahead.

Keyboard and Touchpad

The keyboard on the Mini 2140 is simply fantastic. Last year we said the keyboard on the Mini-note 2133 "is the best keyboard we've seen on a notebook this small." That statement holds true for the new Mini 2140 as well. Sure, you can find better keyboards on larger notebooks, but HP currently has the best keyboard we've tested on 10-inch and smaller netbooks. The keys have the silver "HP DuraKeys" finish that makes them resist dirt and makes the letters printed on the keys last longer over time. The surface of the keys are also smooth to the touch.

Regardless, the most important thing to remember about this section of the review is that the Mini 2140 has the biggest and best keyboard you will find on any netbook or notebook with a 10-inch screen. It is literally almost a full-sized keyboard, so writing papers for school or reports for work is a breeze. You won't see spelling errors due to hitting the wrong keys as often as you might with the tiny keys on most netbooks. I didn't notice any signs of keyboard flex and really liked that most of the keys were full sized except a few. The tilde (~) key and the number "1" key are smaller than the rest of the numbers, which was quite odd. The space bar was also a little smaller than normal.

As mentioned previously, most people find using the touchpad on the Mini 2140 a little awkward. The right and left click buttons are what catch you off guard. The buttons are located on the sides of the touchpad and it's easy to forget where they are located if you're used to a regular touchpad. I would have liked the palm rest area to be a little bigger so the buttons could have been relocated below the touchpad like on standard notebooks and most netbooks. The button above the touchpad is a convenient feature that turns the touchpad off and makes it inactive when you are typing or using an external mouse.

Input and Output Ports

Every netbook on the market requires one minor compromise due to the ultra-mobile form factor: limited port selection. You simply cannot accommodate the standard array of ports you'll find on larger notebooks in a computer this small. That said, HP did a remarkable job packing as many ports as possible into the Mini 2140. The complete list of ports includes:

• One ExpressCard/54 slot
• Secure Digital (SD/SDHC) card reader
• Two USB 2.0 ports
• VGA out
• Power connector
• RJ-45/Ethernet
• Stereo headphone/line out
• Stereo microphone/line in

Overall, the port selection is amazing for a notebook this size. However, we would have like to see one of the USB ports replaced with a combo USB/eSATA port. HP uses combo USB/eSATA ports on almost all of their larger notebooks and the combo port allows you to use either USB devices or eSATA devices such as high-speed external storage drives. Considering how easy it would have been to make one of the USB ports a combo port, we're a little surprised HP didn't do that.

Here is a quick tour around the HP Mini 2140:

Front view: Power switch, drive status light, Wi-Fi on/off switch.

Rear view: No ports here, just the hinges and battery.

Left side view: VGA out, heat vent, USB 2.0 port, microphone in, headphone out.

Right side view: ExpressCard/54 slot, SD card reader, USB 2.0 port, Ethernet, power connector, and security lock slot.

One additional thing worth mentioning regarding ports is that HP doesn't offer built-in 3G WWAN (mobile broadband from a provider such as AT&T or Verizon) with the Mini 2140. If you want to stay connected to the internet via WWAN you have to use an adapter card in the ExpressCard slot or one of the USB ports. It's sad to see that HP doesn't offer the option considering that smaller netbooks like the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 offer built-in WWAN.