Recognise this?

Yes it looks suspiciously like the very pretty but pretty useless HP 2133 doesn’t it?

Well thats because the HP Mini 2140 shares the same sturdy aluminium chassis and 92% full size Durakey spill proof keyboard as its tortoise like brother.

The 2140 however is the netbook that HP should have made in the first place.

Gone is the prehistoric VIA C7-M processor and in its place sits everybody’s favourite, the Intel Atom N270.

Also you may notice that the screen bezel is slimmer than that on the HP 2133 which is because the 2140 sports a 10.1 inch screen which is available in standard resolution (1024 x 576) or a high-definition display (1366 x768).

Unfortunately the mouse pad still has the buttons left and right rather than below the pad but if it means keeping that superb keyboard then it is a sacrifice worth making.

Two storage options are available with either a 160Gb hard disk drive or an 80Gb Solid State Disk drive.

The SDD version weighs in at just 1.19kg despite its sturdy construction.

Supplied memory is either 1Gb or 2 Gb of DDR 2 RAM.

One of the major advantages of moving to the Intel Atom processor is that the HP 2140 with the 6 cell battery option you can expect upwards of four hours use and unlike with its VIA powered colleague you will actually be able to get some work done in that time.

Unlike the funky HP Mini 1000 the 2140 is squarely aimed at the business market and comes with a range of OS options.

Windows Vista Business, Vista Home Basic, Windows XP Home and SUSE Linux are all options and the 2Gb version is well up to the task of running Vista although we firmly believe that XP should be the OS of choice for most netbooks.

Performance is par for the course for an Atom powered machine. The HP 2140 is up to handling the basic day to day tasks you expect from a netbook.

The 2140 incorporates a full ExpressCard/54 slotwhich is a first on a netbook although we aren’t really sure who would want it.

Wireless access is via internal 802.11 b/g/n card but unfortunately there is nowhere to put your 3G sim card so you will have to rely on a USB dongle.

Overall this is a great leap forward from the 2133 and is available now direct from HP starting at £413 including VAT and Shipping.

If you want a rugged, practical netbook for life on the road with the keyboard better than that on most full sized machines then you may have found your perfect partner in the HP Mini 2140.