Chris Pirillo » hp-mini

Would You Like to Win an HP Laptop?

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 10:17:48 +0000

Anne, Karen, and their teams from HP were an awesome addition to the Gnomedex sponsor roster last year. They were on-site with several of their products – and even gave away many things! I was fortunate to receive a TouchSmart from them during this time period, to review and use for myself. Even though I’m a Mac guy at heart, I have to admit I really love using the TouchSmart whenever I need to be on Windows. It runs beautifully, and has never given me any issues at all. It’s a powerhouse of a machine, honestly. I can convert videos while searching on the Internet, having multiple other programs open and even running a Skype conference all at once. There is no “lag”, like you would find on many systems while trying to do all of these things. And, of course, you can’t beat the sheer fun (and yes – functionality!) of using the actual Touch features! It’s not just me who loves this machine. My assistant, Kat, won a TouchSmart after the conference was over. She has used hers ever since as her primary machine, and is quite happy! HP continued with a presence this year at Gnomedex, too!

So why am I waxing poetic about HP and their products? I’m glad you asked! Not only were they awesome to work with during Gnomedex last year, they continue to support our community to this day. They’ve come up with an excellent new contest – just for all of you reading out there! You have a chance to win for yourself a brand-new HP Pavilion dv6t series laptop! Entering is so simple, you won’t even believe it. All you have to do is leave a follow-up comment on this blog post, (including your email address!) talking about HP. You can tell us what HP products you own – or have owned. You can talk about the ones you’d like to own. It doesn’t matter, so long as your comment talks about an HP product or service. Any comments which simply state things like “I want to win the HP laptop” will be disqualified. Put some effort into it! You should pore over the contest rules prior to entering, though. The contest is open now, and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on September 30, 2009. The winner will be notified via email within three days of that date, provided they are proven to have a valid entry (as described above).

Not only is HP giving away a laptop, they also have cooked up an awesome deal for you to take advantage of! Take 30% off of the purchase of a customized HP Pavilion Notebook PC, configured at $1199.00 or greater at the HP Home and Home Office Store. Use coupon code: NBR49875. The offer excludes the HP HDX16t, HP Minis and all Compaq models. The offer is limited to the first 1800 coupons redeemed, and will become void after that. Only 1 redemption per person or address is allowed. The coupon is not valid with other promotions and restrictions apply. For complete conditions, see Coupon Information in the Customer Service section.

I gotta thank everyone at HP for their continued support, and all of the opportunities they keep bringing to our community. Good luck to everyone who chooses to enter!

Would You Like to Win an HP Laptop?

Which Technology Do You Need When You Travel?

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:19:46 +0000

Which Technology Do You Need When You Travel?

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

After my trip to Hawaii, Traci was kind enough to interview another one of the local tech enthusiasts for me! Neenz is the chief evangelist for Alltop, spreading the news about them to the World. Alltop is an “online magazine rack” of popular topics. They update the stories every hour. Pick a topic, and they deliver it to you 24/7. Their tagline is: All the topics, all the time..

Traci noted during the early part of the interview that Neenz has such a sense of warmth surrounding her, which even comes across in her blog writing. Traci calls it the Aloha Spirit, and Neenz couldn’t agree more. To Neenz, the Aloha Spirit (also called love and/or friendship) is simply an action word. It’s something that you do, and that you show. You have to be sincere, even online. Be genuine, and transparent.

Neenz was instrumental in making my latest stay in Hawaii such an amazing one. She worked tirelessly helping to put together the Tweetups and other things I was able to do. I sincerely appreciate that! I had a great time, and am looking forward to going back again one day.

Just like with Burt, Neenz has definite opinions on what gadgets you need to pack when you travel. The first conference she went to, she massively over-packed. Her biggest piece of advice is to not do this! The main thing about a conference is to be comfortable.

She always makes sure she has her iPhone, including podcasts to watch on it while traveling. She also never forgets her Incase charger, to help boost the battery life. She also brings her laptop and her HP Mini Netbook. She likes to travel with the Mini because it’s so easy to grab while on the go in order to get things done. Lastly, Neenz brings along her Logitech Quickcam Orbit, so that she can stream (if allowed) what she’s watching through her website.

Now that Neenz has told all of you what tech she packs when she travels, how does her list match up with yours? What gadgets, gizmos and technology do you have to pack when you travel?

