HP mini FTW!

[cartisdm]

I think I've settled on getting the HP Mini 110. Does anyone have one running well with linux? Any thoughts on the best distro to use with the mini?

Also, since it's cyber monday (at least in the US) anyone know of a place I can get this laptop for a great deal? My only requirement is it needs to have bluetooth (a solid state hard drive would be ideal, but I know that sky rockets the price....)


EDIT: I ended up ordering the HP Mini 1030NR for $249.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4833653&CatId=2814

[Johnsie]

Well, the specs are pretty much standard so Ubuntu should run fine on it. If the keyboard isn't flat then it looks like a pretty decent machine. If you get an SSD you probably wouldnt get as much storage space but as a former eeepc owner I have to say that good SSD's are pretty fast. Some SSD's are slower though so beware of those. If you want to dual boot then I would recommend Windows XP over 7. I love Windows 7 but the n270 chips and amount of RAM in those machines doesn't handle 7 too well. It's usuable, but just... With XP you get a better performance. I went back to XP after 3 months of Win7 and am loving having a highly usable netbook again. You could try upgrading the RAM though.

[Mistrblank]

I have a slightly older hp mini 1035nr. The latest and greatest Ubuntu works 100% with it without additional configuration. Older versions had sound issues, particularly between the built in mic and the mic port switching appropriately as well as issues with the wired network and wireless depending on the version. 9.10 seems to handle everything well though and I love it on my netbook.

[cartisdm]

I don't have any personal experience with solid state drives but I would love to have one with a netbook. Is it possible to buy one later from like tigerdirect and swap out the drives? I don't need much space since I will just sync/transfer all my stuff to my main computer whenever I'm at my office

[isaacj87]

I think I've settled on getting the HP Mini 110. Does anyone have one running well with linux? Any thoughts on the best distro to use with the mini?

Also, since it's cyber monday (at least in the US) anyone know of a place I can get this laptop for a great deal? My only requirement is it needs to have bluetooth (a solid state hard drive would be ideal, but I know that sky rockets the price....)

I have one and I'm running OpenSuSE 11.2 with KDE 4.4 trunk flawlessly on it. The only snaggle I had was the wireless not working out of the box. It was an easy fix though. My particular HP Mini 110 - 1032NR did not come with bluetooth and I have a 160gb HDD.

Honestly? I would hold off on buying a netbook. I'm actually looking forward to dual-core Atoms with the new nVidia ION platform. But to each his own. Feel free to ask any questions as I've had this particular model for quite some time and have experimented quite a bit with it.

[cartisdm]

I have one and I'm running OpenSuSE 11.2 with KDE 4.4 trunk flawlessly on it. The only snaggle I had was the wireless not working out of the box. It was an easy fix though. My particular HP Mini 110 - 1032NR did not come with bluetooth and I have a 160gb HDD.

Honestly? I would hold off on buying a netbook. I'm actually looking forward to dual-core Atoms with the new nVidia ION platform. But to each his own. Feel free to ask any questions as I've had this particular model for quite some time and have experimented quite a bit with it.

I found this refurbished HP Mini 1030NR (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4833653&csid=ITD&body=MAIN#detailspecs) on TigerDirect. I would love to hold out for the dual core Atom processors, but that's going to increase the price and the single core will be sufficient for what I will use the netbook for.

From what I have found online the 1030NR comes with this tiny USB port thingy that currently has a 2gb stick thing inserted. But apparently that can be removed and you can put in a small USB bluetooth device thingy. I have to have bluetooth with this netbook so if that solution doesn't work then I will just have to get some other external USB thingy going.

Obviously my heavy use of the word "thingy" shows how knowledgeable I am for getting bluetooth working on this laptop, please provide some input if you have any!

[drawkcab]

I installed Mint6 on my gf's hp110 and it works really really well, even with compiz enabled.

I will have to get around to upgrading here soon...been lazy.

