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HP's Mini 2102, a business-consumer Netbook

Sitting halfway between the consumer Mini 210 and the business Mini 5102 is the HP Mini 2102. Technically part of HP's business line, it still shares more of its DNA with the company's consumer Netbooks than with the high-end metal-clad Mini 5102 model.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
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Dan Ackerman

HP

Sitting halfway between the consumer Mini 210 and the business Mini 5102 is the HP Mini 2102. Technically part of HP's business line, it still shares more of its DNA with the company's consumer Netbooks than with the high-end metal-clad Mini 5102 model.

HP calls it an "economical choice for mobile professionals who need a companion PC for on-the-go computing." The Mini 2102 is available in only basic black, instead of the colorful palette of hues found in HP's other Netbooks.

While the rounded edges remind us more of the HP Mini 110 and Mini 210, you still get your choice of Intel Atom N450 and N4470 processors (the latter will not be available until March), and 160, 250, or 320GB 7,200rpm hard drives.

The 10-inch display is stuck at 1,024x600-pixel resolution, unlike the Mini 5102, which can be upgraded to 1,366x768 pixels--once you've tried an HD Netbook screen, either of the 10.1- or 11.6-inch variety, it's hard to go back.

Starting at $329, the HP Mini 2102 will be available from January 7, and makes a decent entry-level business Netbook, or a more buttoned-down low-cost consumer companion PC.