Vista Running Perfect! - Mini 1030NR

[Dillusion]

I just bought my new HP Mini 1030 from BestBuy two days ago, and It's the most amazing new gadget i've ever bought. I only had the netbook for about 10 minutes before I took it apart and got rid of that gross XP it came with.

I took the 1GB stick of ram out and replaced it with a Kingston KVR2GB 2 gig stick of DDR667 SODIMM DDR2 immediately. I also bought a 2GB PNY 133mb/s SD card to use for readyboost, and I'm also using the 2GB transcend mini HD the netbook came with in the box.

I had to install vista from an external USB DVD-ROM I bought as a spare. The install took less than 30 minutes from bootup to seeing the desktop. One small problem I had was the drivers; THEY WERE IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND! For some reason, the VGA and WLAN drivers didn't install with Vista. With some searching for about 4 hours on Google, I finally found them. The HP Minis use a Broadcom 802.11b/g internal WLAN card and an intel GMA950 graphics card. The intel site says the GMA950 driver is for XP only, but the download page says vista on it. The Broadcom WLAN driver can be used from the MIni 2100 series of netbooks driver pages on the HP site.

After installing vista, I did the following tweaks to shorten startup, make more ram available, and speed up the system. These can all be googled:

-Disable GUI bootup screen
-Enable both cores of the CPU in the vista system msconfig (defauly is 'auto')
-Disable hibernation file
-Disable vista search indexing
-Disable AERO visuals (Even though the system works JUST FINE with AERO!)

The system uses 800MB of the 2048MB at idle, which is fine because the most intensive program I run is firefox. Firefox has a plugin called Firebug Lite which allows firefox to run MUCH faster on flow speed processors with lower cache like the Atom. The CPU never spikes above 6% when opening programs, and barely hits 100% with them open. I'm using my SD 2GB card for readyboost which I'm assuming is helping allot. My 2GB mini HD usb port is being used as spare storage.

Hope this helps people who are wondering...

Screenshot of desktop:

[gse1woody]

How are you using the MiniHD?

I read on the boards that if the computer comes with a HDD then there is nothing in the Mini-HD slot.

I have a 1035NR with a 60GB HDD and I can not get my Mini-HD cover off. I removed the keyboard and did not see any internal connection either.

[Dillusion]

If you have the 60GB regular HD then you will not have the internal bay for the miniHD, if you have the 16GB SSD HD then in the box HP includes a 2GB trascend miniHD for your use, which can be placed in that socket.

[gse1woody]

So then your 1035 has the SSD while my 1035NR has the 60GB HDD.

I am still trying to learn all the differences in all of the HP Mini model numbers. They all go by the "HP Mini 1000 series" but there seems to be all sorts of individual model numbers.....

Thanks

Dave

[intel9295]

No, that can't be. The 1035nr has Bluetooth, 10.2 in. screen, and a 60GB hard drive. That was the top-of-the-line model when the 10.2 in. screens were default. So if your mini doesn't have all of the above, it isn't the 1035nr.

[gse1woody]

Right, I have a 1035NR (according to the box and the label on the bottom of the computer).

It has a 60GB HDD, SD slot, two USB ports, but no "Mini HD" port.

[intel9295]

Mini HD as in 'mini harddrive' or mini HD as in 'mini highdefinition'?

[gse1woody]

"Mini HD" as in "Mini Hard Drive"

Mini Hi-Def.......I wish. :P

[Dillusion]

Yes thats my fault on the model number, its a 1030NR

[xacked]

Enable both cores of the CPU in the vista system msconfig (defauly is 'auto')

As I recall the Atom is a single core, so I don't see how this can help.