Once again, thanks to Neenz, Traci, Hawaiian Airlines and everyone else who made my trip so memorable. For more information about travel in Hawaii, be sure to follow @flyhawaiian on Twitter.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code:

Which Technology Do You Need When You Travel?

HP Mini 1000 Unboxing and Review

Chris Pirillo — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 10:12:08 +0000

HP Mini 1000 Unboxing and Review

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

A Netbook is like a subset of a Notebook. They’re ultra-portable, relatively affordable, and they have decent processing power. A Notebook has more than enough power, but do you really need one? The HP Mini 1000 is good for doing word processing and any other tasks you may need to do on the road. It has 1GB DDR2 RAM, a 60GB Hard Drive, and a 3 Cell Lithium battery. It has a webcam and microphone built in, so that you can easily make use of VoIP clients when you need to.

Ponzi has a slightly different HP Mini, designed by the very uber awesome Vivienne Tam. Hers is red, with Peonies all over it. It’s cool looking, I suppose. I just prefer black. Mine has swirls all over the case, but they aren’t like overwhelming. They just add a touch of pizazz to it.

So anyway, back on track! The screen resolution is netbook-sized… 1024×600. The keyboard is great, with regular-sized keys. I’m quite happy with that. The HP Mini certainly does make a viable contender. HP is trying to think more along lifestyle lines when it comes to their hardware designs.

Some of the notes I’ve made just in the few hours I spent with it include that they’ve made a few engineering mistakes. The keys in the lower-left corner of the keyboard are out of order. A lot of desktop keyboards may not have the Function key.. and having it where it is on this machine will cause you to mis-type often. When you move between computers, you want it to be seamless, and the keyboard is a large part of that. We don’t have time to adapt to different keyboards all the time!

Another thing that I picked up on is on the trackpad in the middle – they put the buttons on either side (mouse buttons). It’s a little weird to use it in that way. Who knows… once I get used to it, I may like it. For now though, it is just odd.

Another thing to note… I don’t think HP is being very competitive on price. I bought the MSI Wind, and this one was sent to me as a review unit. The Wind has a few more features, yet the price is lower. Heck, the MSI Wind even has a 6 cell battery, so it lasts much longer than this HP Mini will.

HP is leading the charge when it comes to design. I know Ponzi’s review is likely going to be much different than mine. She’s been complaining for a long time about all computers looking the same. At least now, she doesn’t have that to worry about. Her Mini sure stands out from the crowd.

Email me if you know of another netbook that I should review and compare against both this HP Mini, and the MSI Wind.

Want to embed this video on your own site, blog, or forum? Use this code or download the video:

HP Mini 1000 Unboxing and Review

How to Get a Computer

Chris Pirillo — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 08:26:25 +0000

How to Get a Computer

About a week ago, I announced our part in the HP Magic Giveaway. HP and Microsoft are asking you to consider giving the magic of HP and Windows. All winners are encouraged to “pay it forward” by giving the gift of magic themselves. Why keep all of these great items under one roof? Finally today, our contest begins! Our contest begins today, December 4th, and the winner will be chosen on December 10th. We’ve come up with what we feel will be a fun and interesting way to enter… so here are your rules!

Be registered on Geeks. Be sure to include your profile link in your submission.
Write an original how-to, what-is, or top-five article on ANY subject. You’ll submit your entry through my contact page. Submissions should be made ready to be pasted into a new entry on this very blog. Use HTML sparingly.
The work must be at least 500 words long, with proper punctuation, grammar, usage, spelling. Remember your PUGS.
Articles will not be accepted if they require editing, so have someone you trust proofread for you first!
Whichever post gets the most comments by December 10th at 10pm CST is the winner. Submissions will be taken all the way through that day.
Insipid, short, pointless comments, as always, will be deleted.
Get people to comment on your article, but spamming will not be tolerated.
Plagiarists will be flagged and automatically disqualified from any future contests we run here.
Participants can be of any age, but must be residents of planet Earth.

Add to iTunes | Add to YouTube | Add to Google | RSS Feed

So, if you are the winner, what do you receive? All sorts of goodies! Just take a look at this list:

I sincerely hope our winner will abide by the spirit of the HP Dream by paying it forward, in the form of sharing a portion of their prize with others. To keep track of entries, simply watch the information category of posts. I’ll also keep a running list here (updated every day or so):

How to Get a Computer