Well, I thought it was about time I reviewed this tiny little netbook; the HP Mini-PC 2133.

Wayne bought me one of these little netbooks for Christmas, and it came pre-installed with Linux Suse installed.
I opened it up, and plugged it in to charge; then I switched it on.

Half-way through boot-up, it crashed. Not a good sign I thought. I switched it off, and back on – still the same problem… Not a good start!

Anyway, my plan was to format the netbook anyway, so I thought well I may as well get on with it – I formatted it and installed Windows XP Home edition. One downside of netbooks, is that the lack a CD-Rom drive – luckily I have a USB DVD-RW drive perfect for this occasion!

For the size of the netbook, it generates a hell of a lot of heat! I mean it actually burns my leg! Something I’m going to have to keep an eye on.

So XP didn’t take long to install, and as I already had downloaded all the drivers and utilities that the netbook needed, it too next to no time to get on the internet. I did all the Windows Updates, and this little netbook flies along!

The netbook comes with 1GB of RAM standard, so I upgraded it to 2GB and it really made a huge difference; the difference that meant I could open Photoshop at a reasonable speed, and also play Broken Sword 3 on it decently!
With 1GB of RAM, the netbook automatically takes 128MB for the graphics, but with 2GB it automatically doubles the graphics card capabilites – it now takes 256MB.

Built into the netbook is a Webcam, Bluetooth, Wireless, LAN and also a VGA-Out port (ideal for projectors/screen). It’s really built for internet access, and is really light – the case is completely metal, which could be one of the reasons for it getting really hot (metal conducting the heat).

Anyway, onto the problem. The netbook refuses to shut down – you go to shutdown, it goes through the whole process and then switched the LCD off and stops there; the motherboard forgets to switch off.
The same happens with Sleep and Hibernate mode.

Formatting the netbook and reinstalling XP without drivers results in the same problem. Also happens in Vista – with and without drivers.

Getting onto HP via e-Mail, they give me a couple of things to try (including updating the BIOS); no difference.
So they’ve picked up the netbook and it’s now in the repair center. When it comes back, I’ll give a more detailed review… for now, I hope that’s enough to wet your appetite.

Before I forget – the netbook’s ¬£350 in PC World, on EBuyer.com it’s under ¬£201 including next day delivery! Bargain!

Edit: I’ve written a follow-up review of the HP Repair Service Here..