Thoughts on the HP Mini-Note under WinXP

I've been running XP on the HP Mini-Note for a few days now and it's time to share some of my thoughts on the system.  Fast.  Everything is instantly responsive under XP and it still surprises me how quickly some things run.  My old faithful resource hogs, Outlook 2007 and OneNote 2007, open quickly and perform faster on the Mini-Note running XP than they do on my Dual Core 2 equipped Tablet PCs, both of them.  Hit an icon and boom something happens.  Surfing the web is quick and easy and the high-res screen makes it very pleasant.  Some other users have taken steps to make things appear bigger on the 8.9" screen for easier viewing but I haven't had to do that.  That's probably because I am already used to the 1280x768 running on the 8.9" screen on the Fujitsu P1620.  It's great having everything fit on the screen at once.

Standby and resume takes a maximum of 2 seconds.  That's faster than any device I use running Vista and a bit faster than the Mini-Note under Vista.  If you watch the HDD activity light under XP it doesn't do anything while the device is just sitting there, something you never see under Vista.  If Vista is running so is the HDD it seems and I find that adds delays to the standby and resume process.  No such issue under XP.  Hibernation and resume takes about 1:15, probably due to the Mini having 2 GB of memory.  It's writing and reading that entire memory image to disk every time and that's just slower than you might expect.  I just use standby myself so it's not a problem for me.

All of the internal hardware components are properly installed under XP and everything is working with the exception of the on-screen indicators for volume and screen brightness.  The buttons providing those functions work fine but there is no on-screen indicator showing the levels.  Not a big deal for me but some might not like that. 

Skype video calls were not usable under Vista but happily they are OK under XP.  I didn't have to do any tweaking, just installed Skype under XP and they work OK.  The video quality is not going to win any Academy Awards but it is quite passable which is a big improvement over Vista.

All in all I am pleased with the Mini-Note running Windows XP.  Bear in mind that I didn't really have any problems with it running Vista Business (other than the Skype problem).  I just wanted to give XP a try since HP is going to offer it as an option for consumers and report here.  It is very good and if it was my choice I would order the Mini with XP instead of Vista.  Might as well get the fastest system possible for the money.

Comments

[Jennifer]

How would you quantify the difference in the "general feel" of XP v. Vista. Say, if you were to put them both on a 1 to 10 scale of overall "speed satisfaction"?

If someone were to take away your Mini and then hand you a brand new one, do you feel you would just switch to XP right off the bat?

Your reports so far have certainly got me thinking, 'Now where did I put that extra copy of Windows XP...'

[Nate]

I'm beginning to wish that I had an extra copy of XP.

Now where did I put that credit card...

[Craig]

Thanks for the update, JK. It's amazing how consistently XP provides a better user experience on these low-powered ultraportables than Vista does. It's almost like Microsoft never even considered this class of device when designing its newest OS. I hope at least this will be a lesson for them for Windows 7.

[ArchiMark]

James,

This reminds me of the 'upgrade to XP tablet' operation that I did to my Fujitsu U810 as soon as I got it....

After experiencing Vista on several on mini-puters the past year, I knew what to do after I pulled that lil' guy outa 'da box.... ;-)

It's a shame really, as Vista has some things about it other than speed and performance...so, if MS could get their act together and fix Vista to not have all the performance hiccups, I'd use it....

And to echo what you've said before, don't get why MS hasn't come out with a 'Vista Lite' for smaller mobile devices...

So it goes....

[gork]

You need to try Ubuntu or SuSE on the Mini-Note. Have heard little about how Linux runs on this beast except it may be a while before Compiz Fusion works. The Chrome 9 graphics card doesn't have good support on Linux yet but it's coming thanks to VIA's Open Source contribution.

[BanziBen]

I was wondering if when you had Vista on this if you tried it with SP1? I have found on all the systems that I manage (about 10 that currently dual boot Vista and XP) and I have seen a speed increase where Vista's speed equals or exceeds XP SP2 speed.

Also did you try XP with SP3?

Thanks for the great blog.

[James Kendrick]

Yes, I had Vista SP1 running on the Mini. I did not notice any speed increase with SP1 but then I haven't noticed that on any device yet.

I am currently running XP SP3 on the Mini.

[jmoney]

JK, how does hulu look on it? does it have trouble playing the high-res flash files? and have you tried sling on it?

[James Kendrick]

I just watched some clips in Hulu and it was OK. Some minor choppiness at full screen but overall quite passable. I haven't tried sling on it yet.

[Jon M]

Thank you for the updated comments using Win XP on the Mini-Note. I know that downgrading the OS helps. With my Fujitsu U810 Vista was eating it alive, even with everything dumbed down. With XP on it it runs so much better and it can deal with Skype better as well. The more I read your reviews of the HP Mini Note, the more I want to buy one.

[Nate]

@gork

Everything I've read about the SUSE Mini-Note is not good. It sounds like it was, sort of, slapped together.

[Ricky B.]

I heard the same thing... it's apparently using an old version of SuSE that doesn't even support the power saving features of the via chips, and the 3d "drivers" have to be downloaded from Via's site and installed.

I mean, it doesn't sound too bad for someone used to Linux -- you can upgrade SuSE to the latest version by adding the OpenSuSE repositories and hitting "update" and the drivers is the same kind of fiddling you have to do with Nvidia and ATI -- but... I can't help but think that HP and/or Novell really dropped the ball with this one.

[Gilo]

"If you watch the HDD activity light under XP it doesn't do anything while the device is just sitting there, something you never see under Vista."

along with heavy CPU & GPU utilization, this is another reason Vista devices get less battery life.

there is a HUGE difference in HDD power consumption between idle & active states (usually about 2watts, which is alot on 10watt machines)

[TirDir]

isn't it amazing how slow Vista is compared to XP when MS claimed that all of Vista's new innovations would make it faster?

Vista innovations like advanced prefetching, advanced boot time routines, advanced indexing, etc.

yet when compared to XP, Vista loads apps slower, boots slower, runs slower overall.

can you imagine how slow Vista would be if it didnt have all these little "tricks" up it's sleeve? i can't believe how badly designed & resource heavy Vista is essentially for just a prettier GUI. yes there are alot of backend changes but nothing really noticeable to the user or more stable (completely redid IP stack & it still seems the same). the primary difference to the user are small things like Mobility Center, new firewall, etc.

[Narziss]

Could you please make a youtube video watching something on hulu and perhaps making a video call with skype? I would really appreciate this. Thank you.

[Mike Cane]

This is just like Kendrick. All of you think he does these posts for your benefit. It's his endless plot to drive me into an insane frenzy of envy and jealousy. Next he'll do *another* post about OS X on the Mini.

Oh wait ...

[Hanzo]

Hi James,

I saw a link today and it mentioned the possibility that upcoming new HP Mini MAYBE will show up in months.

http://www.dailytech.com/Intels+Atom+Will+Face+Shortages+Through+Q3/article11658.htm

The interesting part is:

"A VIA engineer has already stated that Isaiah processors will show up in HP's 2133 Mini-Note PC within the next few months and Everex's CloudBook Max is another likely candidate for the new 65nm processor."

I don't know you guys but...I am preparing to buy another Level-up Mini!

[Matthew]

Hay I'm thinking of buying one .If i go backward and put xp on it doesn't that mean i cant get vista back on with me going and buying it.Also i would i need a external ROM drive to install xp will i not.
Cheer's Matt