We’ve been sitting on this information under embargo for a month and it’s driven us batty.  HP is announcing the HP Mini 2140 netbook that is a very nice refresh of the HP 2133 Mini-Note.  The 2140 keeps the same metal case and wall-to-wall keyboard but adds an Atom processor to replace the lagging Via C7.

HP has kept what was great about the 2133 and added quite a bit under the hood for this fully configurable netbook.  What you cannot see in the photos is the improved thermals according to HP.

Here are the full specs:

Operating system options:

• Genuine Windows Vista® Business 321
• Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic 321
• Genuine Windows Vista® with downgrade
• to Genuine Windows® XP Professional custom installed1,9
• Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition
• FreeDOS
• SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10

Hardware:

• Processor Intel® Atom™ N270 Processor (1.6 GHz, 512  KB L2 cache, 533 MHz FSB)
• Chipset Mobile Intel 945GSE Express Chipset
• Memory DDR2 SDRAM, 800 MHz,10 one SODIMM memory slot, supports up to 2GB
• Internal Storage 160 GB 5400 rpm SATA, 160 GB 7200 rpm SATA; with HP 3D DriveGuard (supported on Windows models only); 80 GB Solid State Drive
• Display 10.1-inch diagonal HP Illumi-Lite LED SD (1024 x 576); 10.1-inch diagonal Illumi-Lite LED HD  (1366 x 768)
• Graphics6 Mobile Intel GMA 950
• Audio/Visual High Definition Audio, stereo speakers, integrated stereo microphones, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in; integrated VGA webcam
• Wireless support3 Broadcom 802.11a/b/g/n, b/g, optional Bluetooth™ 2.0, HP Wireless Assistant
• Communications5 Marvell Ethernet Integrated Controller (10/100/1000)
• Expansion slots (1) ExpressCard/54 slot, Secure Digital (SD) slot
• Ports and connectors (2) USB 2.0 ports, VGA, power connector, RJ-45/Ethernet, stereo headphone/line out, stereo microphone in
• Input device 92% full-size keyboard, touchpad with scroll zone
• Software HP Recovery Manager (Windows Vista only), Roxio Creator 9, Microsoft® Office Ready
• Security Kensington lock
• Dimensions (h x w x d) 1.05 (at front) x 10.3 x 6.54 in / 26.7 (at front) x 261.4 x 166.2 mm
• Weight starting at 2.6 lb / 1.19 kg (with 3-cell battery and Hard Drive, weight will vary by configuration)
• Power 3-cell (28 WHr) or 6-cell (55 WHr)8 Lithium-Ion battery, 65W HP Smart AC Adapter, HP Fast Charge

The HP Mini 2140 starts at $499 and should be available later this month.

Earlier today, I received a note from Mike, a jkOTR reader who recently got his hands on an MSI Wind netbook. Not just any Wind either; it was mine. Mike might have a little netbook fever now and he was asking my opinion on the best netbook for the price; in terms of value. Mike doesn’t have any specific requirements in terms of the hardware. He’s just planning to check e-mail and surf the web when out and about: basic tasks that a netbook is perfect for. He doesn’t even need a high-capacity battery since this is definitely a secondary device for him. Aside from those minimal requirements, he thought he’d occasionally upload photos or post to a blog using Windows Live Writer.

Of course, all I can do is offer an opinion: that and a buck will get you cup of coffee at McDonald’s. But that’s what he asked me for, so here’s my opinion on the best netbook for the money right now.

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We knew this was in the works, but it’s official now. iPhone and iPod Touch owners can download the free Boingo Wireless application from the App Store. Like the Gilette business model of razors and blades however, you get the app for free, but the service will cost ya. $7.95 a month earns you the right to use any Boingo Wireless hotspot worldwide on your Apple handset, and there’s over 100,000 hotspots to be had.

I haven’t had my Boingo account active in months, but I’d consider using the service again. It’s more desirable for me with my first-generation iPhone since the EDGE is pokey, but I could see some iPhone 3G owners prefering faster WiFi speeds as well. Besides, the last time I tried to use free WiFi in Starbucks on my iPhone, the activation text message arrived 26 hours later. I’d call that a FAIL in every sense of the word. Any takers or is $8 a month about $7 too much?

Although I dabble from time to time, I don’t often run Linux distros. (Does that make me a “distro dabbler”?) And I don’t have a BlackBerry. I’m betting however, that there’s more than a few of you out there that run Linux and use a BlackBerry. Someday I’ll join your faction and when I do, I’ll be looking at Barry.

