Without detailed release information on the Cloudbook Max, the MSI Wind, the ECS G10, the FIC CE2A0 and the 8.9″ Acer Aspire, the only two budget 8.9’ers we have to compare at this time are the HP 2133 and Eee PC 900. If you’re considering both for a purchase later this month, here’s a side-by-side comparison with my thoughts.
Click for interactive comparison page.
Entry level details compared:
- Pricing. Eee PC 900, $499 entry level. HP 2133, $499 entry level.
- Storage. Eee PC 900, 8GB (with XP) 12Gb (Linux) – HP 2133, 4GB.
- Graphics: The HP uses the new VN800 chipset. Both devices are in the same ball-park in terms of performance.
- Processing power: The 900Mhz Celeron on the Eee PC should return slightly better results.
- Weight. The Eee PC 900 has the edge here with its sub 1KG weight.
- Size: The Eee PC is again, the winner but I doubt you’ll notice it in your bag!
- Screen. Both have 8.9″ screens but the HP 2133 uses a higher resolution. 1280×768 should be OK on the eyes at the 8.9″ screen size.
- Battery life. The Eee PC should return about 3 hours. The HP 2133 is being reported as about 2 hrs with the 1.6Ghz which should translate to about 2.25hrs with the base, 1Ghz model. This is a little disappointing.
- Keyboard. Most reports put the HP keyboard well ahead in terms of usability.
- Ruggedness. HP promote the 2133 as having a rugged keyboard will splash-proofing. Chassis is reported to be rugged too. The Eee PC is already proven to be fairly rugged.
- Upgradeability. The HP is available to order with many build options. Pricing goes way up to $1000 though!
- Connectivity. The HP has a great advantage with it’s PCI-Express slot. Internal ‘hack’ upgrades of the storage and memory should also be easy. (Up to 2GB, 160gb 7200RPM drives.)
- Style. Its a personal thing but I think the HP looks more far more stylish than the Eee PC.
- Community. I don’t think anyone will ever be able to beat the Eee PC community!
- Third party accessories. The Eee PC will win here.
- Availability. Both devices are said to be available for the first time later this month. How this translates across territories in unknown.
Personally, I wouldn’t take either of the two devices at the base model level. I’d be looking for a sightly faster processor, XP, 1GB of RAM and some hard-drive storage if I needed a mininote. It appears that the HP 2133 will offer this at $600 which, given that the device would be more productive than the one I’m using right now (a $1000, Q1 Ultra), and would be 3G-ready, is an absolute bargain but the lingering question is, what will the Atom-based devices be like? We’ll see the first of these in June and with the potential of offering the same performance with significant advantages in battery life, I would wait. 2-hours just isn’t enough for me.
I’ll be discussing the Eee PC 900 vs HP 2133 in this thread in the forum and would love to hear your opinion.
