Don't judge HP by their Compaq products. My friend had an HP/Compaq and it was horrible, the hinges broke, CD drive ruined, bunch of issues, it was an awful laptop. My new HP is awesome, HP's "HP" branded PC's are great, the Compaqs are their low end ones.
But then again, the Inspiron Mini 9 looks quite nice, I usually like power and performance over size and weight, but those little mini-PC's are looking quite nice and I kinda want one, though I don't have the money for one.