Williamo’s Blog.

Cool article from Wired about HP’s Eee PC competitor. I’ve personally used the Eee PC (7″ model) and liked it, with the exception of the miniscule keyboard. Okay to use for a little while, but painful for anything but a short typing session. This might be the answer…

HP 2133 Mini Notebook

It’s been less than a year since Asus first sprinkled its Eee PCs with magical miniaturizing dust, yet these low-cost, diminutive laptops have already taken off like an F/A-18 catapulted from an aircraft carrier. In the past nine months alone, the industry has produced a spate of “mini-me-too” offerings, including Cloudbooks, Airs, Winds and other ebulliently named subnotebooks.

Seriously, it was only a matter of time before the big boys of computing decided to get in on this burgeoning and potentially lucrative category. Dell has already announced plans to release a cheap (and derivatively named) E mini notebook for $300 in August. And then there’s HP with its new 2133.

Despite beating Dell to market by a few months, it’s clear the company put a substantial amount of thought into its initial offering. Price-wise, the 2133 remains competitive with other itty-bitty notebooks, coming in at $600 for the Vista Business version. A Linux OS is available for $100 less while a Windows XP “upgrade” will cost you $100 more.

(continued at Wired Gadget Lab)