HP Mini 1030NR Review and Upgrades

HP Mini 1030NR
In August 2010, I picked up a barely used HP Mini 1030NR as a spare machine to use for fieldwork.  Having only paid $150 for it, I felt it was a steal, even for a slightly older machine.  It has since become my preferred portable, even over my newer 110.

System Specs
1.6GHz Intel Atom
2GB of DDR2 RAM
16GB SSD + 2GB USB Key
Intel 945 Express w/ 128MB of Vram total (64 dedicated + 64 shared)
Integrated Webcam
3x USB (1x left and 2x right)
1x VGA out (require proprietary dongle cable, left side)
1x SD (combo multiple SD formats, right side)
Ethernet (left side)
Integrate G wireless
combo Audio in/out (left side)
touchpad
3-cell battery (about 3 - 5 hours battery life)

First off, the 1030NR is frankly higher quality system than the 110. The sound is better, performance of the SSD is better, had it been equipped with a larger Harddrive, I would easily take the slightly older system.

The 1030NR are currently available on Tiger Direct for $209. They have WIndwos XP Home installed, 1GB of RAM, and all the other specs listed above. They also come with HP's XPSP3 Restore CD and MS Works 9. While it does have 3x USB ports, one of the ports is dedicated to the HP USB Memory key, that USB port is not readily accessible for use, which realistically only gives you 2x USB ports. On the HDD versions of this system, the USB key USB port has been removed.

The 1000 Series utilizes a 1.8" HD bay. Half of that bay is taken up by the SSD - which is the size of a stick of Ram and has a ZIF connector to tie into the system board's HD controller interface. The other half od the drive bay houses the dedicated memory stick USB slot.

As the system uses the 1.8" Zif Pata drives, you can find replacement HDD int he 4000-5400 rpm variety found in the Ipod Classic and certain Zune MP3 players. Toshiba makes a HD for the Ipod in 20, 30, 40, 60, 80, and 100GB capacities. These drives are compatible as a replacement - ranging in prices from $25 for the 20-40GB to about $120 for the 100GB. If you want to keep the SSD options, the 32GB is about $100, 64GB - $160, 128GB - $200+, and 256GB is about $400 - suffice it to say it is cheaper to buy a newer HP Mini with a 250GB - 500GB HD than upgrading, but, to each his own.

It is possible to remove the 2GB key and stick a small USB bluetooth module in its place. If you had a mouse or something similar, you could save your other two USB ports. If you decide to upgrade to a ZIF 4200 rpm ZIF drive, you would have to remove it completely.



The 1000 series is somewhat lower profile - ie thinner than the 110+ series. The outer casing is a higher quality plastic and there is an altogether more robust feel to the system.

The system is running Windows XP Home Edition SP3. Personally, despite the drawbacks to XP Home over XP Pro, I like the speed of this system. I dropped in a "BestBuy 10GB Netbook Upgrade Pack" into the system almost immediately and its now flying. This pack includes a 2GB stick of RAM and an 8GB SD card. This gives the system 26GB of available storage from the 16GB SSD, 2GB USB Key, and the 8GB SD Card.

The Graphics card is the same Intel 945 used by most netbooks - it has 128MB of video RAM. This enough to play Unreal 2004-based games, if you have the HD space for them, which you may have to resort to installing them on the SD card - doable, but not without caching issues.

The screen is the standard 10.2" 1028x600 as the other HP Minis out there. I actually think it has better picture than my 110 and find the games I do play on it look a little better.

Currently the system is being used by the stepkids and wife when I'm one the main computer. The current game on it is Jedi Academy, which run beautifully. Jedi Academy even support 1028 x 600 resolution so you can play full screen. It should run many of the other games listed, provided there is harddrive space for them.

That is really the only drawback to the 1000 series over the 110 - hard drive space. If you're connected to a LAN, storing music and other files, you should be fine. But as a standalone if you have a full install of Windows + Drivers + MS Works 9, you're going to have about 5-7GB left and will need external storage for other items. I Understand Windows 7 has further customization that can save HD space and I know I could choose to do a "lite" XP install, but would be losing out on functions. Besides, as-is, I have plenty of room and when you set Firefox to automatically delete history and cookies, surfing the web takes up almost no hard drive space.

Replacement of the HPMini 1030NR Internal SSD
Having successfully upgraded the 16GB SSD to a Samsung 60GB 1.8" HDD, I do have a few things worth mentioning about the conversion process. I will also give step-by-step Instructions at the end.

I had previous bought a Toshiba 1.8" ZIF PATA to replace the 16GB SSD, but the drives are extremely difficult to get the zif connector to close secure on the HP ZIF ribbon. The drive would have worked had the connector not crapped out. At that point I was pretty upset and decided the best way to alleviate my disappointment was by smashing the tiny drive.

Not wanting a repeat of what I shall refer to as the "Flailing of the Toshiba Drive," I decided to buy a Samsung 1.8" 60GB drive from a Hong Kong eBay dealer. The 60GB Samsung was $67 shipped, the 80 was $85, and the 120 GB was $115. I chose the 60GB because I wanted to make sure it would work. The Samsung connector was far easier to attach than the Toshiba and after orienting the drive, I found it fit perfectly. Well, not quite perfectly.

