Here is something interesting that I found out about this new netbook from the house of HP: A business class netbook and the first choice for anyone who spends most of the time on the road travelling from one place to another and needs something handy for online communication. HP Mini 2140 is the successor of HP 2133 Mini-Note. Retaining most of the features of the predecessor, this new HP Mini 2140 has something more to offer and this is what I am going to share with you. I really had some good experience with this newcomer and it did considerably well on all fronts!

Build

HP Mini 2140

The chassis of the HP Mini 2140 is made of solid magnesium and aluminum alloy and comes with a spill-resistant keyboard. I think HP made this netbook keeping in mind my awkward habit of keeping my cup of coke right beside my netbook! Amazing piece of engineering can be found in this newbie which houses an accelerometer with a capability of detecting a free fall and thereby shuts down the hard drive to prevent any damage. This justifies the price which is on a higher end!

Design

Look wise, I will better call it a clone of the HP 2133 Mini-Note. The keyboard is large with almost full sized keys and has a small touch pad with the buttons being placed on either side of the touch pad instead of placing them underneath the touch pad! The HP Mini 2140 offers a wider screen than its siblings and has a 10.1 inch display! The Intel Atom processor makes it faster than the HP Mini-Note 2133. The device is a few millimeters larger than the counterparts and allows HP to squeeze in a full sized VGA port and an Express Card slot and also a larger HDD. The hinges of the netbook are made of metal alloy along with steel pin axels and this makes it very durable.

Keyboard

The keyboard is the best feature of the netbook and it extends from one end of the HP Mini-Note 2140 to the other and this means that even if HP wanted to accommodate a larger keyboard that was not at all feasible. The right and left shift keys are full size and there are two Alt buttons but only one Fn key! The keys are flat and there is very little space between the keys. The keyboard gives a good typing experience once you are accustomed to the low key spacing factor.

The keyboard is also spill resistant against the minor spill and has HP’s Durakeys clear coating so that the printed characters are not worn out! The touch pad is small and does not support multi touch gestures. There is a strip on the right side for scroll functionality. The mouse buttons are placed on the right and the left of the touch pad and hence one-hand operation is not possible. This however helps in accommodating the larger keyboard.

Display

This netbook features a bright, glossy display and provides an aspect ratio of 16:9. The 1024×576 pixel resolution leads to a loss of 25,000 pixels compared to the general 1024×600 pixel screen. The glossy screen is not suitable for outdoor uses but the brightness can be increased to ridiculous levels to make it work outdoors.

Battery and performance

Under standard test conditions the battery lasts for a reasonable 3.5hours +. It performs decently for non-CPU intensive tasks. The system boots up to the desktop in 45 seconds but takes a disappointing 32 seconds for shut down. The integrated webcam performs quite well and has a function for adjusting the screen resolution, backlight compensation, adjusting zoom level and selecting output format for video and images.

Conclusion

Certainly not the cheapest one but yes, I found the HP 2140 Mini to be at par with the price tag. It has a lot to offer compared to other standard netbooks. So, cheers! We have something that will not hang our face down out of frustration!