Digital Home Thoughts: Real World Reviews: The Vivienne Tam HP Mini 1000

This is a new type of review that I'm experimenting with - rather than me doing an exhaustive review of a product, I'm giving a a product to someone else for a couple of weeks and asking them about their experience using it. I think there's a lot of value in real-world testing of products by people who aren't experts, because as much as I try to put on my "Everyman Hat" when I'm testing a product, I still carry bias with me. In this case, it was my wife Ashley who was given the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition netbook to use over a period of a month, because, hey, it's made for women so who better to test it?

Q: Let's start with first impressions. What did you think of the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition when you first saw it?

A: I loved it! I had no idea that any laptop companies had even thought of partnering with world class designers to make the laptops they were selling more aesthetically appealing to their customers - specifically women. Everywhere I take my HP Mini, I get tons of compliments and people asking me what it is and where I got it! It's definitely a great conversation piece.

Q: So beyond the initial impact of the design and colour, what did you think of the size and weight?

A: Again, I love this about it: it's so small, light and compact. I could put it in my purse and carry it with me to a meeting if I needed to. The only downside is the comparatively huge power brick and cables. With such a small device, it would sure be nice to have an equally small power brick!

Q: You've used it at several meetings where you work - how was the keyboard for typing? Did you have to adapt to it very much, or was it pretty natural? Anything HP could improve in the keyboard department?

A: I find this keyboard to be really usable, actually. Many of the smaller notebooks and netbooks compromise the size of the keys in order to "make them fit" into the smaller form factor. With the HP Mini, there was no compromise, and I haven't had any trouble adapting to the keyboard at all. It's like I'm typing on a regular sized keyboard, with all the same keys that are all the right sizes! I honestly don't know that they could improve anything with regards to the keyboard in my opinion.

Q: Battery life is always important for a laptop. How have you found the battery life on this netbook?

A: Ah, the age-old question of battery life. I was a bit surprised at how little time I was able to use the Mini - two hours until the battery was down to 16%, and this was only being used to type meeting minutes, so I wasn't using it to browse the Web or for any memory or CPU intensive tasks. 19 minutes later, it was down to 1% battery life, so that's 2 hours and 19 minutes from fully charged to fully drained. This was with the screen at full brightness and WiFi turned on, so I'm sure that if I'd lessened the brightness and turned WiFi off, I'd have gotten more battery life out of it - but in a bright office, the screen brightness needs to stay cranked up. Given that it's so portable, it would be great to see even 3-4 hours of battery life so I don't have to haul the big power brick with me everywhere.

Q: A 10.1 inch screen is probably smaller than you're used to - how did you find the screen size? What about the screen resolution - how well did the resolution work for Web browsing and word processing?

A: Screen size is great - I don't have any complaints in that department. As for screen resolution, Web pages don't format all that well for the screen resolution, but F11 helps a bit by expanding the visible screen while in Internet Explorer. I haven't done a ton of web surfing on the Mini Note, but my experience has definitely been heightened by using the F11 function.

Q: Let's talk accessories. What are your thoughts on the included silk-like case, and the matching mouse?

A: I thought the silk case was a very nice touch, although the one I got was a smidge too small so I haven't been able to use it at all to transport my Mini Note - which kind of defeats the whole purpose of it. I've been told the cases shipping now are a big bigger, but HP should have gotten this right from the beginning. I also really like the optional matching mouse and wireless USB dongle. It's very classy that even the small dongle has a matching cover on it to the rest of the set!

Q: Any quirks or frustrations you've found while using it?

A: No quirks as of yet, and my only frustration is probably just the low screen resolution and the short battery life.

Q: The Vivienne Tam Edition is, currently, $220 USD more expensive than the regular HP Mini 1000. If you were considering buying one for yourself, do you think it's worth the added cost?

A: I think for a unique and one-of-a-kind look like the Vivienne Tam edition, the added cost is worth paying. If I were in the market for such a device, I wouldn't hestiate to pay $220 USD extra for it. It's still less money than many notebooks, and because of the small size and the unique design, I'd be happy to buy one at that cost. The portability is invaluable!

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