 "Frickn great netbook" | 2009-10-31 |
| - Reviewed By User: ATR24C0VBW2NZ |
| This is an absolutely great netbook, looks great, very comfy keyboard, loud speakers, beautiful LED bright glass screen, and just an all around great machine. |
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| "Great Netbook, but has sound issues" | 2009-10-17 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1X1VYCGO21LBZ |
I am no tech expert but a simple laptop user. Here's my plain verdict on this netbook.
This is a great lightweight netbook, perfect if you mainly use a laptop to browse the Net on the go. The only complaint is that the box speakers have sound issues like an occasional crackling sound while playing music, talk, etc. The speakers are still powerful enough for a computer of this size. I don't have any other complaints on this wonderful netbook and I love that it is so very easy to carry around (the only problem I have with my MacBook Pro 17" notebook, but well of course I knew it when I got it. I wanted a bigger screen and was ready to put up with the weight). |
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 "Often appealing, occasionally frustrating" | 2009-10-03 |
| - Reviewed By User: A2QG3IF8RA1G9L |
Perhaps the best thing I can say about the HP mini 2140 after a 90-day shakedown cruise is that I use it more than I've used any laptop or computer. I move this thing around my home 10X a day, something I never did with bulkier laptops. On the down side, have noted a few significant limitations...well documented by other reviewers.
Battery life- If you want a bright, crisp display you'll need to set the battery on high performance. On this setting, expect less than two hours tops.
Battery malfunction - Early on the battery shut down whenever the power cord was disconnected after charging. HP online support was no help. I'm figuring the cause is overheating. If I mistakenly leave the laptop on plugged in overnight and remove the cord to go portable it often quits...abruptly. Battery shows no charge. Now I always end a session by selecting hibernate mode or shutting down and that's solved the problem for now.
Itunes and photos - Have loaded photos with no problem. Itunes is something of a disappointment. It may be that the latest 9.0 Itunes release is heavy and balky and straining the Mini's minimal horsepower.
Video - As others have noted, don't expect stellar video performance on the Mini. Youtube is ok and videos run but it's fairly choppy.
I've added an Asus dvd drive (08d1s-u amazon $60.24) and an Altec lansing external speaker (im 237 orbit, amazon $27.40) The speaker is good...recommended. Very good clarity for a baseball broadcast and reasonably good with music. The cord is too short, less than 12 inches, and it's easy to leave on accidentally and kill the three triple A batteries but otherwise a worthy accessory. The mini recognized and ran the Asus external drive but keep in mind (as others have noted) this will occupy both usb ports. You can't get around this by splitting the port - at least I couldn't - because the Asus would only power up when directly plugged into both ports. Because the USB's are on separate sides of the Mini, plan on buying a USB port extension cable. The cables on the Asus are too short to easily span the keyboard to reach both ports.
I consider the Mini 2140 a well designed product with a few bugs and obvious limitations in speed and performance. It's analogous to the trade-off between a pocket-sized digital camera vs. a full sized SLR. You'll notice and occasionally curse the shortcomings but you'll take the thing everywhere and that's the value proposition.
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| "Third netbook's a charm" | 2009-07-31 |
| - Reviewed By rasghar4 |
I loved the concept of a netbook because I'm a writer who just needs basic word-processing, web and portability. Oh, and affordability -- I don't like paying $1900 for a tiny version of a Sony vaio.
I first tried buying a 9" Asus, which was astonishingly portable -- but it was way too small to be practical, so I gave it to my 7 year old niece. I then got an Acer Aspire One that had a better keyboard but which still was slightly too small. The niece will get this one too.
The HP 1000 series struck me as having the perfect keyboard, and I decided to get the 2140 because it has a classy aluminum case and some ruggedness.
It's taken me a while to get used to the smaller screen. But I've finally started using it and adjusting to it. And it's giving me all the basic functionality I need, with great portability and the kind of aesthetics that make you proud to own it. |
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 "Serious WIFI problems for the 2140" | 2009-07-15 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3ADI82ABYSOYG |
| I wanted a 2140 high-rez for a long time and finally bought one just before it was discontinued by HP. I was soooo excited to get it as it is a sexy and slick looking little machine. I wanted to like this machine so bad, but the 2140 has serious connection issues, in terms of WI-FI, and does not connect to many different signals and routers. You can't just take it to a coffee shop, because there is at least a 50% chance it won't work with their router. It is a useless machine, as it has terrible WI-FI. Just do a search on Google that reads "2140 wireless problems", and you will find large forum discussions of 2140 owners that have this same problem, or inability to connect wirelessly to the internet, and there is NO FIX available. The machine is fundamentally flawed and I believe it was discontinued because of this flaw. HP took the machine back, and I still believe they are a good company, but this machine is a dud. |
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| "HP 2140 mini-note with Vista" | 2009-07-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: AOZI2MDHZAS1F |
| Love this mini HP 2140 laptop. The keyboard is easy to use, the screen is bright and clear and I can F11 for a full screen view without the header bars to get more of a webpage view when I am online. I use this mostly for e-mail and web browsing. The battery is great-easily last four hours. I did not purchase the larger battery. Weight is less than 3 lbs. I combed reviews on mini netbooks and on this particular product before I ended up choosing the 2140 model. One recommendation I would make is not to use Vista with this laptop. It isn't really configured for a mini although the machine was sold with Vista and a trial on Windows 7. I talked with an HP rep I met recently and he told me he had just attended a netbook conference and that HP had decided NOT to put the Vista operating system on the mini notebooks as they aren't configured to run it successfully. He asked me where I had gotten one with Vista. I just loaded Windows XP instead and it works very well. I may load Windows 7 in October when it becomes available but I am waiting to see how it works on other netbooks first. |
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