For the road warrior or home user this is a excellent Netbook. Well
worth the investment.

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/uk/en/sm/WF06b/3…

I strongly recommend not to buy this notebook if it is with BROADCOM wireless adapter. I would suggest that anyone who buys this should opt for INTEL wireless adapter. BROADCOM is totally shit and I am suffering because of this. Very weak receiver and drops like hell. If you try to use any remote connection software, be sure its almost going to hang. So guys I want that someone at HP or BROADCOM reads this comment and releases a solution to this problem.

Currently I have it set up for dual-boot with Windows 7 Ultimate and Ubuntu 9.10. It works excellently in both OSs. Overall, I must say I am extremely pleased with it's performance. The combination of 2GB of memory and the Intel SSD make it very fast and responsive.

It does stutter when trying to play videos. I ordered the Broadcom HD decoder card, but I'm still waiting for it to arrive in the mail. Silly me, I ordered from a vendor in China rather than a US based vendor. I think it must be on the slow boat from China.

The power connector is quite long, and sticks out excessively from the case, and I'll be looking for one with a right-angled plug that isn't so obtrusive. It doesn't bother me particularly, but it does look pretty odd. It looks similar to the connector for my Lenovo T400, so I expect I'll be able to find a power supply with a right angled power connector without too much trouble.

The build quality is excellent (except for one key that's slightly crooked and sits below the rest of the keys… I might ask HP for a replacement keyboard if it starts sticking). The soft-feel paint on the case reminds me of the old Lenovo Thinkpads, with the same sort of velvety feeling paint on the magnesium case. It's very nice feeling, and I've gotten several comments on the silky feel.

The only thing that's cheep looking is the glossy surround around the screen. It should be matte black like the rest of the unit. Not a big deal, just a personal preference. It attracts too many fingerprints.

The display is amazing… the combination of the small screen and high resolution make for really nice and sharp characters. Looking at pictures on the screen is similar to looking at a backlit photograph. Almost no pixellation at all, due to the small dot-size and pitch. It's not really usable outside, but the non-glossy screen helps immensely. I definitely prefer a matte finish screen instead of a glossy screen.

I'm using a Microsoft Bluetooth 5000 mouse, and it syncs fine in Windows 7 (there's no way to make it automatically sync with both Ubuntu and Windows, so I just chose to use it with Windows).

Overall, I'd rate the 5101 a 9.5 on a 10 scale. The final 0.5 would have been if it had the Ion chipset, so that it could play HD video without stuttering. The broadcom HD decoder will fix the stutter, so it'll be perfect.

1. The keyboard should have had some kind of light/illumination which could make it visible in dark.
2. The Broadcom wireless device is pathetic. I have been struggling with it ever since I bought it. The device connects to some access poionts and to some it does not. The drop rate is quite high. It does not discover the favourite networks often even if you are standing an inch away from the access point.
3. The battery does not fit properly and moves a little bit while handling. I checked 4 units in the shop but they were all like this.

Besides the above I think everything else is brilliant !!

My daughter installed her Sims video game, and it was faster than her older Toshiba laptop. Without a real GPU on your machine you are wasting your time and money. The HD screen resolution was great, too..

I placed my order today, and I should have it in about 3 weeks. I went with the standard 160GB, since I'm getting an Intel SSD to replace the hard drive). I plan to dual-boot Linux and Windows 7 Ultimate.

Thanks HP for making the machine to my specs!