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HP Mini 1000 Upgrade Opportunities: Easy Access to RAM and SIM Slot

October 29th, 2008 by Joanna Stern  

After putting the HP Mini 1000 through the review process it was time to see what kind of upgrade oppurtunities are avilable on the compact and very sleek netbook.

HP for one makes it really easy to get to the RAM. Forget your screwdriver, the  HP has a plastic door covering its RAM which can easily be popped off (especially if you have long nails). We replaced our 1GB of RAM with a 2GB DDR2 stick and then just snapped the plastic cover back on. When we booted the system the Windows XP Home operating system recognized 1.99GB of RAM automatically.

Getting to the hard drive on the system isn’t as easy. There is no place to unscrew a panel to see the hard drive or other components. That isn’t to say that some enterprising hardware modder like JKK Mobile won’t be able to figure out a way to a way to get to the hard drive and sub in a super fast SSD, but so far we haven’t been able to.

Considering that HP has revealed its plans to make the Mini 1000 mobile broadband capable, we combed the system looking for a SIM card slot and found one burried underneath the battery. We were able to slip a AT&T 3G SIM into the slot. However, we assume the system lacks the internal antenna to support the capablitiy as of now.
 Comments (36 Responses) 

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36 Responses to “HP Mini 1000 Upgrade Opportunities: Easy Access to RAM and SIM Slot”

  1. PK Says:
    October 29th, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    Take a look at the HP website; they have posted the service manual (or at least it was there this morning) and it describes how to replace the hard drive.

  2. PK Says:
    October 29th, 2008 at 11:36 pm

    Here is the URL:
    http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&product=3838232&

  3. elipsoid Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 5:47 am

    The hard drive is under the keyboard. You need to unscrew one screw under the battery and take out the keyboard. It doesn’t look hard. You can find that in the service manual available at HP.com.

  4. code4fun Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    This looks like a sweet netbook. HP makes good stuff. I have a MSI Wind. Totally love it. I’ve had it for only 3 weeks and the left ctrl key keeps popping out. Cheap keyboard. Hope MSI will send me replacement for my ctrl key. :(

  5. JC Denton Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    I’ve had nothing but bad luck with HP products, otherwise I would be seriously considering this one. We have an employee discount program with work, so I could get the low-end model for $375 shipped to my door.

    The reviews have been good, I really like the keyboard too. Maybe I will give them ONE more chance….

  6. Kelly Fitzpatrick Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 1:41 pm

    Joanna, 2 questions about the 2gb memory you put in:

    1) What were the specs on the memory?

    2) I called HP tech support yesterday and asked specifically if the Mini 1000 could be upgraded to 2gb (I would like to install Vista), and they told me the system would not support more than 1gb–is the one you have a regular retail model? Perhaps it does support 2gb and HP was just giving me propaganda?

    Thanks!

  7. Brodie8307 Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    I thought the version of XP that shipped with these UMPCs was limited to 1GB. Was that a bunch of bull by Microsoft or is that something they plan on doing sometime “in the future”?

  8. Anonymous Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 4:35 pm

    Microsoft has limited the amount of ram a manufacturer can put into it’s system at 1GB, however, once you get it home you can add a 2GB chip and windows will recognize it. When the linux version comes out they are going to offer it with 2GB of ram.

  9. Kelly Fitzpatrick Says:
    October 30th, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    Thanks, “Anonymous”…anyone know, theoretically, what specs the memory would need to be–if we lived in world where one could upgrade a Windows-powered netbook to 2gb? Also, I found a good hard drive upgrade–NewEgg is offering OCZ 32gb SSD for $79.99 after rebate–rebate ends today.

  10. Anonymous Says:
    October 31st, 2008 at 12:18 pm

    From the service manual: 1024-MB (PC2-4200, 533-MHz, DDR2)

    Newegg offers 4 options in the 2048-MB size.

  11. PK Says:
    October 31st, 2008 at 4:07 pm

    Is the OCZ SSD a 1.8″ drive? The posts I’ve read suggest that HP is using 1.8″ PATA SSDs and hard drives. Granted, I haven’t looked that hard, but the 1.8″ SSDs I’ve seen so far have been Mtron’s and they are definitely not inexpensive.

  12. anonymous Says:
    November 1st, 2008 at 10:55 am

    so if you were to bye it directly from hp what type of 2gb ram would you have to order to upgrade? is it really just false advertising

  13. Kevin Says:
    November 9th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

    All the info. about RAM, etc. for the Mini 1000 at MyHPMini.com

  14. Raymond Says:
    November 16th, 2008 at 6:55 pm

    I just got my unit on Friday. Compared to the 2133 on XPSP3
    The Good
    - much much faster (Atom is great for notebook of this class)
    - plugged to the adapter, the notebook wont burn your lap
    - nice sized keyboard
    - 10.3 inch display is very bright and has good contrast
    - SDHC card reader is well placed and useful
    - Batterylife 1.5 hours moderate use (hope for a 6 or bigger battery in the coming months)
    - Did I mention that the swirls on the Mini look absolutely gorgeous? Well it is.
    - Upgrade the memory to 2GB.. it will improve exprience
    - Very function software bundle – Microsoft Works (handle what my wife needs for 80%, wish there was a light weight Powerpoint editor)

    The Bad
    - The video cam is practically useless. Normal lit room look candle lit
    (maybe something is wrong with my unit)
    - Wish that there was a VGA port
    - display 1024 x 600 only, we will miss the 1024×700 display of the 2133

    I expect the HP Mini 1000 to capture a significant pie of this mobility segment. It’s quite a winner.

