For the past week I have been using a HP Mini -basically a netbook. A netbook is a laptop notebook that is about the size of a large Day Planner - only thinner and lighter. Generally netbooks do not come with a cd/dvd drive of any kind. They do have multiple USB ports. This model is no different. There are two USB ports and a serial port. There's another area for hookup but it doesn't open when pushed and I just haven't been in the mood to mess with it. It's probably hookups for media (ie flash cards).
The hard drive is sufficently large (102 gigs) and the installed memory is 2 gigs. The system has built in Wi-Fi (love it). The OS is Vista.
The system can be a little slow loading at start up but if you put it into sleep or hibernate it loads very quickly.
Productivity includes a trial version of MS Office. I opted to install Open Office instead. It's free (they do ask for a donation and will be getting one) and will open MS Office docs. The catch is sending Open Office docs to others. You have to make certain you save it in the right format for others to be able to open.
I also opted not to use Outlook or IE and installed Thunderbird and Firefox. I am quite happy with both of these. They are similar enough to MS products to make using them very easy.
The biggest adjustments with the Mini are the keyboard and the screen. The keys are actually spaced perfectly for my hands...except for the space bar. I'm used to have a lot of space for my thumbs at the space bar and the confined thumb space takes some getting used to.
The screen is small and if you have bad vision you will need to use the accessibility options in order to increase the size of objects on the screen. Even with good vision the screen can be challenging if you are tired.
The whole system fits easily within a normal woman's purse but I'd still recommend getting a carrier of some sort. It also heats up a lot on the side with the power button so I purchased a cooling pad (would recommend you do the same).
I'm not going into specs any more than I have. Unless youare really into computers the specs will basically mean nothing to you but I will post the link to the HP site at the bottom of this review. My review is basically for people looking for a "laptop" that is easy to use and convenient to carry and this is it.
Overall I'm loving this HP Mini better than my old laptop.
http://www.shopping.hp.com/mini/
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