The biggest problem with ultraportable notebooks is often the keyboard, but HP has done a good job with that of the 2133.

The keyboard is, according to HP, 92 per cent of the size of a regular notebook’s keyboard. It is easy to type on and placing the mouse buttons to the left and right of the touchpad, rather than below, saves space.

Two speaker bars sandwich the screen, pumping out impressively loud audio.

The 8.9in screen has a bright backlight and detailed 1,280x768 resolution, but the screen’s glossy coating of course makes it prone to reflections.

However, full-screen video on the 2133 is unwatchable because the machine drops so many frames.

The mininote comes with Vista Business and the performance was not too bad.

It booted up in about one minute and 10 seconds.

Distributors: Bell Micro, Computer 2000, CMS, ETC, Enta, Gamma Global, Ingram Micro, Interchange, Interface, Livingston, Lynx, Micro Peripherals, Portix, Target, VIP, Westcoast