  15. William Says:
    November 20th, 2008 at 8:32 pm

    Got my 1000 on order and have been told that it should be built the first of Dec. and alreeady have a 2GB memory stick on the way. Need to find out if you or anyone has looked into getting rid of that 60G hard drive and what seems to be practical replacements for it?

    Thanks for the info.

    bill

  16. Richard Says:
    November 21st, 2008 at 10:57 am

    Got my Mini 1000 3 days ago. My comments are:

    1) It’s a very nice machine. I agree with what others have said on the positive side.

    2) The bad points:
    a. The shiny reflective screen is annoying! (Matte non-reflective please.)
    b. The ’scratch pad’ pointing device is hard to operate with one hand.
    c. HP doesn’t even know that they have a VGA port and no cable is available from HP. Anyone know of an alternate source?
    d. The external power connector seems likely to break. The center pin can be bent if you don’t plug straight in.

    Has anyone tried loading Linux onto this machine. (Other than the HP MIE Linux they will have out next year.)

  17. Richard Says:
    November 21st, 2008 at 11:22 am

    I loaded SKYPE and it works very well. If you go to TOOLS > OPTIONS > VIDEO SETTINGS you can set the camera Brightness, Contrast, etc. That’s the only way I have found to do it.

  18. Richard Says:
    November 25th, 2008 at 10:18 am

    Further comments after using the Mini 1000 for a week.

    1) Have I mentioned how annoying the shiny reflective screen is?

    2) The built in microphone isn’t very good. When speaking to people over SKYPE they report that it sound like someone with a cold or underwater.

    Although I still like the Mini 1000 a lot, I have some suggestions for HP: Get some accessories! (Like the VGA cable and additional power supplies.) Who taught you marketing?

  19. John Says:
    January 15th, 2009 at 12:27 am

    I used the install CD of gOS 3.1 Gadgets – http://www.thinkgos.com/dgadgets.php as a boot CD, which I believe is a Ubuntu distro with Google Gadgets, Wine, Firefox, and Open Office. It was really impressive in terms of how much faster it ran with Linux instead of Windows XP with just 1 MB ram. I’m looking to get another 1.8 ” PATA drive instead of partitioning, upgrade my memory to 2 MB, and running gOS or perhaps another Linux distro. The only problem I had was that the wireless LAN did not appear to work, and I could not figure out where to enter my SSID and key. For comparison, I ran Speedtest.org and DSLReports download tests, and under gOS, it was almost double the download and upload speeds (I have the ATT Uverse Max gateway).

  20. charles Says:
    January 16th, 2009 at 8:23 pm

    I have the hp mini 1033 and would like to upgrade the 1gb to 2gb with the same speeds, etc. Where can I find such a card?

  21. Holly Says:
    January 31st, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    hi. I have a mini 1000 with a 16gb hard drive, i got it low so i can save a few bucks and was hoping to upgrade later on. But when i call hp they said it cant be done. So now i really want to upgrape it to either a 32gb or 60gb hard drive, because installing all the programs like antivirus, office and programs for school it already took up half leaving only 7.5 gb left.. can someone please tell me if i can upgrade the hard drive and also if i can, can you please list/post a link from NEWEGG or other places that i can use to upgrade. Thank you very much for helping

  22. Jane Says:
    February 1st, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Yikes! I hope you’re a bunch of little kids or non-native-English-speakers. If you’re educated English-speaking adults and still can’t construct a clear sentence, I might cry a bit.

  23. Elad Says:
    February 2nd, 2009 at 11:04 am

    I was looking at the 60GB version at Costco this AM. Has anyone loaded an AVI or MP4 movie onto an SD card and watched it on this computer? Safe to assume that power consumption would be a lot less than watching it from the HDD? I thought that I read on the spec card at Costco that expected battery life was 4 – 6 hours. Are they really only good for an hour and a half?

    If the HDD is a 1.8″ and can’t be inexpensively upgraded, an option would be one of the WD Passport external USB drives. 160GB were on sale at buy.com last week for $49. Anyone know if the USB ports on the HP provide sufficient power to run an external HDD that doesn’t have a separate power supply?

