These days, it’s all about mobility… I traded in my desktop for a laptop years ago. While I love my laptop to bits and pieces.. it’s really difficult to tote around the city, and as I found out at Berlin Fashion Week, it’s near impossible to carry it around all day. And while some people can blog from their phone, I need to be able to edit photos, as with fashion, you can’t really communicate without good pictures, and you can’t take press ready photos with a phone camera either. To really go out and about and blog on location, it’s necessary to have manageable equipment, and nowadays there’s a growing number of mini computers that can do just that. Last year, Vivienne Tam collaborated with HP to create a small and fashionable computer specifically for women.
Though I’m not really sure how I feel about gadgets being marketed as fashion accessories, I do like well-designed objects. Last week, I got something lovely in the mail… the Vivienne Tam HP mini to test out (I’m not sure if I can keep it). It’s really a tiny little thing, designed by Vivienne Tam, it has her signature Asian influence. It’s red casing with floral graphics are really nice. And girly enough my boyfriend won’t want to steal it from me. At 2.45lbs, just over a kilo, it’s actually small enough to fit in a clutch. Though with the mouse, camera, wallet and cables, a tight fit, I’ll probably use a regular handbag. So far, I’ve only used it around the house… it’s good for hanging out on the sofa, checking emails, typing documents, and doing webcam chats on Skype. The screen is small, but usable, as is the keyboard.
All in all, as much as I love beauty, looks aren’t going to cut it for me. These next few weeks I’m going to put the VT HPmini to the acid test. I’ll be taking it out and using it for presentations, blogging on the road, as I’m going to Paris on Friday. I’ll be uploading pictures, using GIMP (the open source competitor to Photoshop) to edit them, and we’ll see how it holds up. I’m really excited, if it works out, it would be a big step for mobility. I’ll be doing a full review next week!
For more images, and to get a closer look at these, visit my flickr page.
I am curious how you like it. While I am normally not such a big fan of these [obviously] “women gadgets”, for the same reason you are uncertain: they do not always compete tech-wise with the regular stuff. but i have to admit – this one is … well.. really pretty