The only thing to be disappointed about in the Mini-Note is the processor. The Via C7-M isn't a powerhouse. But on a system this size, how much performance are you going to need? Short of free, it's always easy to say the price is a little high but compare it to the OQO with the same processor to see how quickly the price for a really portable machine is going down. And if you want to know exactly why I like the keyboard so much, see my preview over at Tom's Hardware...

Being a guest at the HP partner event is fascinating; being reminded of the sales side and the dealers who push the industry along, meeting folks from Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, listen to two UK dealers 'discuss' the member of staff poached from one company to another, hearing what HP thinks is economically important in the coming year. We had breakfast meetings and late night boat trips and dinners and interviews and an all-too-brief time to play with the HP Mini-Note and a tour of some of the HP Labs projects and a busy, interesting and fun time. There are so many interesting people at HP doing such a huge variety of things: giant posters and atomic detectors and tiny notebooks and toasty big data centres. Now I have to edit the Mini-Note photos and get some sleep before our next breakfast meeting and a chance to play with the Slacker portable Internet radio... sleep. I remember that.

Last November I spent a fascinating few days at HP's printer research labs in San Diego and Boise. I couldn't fit as many details as I wanted about the various testing chambers - variously lined with copper or anechoic cones, subjected to extreme heat, light or humidity, blasted with interference and static or filled with forensic equiment to rival CSI - into my latest piece for FT Digital Business. But I do explain the rice grains and the Arizona road dust...

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