[aysiu]

I have an HP Mini 1120nr, and it works well with Ubuntu 9.10, with two minor problems:

1. In order to get wireless to work, you have to activate the STA drivers during the live CD session before you install and then reinstall the drivers after you've rebooted the installed version, too.

2. If the netbook resumes from standby when unplugged (even if the battery is full), it'll go back to sleep again. The second time you wake it up, though, it'll stay awake.

[Bucky Ball]

Honestly? I would hold off on buying a netbook. I'm actually looking forward to dual-core Atoms with the new nVidia ION platform.

... and I'm looking forward to the ARM processor in a netbook! Be awhile before there is an equivalent price point with the atoms though. ;-(

Wonder what the going price of a dual-core netbook would be? Might be similar to what the ATOMs are likely to cost I guess, when both eventually get here.

* I believe the HP minis have an excellent keyboard. As a touch-typist this is important to me; might not be that important to others.

[Grifulkin]

Yeah I wish I would have waited for the ARM netbooks. They are going to be sweet.

[cartisdm]

Can anyone give me more info on that hidden USB port? Can't seem to find much info on the web. I want to get a tiny USB bluetooth adapter that will sit nearly flush with the laptop and I will just keep it permanently inserted.

I am looking into getting a 16gb SD card for some extra storage, I think I will dual boot a linux distro (probably Ubuntu Netbook Remix) and Mac OSX.

[sandyd]

I don't have any personal experience with solid state drives but I would love to have one with a netbook. Is it possible to buy one later from like tigerdirect and swap out the drives? I don't need much space since I will just sync/transfer all my stuff to my main computer whenever I'm at my office
ebays a nice place to find those
the current largest capacity i believe is 250gb

[sandyd]

Can anyone give me more info on that hidden USB port? Can't seem to find much info on the web. I want to get a tiny USB bluetooth adapter that will sit nearly flush with the laptop and I will just keep it permanently inserted.

I am looking into getting a 16gb SD card for some extra storage, I think I will dual boot a linux distro (probably Ubuntu Netbook Remix) and Mac OSX.

We're dubious of HP's bizarrely proprietary "HP Mini Mobile Drive" slot, which is basically a recessed USB port into which only specially branded HP USB drives can fit. We'd happily trade this slot for a media card reader or ExpressCard slot. Without it, we might have been able to get separate headphone and mic jacks--as it is, you get only one shared audio connection. Still, the actual hands-on experience is the best of any Netbook we've tested so far, making it well worth a look for anyone interested in jumping into the Netbook arena, especially those who dread spending time typing on cramped keyboards.

from http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-mini-1000/4505-3121_7-33351192.html

[cartisdm]

ebays a nice place to find those
the current largest capacity i believe is 250gb

Thanks carlee for the info in both of your posts. I ended up getting the HP Mini with the 16gb SSD (I don't remember if I stated that directly in the OP).

I guess I will have to just wait until I get my netbook and get a first hand look at that USB port to see if I can come up with anything that will fit. Until then I ordered this (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11866) since it was only $2.28 including shipping.

[sandyd]

Thanks carlee for the info in both of your posts. I ended up getting the HP Mini with the 16gb SSD (I don't remember if I stated that directly in the OP).

I guess I will have to just wait until I get my netbook and get a first hand look at that USB port to see if I can come up with anything that will fit. Until then I ordered this (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11866) since it was only $2.28 including shipping.

if you want to get the usb working, its quite easy. (just experimented with this) go to the dollar store (or somewhere cheap) and get a usb cable. then use sandpaper to sand off the plastic that covers the male side. ill take some effort, but after your done sanding (up to the metal connector only) it should fit.

[leclerc65]

You may want to read about HP Reliability (http://www.geckoandfly.com/2009/11/18/the-most-reliable-laptop-survey-best-netbook-reliability-comparison/) before making the decision.

[xuCGC002]

You should try Ubuntu HP Mini Remix (http://www.psychocats.net/hpminiremix).

[AllRadioisDead]

Thanks carlee for the info in both of your posts. I ended up getting the HP Mini with the 16gb SSD (I don't remember if I stated that directly in the OP).

