Tablets, Ultra Portables

News, reviews and articles about tablets and ultra portable computers and accessories.

Netbook Face-Off: Acer Aspire One versus HP Mini 1000

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I was excited when Julie told her main article contributors that she was sending us HP Mini 1000 netbooks in December, but for an entirely different reason. See, I’d already purchased an Acer Aspire One only a few months earlier, and I was quite interested in seeing how the HP Mini stood up against the […]

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HP Mini 1000 Team Review (Hackintoshing)

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For my portion of the HP Mini 1000 Team review, I volunteered to ‘hackintosh’ the netbook. Hackintoshing is where you get a windows/linux computer running a hacked version of the Mac OS. So, in this review I will be discussing the level of difficulty of acquiring and installing the hacked OSX, usability on the Mini

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HP Mini 1000 Netbook – Love and Hate, Plus Its Affect On My Domestic Life

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I have to be honest, when Julie communicated to her Gadgeteer Geek Gang that we would all be getting a new HP Mini 1000 XP Series Netbook, I was overcome with a feeling much like when I was a kid at Christmas.  You know, that happy/joyous feeling of anticipation that fills the youthful spirit until the

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HP Mini 1000 Netbook – Vivienne Tam Designer Edition

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Can a laptop create a fashion statement? It can when a famous New York designer like Vivienne Tam puts her artistic stamp on it. Case in point – The HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Designer Edition Netbook. It has the same bits and pieces inside that the regular Black swirly Mini has in it, but

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MSI Wind Netbook Review

Mobile gadget enthusiasts can’t visit their favorite gadget news sites without being bombarded with news about the latest netbooks. Whether you want to refer to this category of extremely portable and affordable laptops as subnotebooks, ultraportables, UMPCs, MIDs or netbooks, is entirely up to you. What I call them is a whole lot of fun and convenience in a small package. The first netbook to capture our interest was the ASUS Eee PC, then it was the HP Mini-Note. Now it’s the MSI Wind. Let’s see if it’s worthy enough for a spot in your gear bag…

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ASUS Eee PC 4G (701) Review

Last year, Asus rocked the UMPC world with their announcement of a small, ultra-portable laptop – for only $200. Several
revisions, image leaks, speculative reports, and price increases later, the eeePC line was officially released – with
$200 added to price tag and 512MB RAM pulled from the default specs. I’ve had the flagship 701 model with 4GB of
solid-state disk space and a 0.3MP (300,000 pixel) webcam. Other model options include the 2G ($300) and 4G ($350)
Surfs with 2GB and 4GB SSD and no webcam, as well as the 8GB SSD/1GB RAM 8G at $500.

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HP 2133 Mini-Note PC Review

I love my 15 inch Macbook Pro when I use it at home on the couch, but my affection wears thin when I travel with it. Carrying it a gear bag slung over my shoulder and having to pull it out at various airport security checks, does get old. That’s why anytime I see a small computer, my interest is immediately piqued. When HP contacted me last week to offer me a look at their new ultra-portable HP2133 Mini-Note PC, I was happy to oblige. Here’s a quick look at it…

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OQO Model 02 Ultra Personal Computer

In October of 1993, I bought what was then my ideal computer. It fit in my pocket, had a full QWERTY keyboard with dedicated numeric keypad, had lots of built-in apps, ran all my DOS programs with ease, had a gorgeous monochrome LCD screen and ran for 20 hours on two AA batteries. It was the HP 200LX. For years I used this machine for PIM storage, keeping grades for my students, writing a diary and keeping my important text documents on hand for easy reference. I moved to a new Windows-based grading program a year and a half ago, but I had used my 200LX for all that time. It still sits in my gadget cabinet, one gadget that will never see the light of Ebay.

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Sony Vaio VGN-UX50 uPC review

Ultra portable PCs (uPC) seem to be really hot right now. With
Microsoft’s Ultra Mobile PC (UMPC) / Origami devices being announced here there and everywhere, it looks like this product category has the potential to become as popular as PDAs were a few years ago.

Maybe… Exactly one year ago I reviewed the
Sony Vaio VGN-U71P ultra portable Windows XP PC. Despite a few minor complaints, that little guy made a very good travel companion. To this day I kick myself for deciding to get rid of it… Especially now that I don’t have even one Windows PC in the house any longer. Yes, Mac person here.

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OQO Model 01+ Ultra Personal Computer

Last summer I had the opportunity to review a very small Windows XP computer from Sony. The Vaio VGN-U71P made a good travel companion, but wasn’t perfect due to the fact that you had to also pack a folding keyboard, AC adapter brick and docking station with you if you wanted access to all its

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Sony Vaio VGN-U71P review

I’ve always been a huge fan of very small computers and have had several such devices throughout the years. A few notable ones come to mind… Remember the REX PC Companion? It was a PDA in a PCMCIA card form factor. What about the hard to find IBM PC110 palmtop computer? Then there was the  Toshiba Libretto.

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