HP's Mini 2140 looks almost identical to the company's 2133 Mini-Note which is no bad thing.

The brushed metal case looks classy and feels very robust. The 2140 has an Intel Atom N270 processor, which is quicker and generates far less heat than the 2133's slow Via C7-M chip.

The 2140 has 2GB of RAM, which is plenty for running several programs at the same time. Vista Business is pre-installed and, although it doesn't feel quite as responsive as Windows XP, it feels far quicker and more usable than it does on Sony's Vaio, which also has 2GB of RAM but a slower Atom processor. That said, we'd have preferred XP for the best performance.

Although the 2140's 10.1in screen is the same size as many other netbooks here, it has a slightly lower resolution of 1,024x576. This is 24 pixels shorter than most of the other 10in displays here. It may not sound much, but it makes the bottom of many windows inaccessible, which is irritating. Most colours look bright and rich, but black areas are washed out and images also have a slight grainy sheen.

The 2140's large and responsive keyboard is thankfully unchanged from the 2133. It's a pleasure to type on, although the keys feel slightly slippery due to their glossy sheen. The touchpad is very small, with the buttons placed on either side of the pad instead of underneath it. This takes some getting used to, and in the meantime you'll probably end up stabbing uselessly at the spot where the buttons should be. There are only two USB ports, instead of three like most of the other netbooks here, but the 2140 is the only model here to have an ExpressCard/54 slot. This can be used to add more USB ports or a 3G modem.

The 2140 lasted for three hours and 16 minutes in our battery test. However, Samsung's similarly priced N120 lasted in excess of five hours more. Although we liked the 2140's sturdy metal design and large keyboard, the N120 is cheaper and has better battery life. If you're going to spend this much money on a netbook, Asus's Eee PC S101 is far more desirable.