I guess I will have to just wait until I get my netbook and get a first hand look at that USB port to see if I can come up with anything that will fit. Until then I ordered this (http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11866) since it was only $2.28 including shipping.
I'm debating about this too, I'd love a fast solid state drive and the hp mini is probably going to be my netbook of choice, however a 16gb drive isn't enough to hold all my music. That's probably the only thing holding me back, because these are practically a steal refurbished. Also, how is the heat output? My current laptop gets really hot on my lap and it gets uncomfortable. Thanks!

[cartisdm]

I'm debating about this too, I'd love a fast solid state drive and the hp mini is probably going to be my netbook of choice, however a 16gb drive isn't enough to hold all my music. That's probably the only thing holding me back, because these are practically a steal refurbished. Also, how is the heat output? My current laptop gets really hot on my lap and it gets uncomfortable. Thanks!

From what I have read online, the HP Mini does get hot. Apparently it doesn't have a lot of air vents so after running for a while it can get quite warm. I don't have any first hand experience on this issue though so I don't have a work around yet. Soon as I get the netbook I will try and tackle this issue too

[AllRadioisDead]

From what I have read online, the HP Mini does get hot. Apparently it doesn't have a lot of air vents so after running for a while it can get quite warm. I don't have any first hand experience on this issue though so I don't have a work around yet. Soon as I get the netbook I will try and tackle this issue too
Thanks, I can't wait!:D

[sandyd]

Thanks, I can't wait!:D
nope. only gets warm. ive been sitting with one in my lap for the past 2h converting videos during the bio lecture. and thats in contrast with my hp laptop which reached 87 degrees one time.

graphing a chart using sensors, it runs at about 30-45 degrees (cpu)
and this ones only 2 weeks old (my roommate's)

[beloved88]

I just bought an HP Mini 1101 with 32GB SSD from the business website about a month ago. I'm running Jaunty Easy Peasy Remix. Had to manually install the wireless driver, but other than that, the only think not seeming to run very well is bluetooth support, which i don't care about right now, maybe by Lucid they'll have it fixed. As for the heat, well, the only thing that gets kinda warm in the cover above the RAM and the touchpad, which is opposite of the RAM (I have 2GB, overkill, since i've never passed 800MB, even with a ton of programs running, i'm at 550MB right now.) It also depend on what i put it on. If it's on my clipboard or on a desk, it hardly gets warm, but on my notebook-binder, I guess it doesn't disperse heat and it gets warm, but it's nothing to really worry that much about.

[AllRadioisDead]

Warm to the point where it gets uncomfortable, or just "warm".

[pwnst*r]

i'm going to purchase the Dell 10v for hackintosh purposes and dual boot with kubuntu. just sayin.

[AllRadioisDead]

i'm going to purchase the Dell 10v for hackintosh purposes and dual boot with kubuntu. just sayin.
I was looking at those as well, they look similar.

[cartisdm]

nope. only gets warm. ive been sitting with one in my lap for the past 2h converting videos during the bio lecture. and thats in contrast with my hp laptop which reached 87 degrees one time.

graphing a chart using sensors, it runs at about 30-45 degrees (cpu)
and this ones only 2 weeks old (my roommate's)

87 degrees?! Celsius?! I finally discovered why my Dell Inspiron had been running so hot recently. Turns out the chipset doesn't work well with Windows 7 RC and I solved my problem with a third party fan control software. Now I run nice and cool at 25 degrees celsius:D


EDIT:
I'm running Jaunty Easy Peasy Remix. Had to manually install the wireless driver, but other than that, the only think not seeming to run very well is bluetooth support, which i don't care about right now, maybe by Lucid they'll have it fixed.

What sort of bluetooth problems? Personally, I've never used bluetooth outside of my hands-free set on my Blackberry but with this new netbook I want to do EVERYTHING via bluetooth (hence my questions about getting internal bluetooth...)

