another netbook deal

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

HP's 2133 netbook series seems to be very well thought-of EXCEPT that
it uses the Via C7 processor instead of the Intel Atom.  So it is
slower and hotter.  Oh, and they were expensive.

HP has ditched the line, I think.  They've come out with an Atom-based
model.  So the old ones are going for a very good price.  See here:
 http://h20386.www2.hp.com/CanadaStore/Product.aspx?pdetail=P41462

What about them is good?  (Note, this is based on reviews and no
actual use):

- the display is really nice and higher resolution than any other
  netbook: 1280 x 768.  Since it is 8.9", some may complain that this
  is actually too much resolution.  You can never have too much
  resolution: just scale things to be readable: then higher resolution
  yields sharper text rather than more of it.

- some reviews think that it has the best keyboard of any netbook.
  Of course your opinion is the only one that you should care about.

- the "fit and finish" and "look" seem to have been the best.  I
  suspect that this comes out of the higher price that they were
  designed for.

- two of the three models on sale have 6-cell batteries (on most
  netbooks, that adds about $100 to the price).  But I don't
  actually know how the C7 burns through that.  Of course that adds to
  the weight and might not be the right tradeoff for you.

- Two of the three have Blue Tooth.  Not present on all (any?) cheap
  netbooks (actually, I haven't kept score).

Unlike most netbooks, these come with Vista.  Of course we'd blow that
away and install Linux.  But it has implications: MS constrained the
power of netbooks that could have XP licenses, and these boxes don't
have those constraints.  Intel constrains systems with Atoms too, and
these don't have those constraints.  I think that one model has more
RAM than MS would allow for XP.  I think that the display resolution
may be above the XP constraint too.

I've heard that Staples is deeply discounting these too, but they
probably have little stock left.

Me?  I like the idea of a netbook, but it doesn't have a real niche in
my world because it isn't enough different from my 12" ThinkPad x61t.
If I needed a netbook, I'd seriously consider the third HP listed.

The second one is more expensive than the third but it has more RAM.
RAM is good (and less disk).  I don't know how easy and cheap it is to
upgrade the RAM.  There is a good chance that the Via C7 does not
support DDR2 and hence RAM might be more expensive than the amazing
DDR2 prices available these days.
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