  24. Bily Foster Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    I tried out the 8.9 version with 8g SDD and 512meg of ram, I was impressed however I took it back and got the one with the larger screen, 16g SDD and 1gig of ram, (which i upgraded to 2gig) I love it. I reloaded it with XP though because I have specific tasks I want to do on this bad boy. (Netflix, Slingbox, ect) The only thing that threw me off is the resolution is 1024 x 575 instead of the 1024 x 600, but it’s a great looking screen except for the stupid shiny gloss (whoever thought that was a good idea in the first place?) But I can’t wait for my JetFlash T3K 8GB USB Drive to arrive tomorrow so I have additional storage space :P

    but streams netflix great, slingbox works great, so far A++++++ way to go HP… oh yeah and this doesn’t burn me like my HP Tablet does :P

  25. Bily Foster Says:
    February 26th, 2009 at 11:37 pm

    oh Elad, in response to watching an mp4. I have a 500meg mp4 of Mortal Kombat (I pulled off my dvds) on an SD card and it played it well, i won’t say it’s 100% perfect but it wasn’t anything major. also I was able to power my ext USB HDD via the USB but I wouldn’t recommend doing it without the AC adapter for a long period of time ;) – hope that helps

  26. Nick Says:
    February 28th, 2009 at 12:21 pm

    To all of those looking to find a RAM upgrade at the right specs, all you have to do is go to crucial.com. There are a couple of options when you get there. The easiest one is on the main page and says “scan my system.” The website might ask you to download the scanner tool, but either way will tell you exactly what you have and give you the link for any upgrades that are available on their sight. If you want to buy the memory before you get the mini, under the “solid state drives” tab there is a link to “netbook upgrade center”, where you can choose manufacturer and model. Hope this helps everyone. I ordered my 2gb RAM this way and the computer runs great.

  27. lololololgeaser Says:
    April 4th, 2009 at 5:26 pm

    how do i open the sd card slot -_-

  28. 1968 Says:
    May 15th, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Great how-to video on upgrading the SSD to a regular 1.8″ with more than 2X read/write speeds compared to the original:

    http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2009/01/runcore-18-inch-ssd-on-hp-mini-1000.html

  29. Frank Says:
    July 14th, 2009 at 7:36 pm

    Does anyone know what if the drive in the 1033CL is a 2.5″ HDD? I want to change the 60G drive with a 500G Drive.

  30. Frank Says:
    July 15th, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    THe HDD in the 1033CL is a 1.8″ Drive. It is very easy to gain access to it but the best I can find is a 160G Drive for $85. It sure would be nice if HP would have used 2.5″ Drives grrrrr

  31. R. Kimmins Says:
    September 5th, 2009 at 5:43 pm

    My HP Mini 110 netbook is only 1 month old and suddenly it will not boot. It gets hung up at the Hp screen where I have the options of entering F9 or F10 to get to Bios or other settings. When I enter F10 to try and check the hard drive, the computer can’t find the hard drive. I suspect the 160 Gb hard drive has failed after only 1 month. In addition, the 3 cell battery that came with the unit only last about 1 1/5 hours – no where near the 3 hours quoted. You will have to purchase a $100 HP 6 cell battery if you hope to get 5 hours of life out of your computer.

  32. George Says:
    September 19th, 2009 at 11:49 pm

    Got a HP-1012NR. Specs are: Atom-270, 1GB RAM, 16GB SSD. Bought it for $269+tax from Office Depot during Labor Day sale. It meets my expectation: light weight, reasonably fast,

    1. Loaded with MS office, Thunderbird on Windows XP.

    2. Made a system recovery disk and removed the hidden system restore partition to save space.

    3. Install Ubuntun-9.04 onto a separate 16G SD card in SD slot with its own boot sector. Can an boot to Ubuntu by pressing F9. Wireless works automatically.

    3. I choose HP netbook mainly for its keyboard, you can really type like normal keyboard. Only the button “1″ is little too small.

    Anyway, it is a useful product for people on the move.

  33. Mick Says:
    December 12th, 2009 at 11:03 am

    Can someone confirm that the Mini 110 (with 16GB SSD drive) does actually read SDHC cards.
    I want to get a 16GB SD card to use as a second partition. Thx.

  34. Edgars Says:
    January 3rd, 2010 at 1:37 am

    hard drive is under keyboard

  35. Adam Says:
    January 8th, 2010 at 12:59 am

    I have a Mini with a 16gb HD and I’ve loaded a SanDisk 4GB SDHC with music and movies (in MP4 , iTunes format) and it works great for the most part. The only problem I can see is when I view it in full screen, it gets choppy. It’s okay if I watch it in non-full screen mode. I think if you upgrade to 2gb of ram, it would run smoother. I think it’s the hardware, not the speed of the card reader. I hope this helps Mick.

  36. Purvesh Says:
    February 2nd, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    I have a HP mini 110 netbook. There is a sim card slot behind the battery, i want to know what is its use. can it be used as a gsm/cdma phone to receive calls and msgs?

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