Seven Days with the Mini Note (last few days)
Friday
Aug 1, 2008
Okay, so I didn’t really get to post my observations for the past couple of days. Been busy with a whole lot of things. Let me just list down some points I noticed.
I’ve been playing with the Mini Note’s accelerometer, and I’m pretty much surprised it works as well as it’s supposed to. If you try jerking your Mini note around while turned on, the hard drive LED will turn amber, which means the drive is automatically parked to prevent the heads crashing. I don’t think you need any additional software or drivers for this, but HP’s 3d drive guard driver lets you control whether the accelerometer is on or off.
I do have “drive guard” markings on my B1256, but I can’t figure out how to turn it on, or if it actually exists on my bigger laptop.
Also, I notice that the touchpad isn’t as big as it appears. The surface area is small enough as it is (compared to my EeePC 900’s). But the actual tracking area is even smaller. You have to touch the touchpad about one centimeter from the edges before it detects movement. And I thought it was the whole area! I think I’ve been spoiled by my EeePC’s touchpad, with its size and multi-touch functionality. The EeePC’s touchpad plus the Mini note’s keyboard would definitely make a winer out of any netbook.
I also noticed that you don’t have the option of turning off the bluetooth only or the wifi radio only with a switch or even with software settings. On my B1256, HP gives you the option to switch on or off either WiFI, bluetooth, or both at the same time. This translates to added battery juice when you’re using just one. One could turn BT or WiFi only off in BIOS, but that would be too much of a hassle, having to reboot the computer.
Lastly, I’ve been scouring local retail stores for sleeves that would fit the Mini note, to no avail. HP’s Mini note is one of the more expensive netbooks around and you’d think that they would include carrying accessories. Both my EeePCs came with sleeves. Acer’s Aspire one has a sleeve. The MSI Wind comes with a zip-up sleeve. The Mini note? Nada.
I’ll be returning this review unit soon. Perhaps I’ll get myself my own Mini note one of these days.
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