Ostatic just turned me on to this software which supports Ubuntu, Debian, Mandriva, and Fedora. It allows you to:

• charge your Blackberry’s battery from your USB port
• retrieve Address Book, Email, Calendar, Service Book, Memos, Tasks, PIN Messages, Saved Email, and Folders
• export Address Book contacts in text or LDAP LDIF format
• make full data backups and restores of your device using a GUI
• synchronize contacts and calendar items using the OpenSync framework
• use the Blackberry as a modem

Sounds like a useful, open-source tool to me. Or at least it will be if anyone can convert me to a full-time BlackBerry owner that lives in Linux. Someday, maybe?

We first ran into the fancy floral Vivienne Tam Edition Mini 1000 from HP a few months ago.  It is certainly an eye-catching netbook no question.  Judie at Gear Diary has received one of these little jewels and has posted an unboxing ceremony to show off the hot netbook.  She says she’s bringing it to CES so maybe we’ll get to see it in person.

MSI is entering the world of thin-and-light notebooks with the announcement of the X-Slim 320.  Bigger than the Wind netbook for which they are famous, the 320 has a 13.4-inch screen encased in a very thin body.  The 320 is available with two battery sizes, 4 and 8-cell, the larger of which is quoted as providing a decent 10 hours of battery life.  Interestingly MSI is apparently sticking with the Atom processor in this larger notebook running a video resolution of 1366 x 768 so we’ll have to see how it performs in the real world.  We will be visiting the MSI folks at CES so we’ll see what other goodies they have to show us.

(via engadget)

Before we kick into high gear for CES week, I wanted to share our goals in terms of coverage. These may be lofty for a two-person crew but it’s better to set the bar high and not surpass it then to have no goals and expect total success. We know that larger crews like Engadget and Gizmodo, to name a few, offer stellar CES coverage year after year. Having been a part of the Engadget CES crew in 2005, I personally know how they put forth 110% effort and they deserve the kudos that they earn. So we know that we can’t “compete” on that front, nor will we try. Here’s an idea of what this week is truly like for everyone, followed by what our plans are to deliver high quality content to you, our readers.

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Here in the U.S., the first 3D movie trailer will be shown at some point during the Super Bowl. If you can’t find funky red-and-blue glasses in time for that, maybe the Minoru 3D Webcam package will suffice. Priced at $89.95 for pre-order, this webcam offers two cameras for a stereoscopic effect. Yup, you’ll need those same 3D glasses for the full effect, although a few martinis might offer a similar experience.

I’m not sure what worries me more: the way the Minoru looks like two eyes constantly staring at you or the possibility of seeing James in 3D during one of our Skype video chats. I kid… I know I’m no prize to look at either.

We’ve argued for some time that one of the broad appeals of a netbook is the low price for what you can do with such a device. Most netbooks range in the $300 to $500 area and the vast majority of these capable little notebooks are powered by Intel’s Atom. Freescale figures that their i.MX515 ARM processor can also meet most computing needs, but at a lower cost. The company plans to power a $199 netbook by the end of 2009 and will be showing just such a device made by Pegatron at CES this week.

The chip runs at a more modest 1GHz clock cycle as compared to Intel’s Atom which generally runs at 1.6GHz on most netbooks. But netbooks aren’t all about processing power; they offer the ability to compute while mobile at a low price for several hours. That brings up a point I made last month when musing of an Android netbook running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU: the ARM chips might sacrifice some processing horsepower, but they can offer a longer run-time on a single charge due to lower power consumption over the Atom. Freescale says eight hours is to be expected.

I suspect this is the first of several ARM-based netbook product announcements we’ll see this week because the smaller ARM players can seriously compete with Intel on this front. Freescale doesn’t mention what operating system we’ll see on the demonstration device. It certainly won’t be Windows as that would require x86 support. Any guesses as to what OS we’ll see?

I see that James already shared the kit that works for him, so I’ll briefly explain what I’m taking and why. My bag will surely be lighter as two items James is bringing aren’t necessary for the way I work, which underscores a fact we often repeat here: everyone works differently and therefore everyone has different mobile technology needs. The two items in question? The card reader and travel router. A good two years ago, I standardized my flash memory card needs with unique SanDisk SD cards. These cards snap in half to expose a USB interface, which provides me the best of both worlds. I get SD compatibility for my very mobile devices but can easily transfer data to any of my computers. Since I have my own EV-DO card that I pay for, plus an HSDPA review unit, 3G and WiFi ought to be plenty for me. I don’t need to share my connection with anyone and if I do, I can use Internet Sharing software in a pinch. I suppose the router might be nice for in-room Internet service, but with 3G, I should be good.

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