[sandyd]

87 degrees?! Celsius?! I finally discovered why my Dell Inspiron had been running so hot recently. Turns out the chipset doesn't work well with Windows 7 RC and I solved my problem with a third party fan control software. Now I run nice and cool at 25 degrees celsius:D


EDIT:

What sort of bluetooth problems? Personally, I've never used bluetooth outside of my hands-free set on my Blackberry but with this new netbook I want to do EVERYTHING via bluetooth (hence my questions about getting internal bluetooth...)

yup. turned out the fan control sensors were burnt out. i didint want to buy a new sensor array for 200 bucks, so i wired it up so that it would run t the medium setting....

[Mr. Picklesworth]

I have a Mini 1035nr. Really like it. (Especially since it's the only computer I own whose ideal graphics drivers are free, thus beautiful KMS glory - flicker-free boot!).

It sleeps and resumes perfectly when I open and close the lid, which for some reason barely anything does, especially the opening the lid part. Ubuntu drains a bit more battery than I think it really should (30% in 24 hours of sleep), but it generally lasts pretty well.

My only real problem is that it has an ugly Broadcom WiFi card which does not work out of the box, at all, in distros like Fedora. Ubuntu offers the non-free drivers for download, but getting them is kinda tricky because the wired networking is bizarrely finicky. (Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and requires you to restart the computer while plugged in). I may be mixing up my experiences, because I remember in Jaunty it never needed an internet connection to get the drivers.

Still, not as straight-forward as if they had used a sensible WiFi adapter, and in the end NetworkManager behaves really oddly; it works, but it doesn't show my connection strength (or the name of the network I'm connected to) in the left click dropdown except for one network which uses fancy authentication stuff.

[cartisdm]

I have a Mini 1035nr. Really like it. (Especially since it's the only computer I own whose ideal graphics drivers are free, thus beautiful KMS glory - flicker-free boot!).

It sleeps and resumes perfectly when I open and close the lid, which for some reason barely anything does, especially the opening the lid part. Ubuntu drains a bit more battery than I think it really should (30% in 24 hours of sleep), but it generally lasts pretty well.

My only real problem is that it has an ugly Broadcom WiFi card which does not work out of the box, at all, in distros like Fedora. Ubuntu offers the non-free drivers for download, but getting them is kinda tricky because the wired networking is bizarrely finicky. (Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and requires you to restart the computer while plugged in). I may be mixing up my experiences, because I remember in Jaunty it never needed an internet connection to get the drivers.

Still, not as straight-forward as if they had used a sensible WiFi adapter, and in the end NetworkManager behaves really oddly; it works, but it doesn't show my connection strength (or the name of the network I'm connected to) in the left click dropdown except for one network which uses fancy authentication stuff.

Do you dual boot your HP Mini? If so, do you have the HDD or the 16gb solid state drive? I am concerned about taking up most my space by dual/triple booting (OSX, Win7, & Ubuntu Remix). I plan to add a 16gb or 32gb SD card for storage but the system perform slowly if I take up so much space on the main drive?

Why does everyone like to have their laptops sleep? I always have my Inspiron e1505 hibernate. I can resume work in like 20 seconds and it doesn't drain any battery while I'm not using it, am I missing something here?

[openuniverse]

.

[mivo]

The HP Mini 2140 does not work well with Linux. Troublesome Broadcom wifi adapter, issues with LEDs and the mic, and hibernate/suspend doesn't work for me. I put XP back on it.

[openuniverse]

.

[toMeloos]

The HP Mini 2140 does not work well with Linux. Troublesome Broadcom wifi adapter, issues with LEDs and the mic, and hibernate/suspend doesn't work for me. I put XP back on it.

I'm running Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 on a HP Mini 2140 and it works fine. Everything worked out-of-the-box except the wireless support, which is indeed a Broadcom chip. Got that working in two minutes with the help of an old fashioned network cable and the Restricted Drivers Manager though. Am very satisfied with the Mini 2140 and UNR combination :)