More than a week ago HP America had shipped this beautiful machine for review on our sister site Gizmodiva. After my colleague Deepa was done with this little lappie I decided to take it for a spin for PClaunches. Deepa’s review focuses completely on the Vivienne Tam Edition of HP Mini 1000, but over at PClaunches my focus was on Mini 1000 Series in general. So if you want to know the true beauty of this machine from a girl’s perspective then head to Gizmodiva for Deepa’s review. Else read on for review of HP Mini 1000 Series in general.
(Full review after the break)

Technical specification of review unit:

• Genuine Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3 Operating System
• Intel Atom Processor N270 (1.60GHz)
• 10.1” Diagonal WSVGA HP LED Brightview Infinity Display (1024 x 576)
• 1GB DDR2 System Memory (1 Dimm)
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 60GB 4,200RPM PATA Hard Drive
• HP Mini Webcam with HP Imprint Finish (Vivienne Tam)
• HP Color Matching Keyboard
• HP Color, Design Matching Mouse
• 2-in-1 Media Card Reader
• 2x USB 2.0 Ports, 1 Ethernet Port
• Wireless-G Card with Bluetooth
• 3 Cell Lithium Polymer Battery
• 1-year HP Accidental Damage Protection ($109.99 value)
• 6 month SmartFriend Calling Card ($159.99 value)

Design: Of the girl, by the girl, for the girl

Basically, I don’t have enough words to describe the beauty of HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition netbook. It’s simply gorgeous. Very rarely you find a girlie product which is not only sexy, but also very sophisticated. And HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition netbook is one of them. Also, thanks to its red color and beautiful design it looks very chic. The VT series not only looks good in the hands of college girls but also in the hands of female corporate executives. It’s a netbook through which they can sport a classy personality. But of all, the Vivienne Tam netbook is best for a female student.

A word for girls: Whether you study in school / college / university doesn’t matter as the HP Mini 1000 VT netbook will assist you in all your class assignments, as well as on some online fun. Also, if you’re too much into fashion then there’s no other better option than this so if money is not an issue then without a single thought just go for it!

A word of caution for guys: Don't carry the Vivienne Tam Edition netbook because it looks completely girlie. Better be content with normal HP Mini 1000 unless and until HP comes out with a male designer version of this beautiful Vivienne Tam Edition netbook.

Performance:

In all, the netbook performs well. If HP improves some features then it’s a sure-shoot 5-Star rating machine. Thanks to its Intel Atom processor and 1GB DDR2 RAM, the netbook performs exceptionally well. Also, due to 1024 x 576 screen resolution you can see almost all websites in full.

I have a habit of pushing machines to their limits, and when I pushed this one to its limits it passed with flying colors. Though the machine came with no additional software except for Windows XP Home Basic, I installed couple of software for testing purpose. I installed Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe DreamWeaver, Yahoo Messenger, Skype, Google Talk, Google Earth, Apple iTunes, Winamp, RealPlayer, CCleaner and AVG, and boy the netbook runs all of them.

At one point I was performing following tasks -- web browsing using Internet Explorer with almost ten tabs + editing a document in Microsoft Word + editing a photo in Photoshop + chatting with a friend on Yahoo Messenger + listening to music on Winamp -- but still the machine worked without any glitches. So no matter how much basic computing you do the HP Mini 1000 VT netbook will not give you a tough time.

Pros:

There are many pros of this machine. It looks amazing, performs flawlessly, and last but not the least is extremely portable. I carried this netbook to college, shopping mall, and coffee joint, but thanks to its light weight I just didn’t felt any burden. In fact, the machine is so light that you can easily hold this machine with only one hand. You can easily put this netbook in your backpack and head to college without any problem. Also, thanks to its small and sleek frame it won’t occupy too much desk space in a classroom.

Let me tell you, using this machine for programming when you are in a class is awesome fun. In a programming class my classmates were trying to write programs in their heavy notebooks but I was making use of an ultra-light netbook! Also, playing simple Flash games when a boring lecture is in progress is fun!!!

On the other hand, when you’re at home you can lie on your comfy bed and surf internet without having to stick to a table and chair. This was certainly the best part. Just lie in your bed and surf Digg, YouTube, MySpace, Facebook etc. Also, thanks to its 1024 x 576 screen resolution you can see almost all websites in full.

Cons:

1) Webcam
2) Battery

The worst part of this machine is its webcam. It has a VGA camera of very poor quality. In fact, this netbook’s VGA webcam is worse then other HP notebooks’ webcam (which are also not that great). The images are too dark, meaning you just can’t use this camera for chatting purpose. But still if you happen to use it for chat, it'll always make you look from the dark side.

Another flaw of this machine is its battery. Though it’s on par with any other netbook’s battery, if you push the netbook crazily then the battery will give up in just more than an hour. On the other hand if you don’t multitask then you might be able to run this machine for two hours. Hope the Mini 1000 offers 6-Cell battery so that it can be run for some more time.

Also, its trackpad is bit rough. It would have been better had its trackpad was more smooth. The Mini 1000 VT netbook only offers two USB ports, so if you use wireless mouse then one port will be occupied by its receiver and you'll be left with only one additional port, which is too less. One more port is certainly needed! One more cons I feel is that the adapter is simple black. A matching designer adapter is always welcomed!

Conclusion:

On the whole it’s a very good netbook. Amazing looks + good performance. The only deterring factor is money as the starting price of Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition netbook is $699. But if money is not an issue then you must go for it. A girl cannot get a better netbook. On the other hand if you’re a male with deep pockets then gift this netbook to your wife / girlfriend this Valentine. She would love it. My pockets aren’t that deep else would certainly think of gifting it to my girlfriend. In fact, when she saw this netbook she loved it so much that she’s planning to ask her dad to buy her this beautiful lappie.

P.S. Wish HP had a male designer version of Vivienne Tam Edition netbook so that could expect something this Valentine from my girlfriend!

Rating: 3.5/5