HP Mini 1000 Netbook

With big players like Asus and Dell entering the Netbook realm, HP too now boasts a brand new entry in this market - The HP Mini 1000 Netbook. It certainly looks like an aggressive entry in this competitive market with a nice price point of $399.

The overall build is pure quality, and we can't emphasize enough how important it is for a computer, especially a small, super-portable computer, not to feel like a toy in your hands. This puppy weighs 2.4 pounds in the 10.2-inch configuration, and hardly flexes a millimeter, with a solid screen, hinge and body. It's only slightly less than one inch thick, which is bested handily by the Eee PC S101, but the shrunk-to-fit 16:10 form factor means that "clutch" moniker is more than just marketing speak, it's a whole new way to carry your laptop, and we find it to be plenty small.

The edge to edge keyboard is definitely nice and impressive. One thing to note is the positioning of the left and right click buttons on the track pad. It certainly looks like the keys were not meant to be easily accessed for some weird reason. Another disappointment is the amazingly low resolution LED backlight display screen. This baby also comes with Windows XP (I know, I hate Vista too!).