PLUS
Sexy swirled black case
Nice keyboard, for its size

MINUS
Relatively low hard-drive capacity
Odd touchpad button placement

The Hewlett-Packard Mini 1035NR has a really elegant black case with a silvery swirl pattern, and the solid construction you'd expect from HP.

The Mini 1035NR gets the nod for keyboard quality; the feel satisfyingly positive than on the ASUS, and the layout has few compromises. (Both Shift keys are large and well positioned, for example.) Touch-typing still takes some adjustment, but it can be done.

However, the touchpad is less of an unalloyed pleasure. In order to fit in the narrow front deck, the buttons are placed to either side of the pad itself. It's a logical arrangement, but confusing if you're accustomed to finding the buttons above or below the pad area. Worse, buttons, pad and deck are all matte-black, which looks nifty, but makes it difficult to hit the buttons in dim light. However, you get used to the arrangement after a while. The touchpad does include a traditional scroll strip at the right edge; slide your finger up and down to scroll.

Otherwise, the Mini 1035NR is very much the same sort of experience. Windows XP runs at a decent clip. The 10.2-inch screen is a bit smaller than you'd find on the average laptop, but it's sharp and clear, and more than adequate for most uses.

Again, I had no trouble connecting to my home network, and was quickly surfing the net. While some may find the 60GB hard drive limiting, HP offers other Mini models with greater capacity.

HP is rolling out other netbooks, and innovating on the basic concept in its own unique ways. One of the most notable of these is the Vivienne Tam series, designed by the eponymous fashion icon in dramatic red, with peony flower motif. A matching embroidered storage sleeve is included.

"We combined with the fashion industry and made it an accessory," says Derek Vickar, product manager, PSG consumer marketing, with HP Canada. "It's a unique concept, one we haven't explored before."

HP also offers the Mini 1110NR, which drops screen size to 8.9 inches, and switches to Linux. "The 1110NR is more of a connected Internet device," says Vickar. However, it does include a full suite of software: Open Office, e-mail, Web-browser, and more.

Based on my experience, the HP Mini 1035NR sets a high standard. It's elegantly styled, solidly built and more than capable of doing even fairly heavy computing or surfing tasks.

Article Tags:  HP, Hewlett, Packard, netbook 1035nr, buttons, black, touchpad, fashion, vivienne, tam 1110nr, surfing, vickar