That’s yours truly at a reading last month and no I am not looking into my makeup case to read poetry. I am reading off the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition sent to me to test out and review.

Netbooks are all the rage now and after a few weeks of playing around with this one I can see why. The HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition is super light and portable and yes it’s pretty too, with is red background/purple peony cover design.

I don’t care much about the pretty pero when others see me using it, they notice, and usually want it. Pero pretty comes at a cost.

The HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition starts at around $700, which is about double the price of other netbooks, cuz well you are paying for something with the Vivian Tam name and being marketed as more than a tech tool. It’s also a fashion item (not that I would be walking around in the city waving this or any electronic equipment around).

Last year I traveled alot and lugging a not huge pero normal sized Macbook can get tiring. So the benefit of a smaller netbook that can be used to check email, surf the net, and blog is obvious. So I love it for that, yes even if it’s not a Mac which I have grown to love. Por lo menos the the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition comes with Windows XP and not Vista, which I dislike, alot (and I’m being nice).
It has a built in webcam and the sound from the internal speakers in pretty nice. It has a slot for your digital media cards too which comes in handy if you’re on the road and need to upload fotos from another device.

The battery lasts about 2 hours, which is ok, pero I would like a longer charge.

The cons (besides the spendiness): The tan printed letters on the keyboard can be hard to see. I’m not a fan of the trackpad with the buttons on the side, pero using the matching wireless mouse takes care of that problem. The keyboard is almost full size (92%), pero my fingers still mistype a few letters since they aren’t used to it. The red satin sleeve that came with the the HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition doesn’t quite fit and with all the running around I do, it gets too dirty, too fast as does the shiny comp itself.

The HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam edition is a good option for those in the market for a netbook and don’t mind spending the extra cash for something pretty, colorful, and shiny!

Stay tuned for a related pre-Valentine’s giveaway mañana and a visit to the Vivian Tam boutique next week, Fashion Week here in NYC.