The HP Mini 1000 Series had a version equipped with a 60 and 80 GB drive in addition to the 8GB and 16GB SSD versions, so they simply modded the HDD caddy with three risers to bolt the tiny SSD onto. The 16GB SSD, by the way, is the same physical size as the DDR2 stick of RAM.

Because the Caddy was now completely occupied, I did lose use of the internal USB HP chose to equip with the 2GB USB Key. I probably could have done a little modding and found a way to make it fit, but to be honest, I don't really need USB, considering I can access additional storage either wirelessly or through the network. Plus, I still have the 8GB SD card, and another open USB on the left side.

So, once I removed the risers and lightly hammered the soft aluminum back in some areas, and completely removed in others, the 1.8" drive fit flush into the caddy. I reconnected the ribbon cables and reattached the keyboard.

Upgrade Instructions for HP Mini 1000 Series: Zif PATA SSD to Zif PATA HDD
Make sure the unit is turned off. Disconnect the power cable and any other external connection. Remove the battery from the mini. You will also need to remove the USB Key from the USB socket.

In the battery bay, there are two screws - remove these two screws. Open the display. at the middle of the top of the keyboard, place a flat object to pull the keyboard up. There are four tabs on either side the keyboard will snap out from. At the bottom of the keyboard are two mounting tabs.

Carefully disconnect the keyboard zif connector from the motherboard. The zif connector may be brittle - this component is next to impossible to replace!

You will need to disconnect two other zif connectors - 1 is the touch point ribbon, the other is the HD zif.

The hard drive assembly is seated on the far right side and held in place by two screws. Once you remove the screws, you will need to lift fro the right side to remove the hard drive caddy.

Beneath the caddy is the Internal USB port. It is connected by wire to the mtherboard. You will need to remove tape holding it down to the bottom of the netbook chassis. Disconnect the USB wire and remove the USB mount from the bottom of the chassis.

The USB Key that was removed will now leave a hole in it's place. To plug the hole, you will need to trim the USB Key mount end of the USB key plug. Once trimmed, you can use superglue to permanently seal that hole.

To remove the SSD from the caddy, you need to remove three screws. To get the 1.8" 5mm drive to fit in the caddy, you will need to remove the three mounts. You will have to use a metal punch to remove them and then a hammer to remove any denting.

On top of the caddy there is some foam tape used for padding, you will need to remove this tape to punch the mounts out. When fitting the new drive, you may need to remove additional material from the caddy. The hard drive fits label up into the caddy. It should be a slightly snug fit, but make sure corners of the caddy have been bent back into "square" form. You may consider placing some of the foam tap on the bottom of the chasis if the drive is too loose in the caddy.

Attach the Zif ribbon to the drive and then insert the drive caddy left corners first. Then bring the right side down. It will be a snug fit so don't be afraid of shuffling the caddy over slightly.

Reattach the Other end of the zif ribbon tot he motherboard and reattch the caddy mounting screws. If you had to mod the caddy, check the corners to make sure they are flush. Reattach the touchpoint zif and the keyboard connector. Reseat the keyboard in reverse fashion to its original removal.

Turn the netbook over and return the two battery bay screws - these are the screws that hold the keyboard in place. They should be snug but not too tight. Reinsert the battery.

Power up the computer and hit F9 for boot options. It should detect your new drive if it is connected correctly and operational. You're now ready to install your OS.

Installation of Windows 7 Professional:
I will admit that Windows 7 restored my faith in Microsoft. It is a very slick operating system and installing it was so much easier than XP and even Windows 2000.

Installation for this procedure was done from an 8GB USB Drive. To get your WIndows 7 installation onto the USB Drive, you will need three items - an 8GB USB Drive, Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool and Windows 7 iso file.

The 8GB USB Drive can be bought at almost any store these days and you'll have to spend about $15 to get one.

The Windows 7 USB/DVD Tool can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft website. http://store.microsoft.com/help/iso-tool

The Windows 7 ISO can be downloaded online at several different places. I found Amazon is hosting them. The file is about 3GB, so take the time and let it completely download.

When you have all three of these items, save the ISO to your desktop. Install the USB/DVD tool. Plug in your USB drive and run the USB tool. Select the Windows iso and allow the usb/dvd tool to run its course. This program will completely reformat your USB drive, so make sure you don't have any files on it before the install!

You can download versions of Home Premium, Profession, and Ultimate. There is a way you can unlock all three versions, making a master Windows 7 installer that allows Basic, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate, if you want details on that, hit me up privately.

Once the tool is finished moving the Windows 7 install onto the USB drive, you are all set to install. On your computer, you will need to set to boot from a USB device. When it does so, the install program will begin. It takes about 10 minutes for the program to copy the install files onto the harddrive before the first reboot, then you can remove the USB drive for the remainder of the installation.

The rest of the set up is very straightforward. If you've ever installed XP, Windows 7 will seem far simpler.

That's it! If you have some additional questions please feel free to ask!

If you have questions or comments, please Post them below.