Is this a good laptop? Wife is going back to school...

[jakobkraft]

She's currently using an aging IBM Thinkpad PIII, 900 MHz, 30GB, which I think it's time to upgrade. I love the compact form factor of the Thinkpads but the newer models are too pricey for me.

I saw this today: http://www.jr.com/hp/pe/HP_KX870AT/

Her primary concerns are portability and speed; re: portability, this model is perfectly sized...but is it a strong performer? I know coming from a PIII, it should meet her expectations but even so, I haven't heard a lot about VIA processors - just AMD & Intel.

Any info would be greatly appreciated - thanks in advance

 

[Twsmit]

That is a subnotebook. 8.9" screen will be incredibly small, make sure that is what she wants. For $500-700 there is a plethora of HP/Dell/Gateway laptops with 2ghz Core2 processors configured with a couple gigs of ram and 14 or 15" screens, that might be a better option.

 

[DarkRogue]

Problem is the larger the screen, the less portable it becomes.
8.9" is very much easier to carry around all the time than a heavy 15" or larger.

If you want a Thinkpad again, you could try posting a WTB request over on the thinkpads.com forum, quite a few people there sell the X series often.

As for the original question, you could always Google for reviews about that specific machine, or check NotebookReview or NotebookForum.

 

[Check]

I agree with Twsmit, that notebook is going to be tiny and chances are the keyboard is going to be cramped and possibly have a weird layout to it.

If I were you I would grab a used IBM (lenovo) off the forums or eBay. That's what I did a year and a half ago and it was one of the best purchases I have made. Depending on how proficient she is at typing you might want to see if you can get a used tablet. A couple of my friends have those and love them for any class where there are diagrams or figures to be drawn.

Personally I would stay away from VIA. I haven't heard anything bad about the, but then again I haven't heard anything good about them either.

 

[jdkick]

I would agree that 8.9" is awfully small. As appealing as the portability is, I think the size of the LCD would prove far less useful in time. And seriously, a 14.1" WXGA notebook is still very easy to carry around. If portability is *that* much of an issue you could look at something like HPs tx2xxx series for a 12.1" WXGA display, but I wouldn't go any smaller then that.

Depending on your budget and how crucial her notebook will be during her studies, you may want to consider looking at a business model that offers a factory 3-year warranty and includes or has options for more expedient service.

 

[DarkRogue]

That's entirely personal preference. It's a fact that an 8.9" is more portable than even a 12.1" but as far as being usable, that's up to each individual user.
I personally would not go below 14", and my 15" is quite heavy as it is - I'll bring it around but I really don't feel like carrying it EVERYWHERE with me.
However, my friend has a 12.1" and wishes to go even smaller. I pointed out the screens and keyboards would be incredibly tiny - he saw one for himself and said it would not interfere with his ability to work, and in fact, would enhance it due to its greater mobility.

The OP has said the 8.9" was "perfectly sized" so he should try to find as much information about it as possible.

To the OP:
Here's a preliminary result from NotebookReview.com, I assume this is the one you're looking at
http://www.notebookreview.com/...HP+2133+Mini%2DNote+PC
It received quite a nice bit of praise on its build, and also has benchmark numbers there for you. Unfortunately, the numbers don't look quite as bright. 3D performance via the 3DMark benchmark is downright awful.

To those concerned about the small keyboard, here's an excerpt from the relevant sections:
[...] the keyboard is almost full size. It is 92% of a full sized keyboard, which is quite impressive for such a small form factor. It is much more comfortable to type on compared to the Asus Eee PC. [...] The keyboard on the 2133 Mini-Note is great. To put it plainly, this is the best keyboard we've seen on a notebook this small. [...]

EDIT:
I am aware that the keyboard is also another thing that is HIGHLY personal, so take that last paragraph with a grain of salt, but at least it wasn't reviewed off the bat as incredibly terrible.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

The problem is you want small and powerfull, and there are some that fit that niche but they are pricey. IMO anything under 11" isn't very usable and the CPU and graphics power will seriously suck compared to a real lappy. There are some nice 11.1"-12.1" models that would fit the bill but they start around $1100 and go up, and of course there's the Macbook Air for $1600+

 

[DarkRogue]

Well, it would help if we knew what it would be used for. If it's just word processing, the HP one should suffice. 3Dmark scores don't mean anything in a text editor.
Outside of that though, they said web pages loaded slower than expected. If you were able to, head out to J&R and see if they have that thing on display and try it out there - see how it compares to your PIII. I'm thinking it's old enough that even this should be an upgrade, but I'm not sure.

GuitarDaddy is correct though, it's tough to get "small," "powerful" and "budget/cheap" all at once.

 

[0roo0roo]

yup
if she's not doing some hard core processing because of some advanced technical classes theres not much reason to go beyond basic level laptop.