 HP Mini 311 - truly the Cadillac of netbooks |
| Review Date: October 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: D. Pates, |
Okay, okay, you've probably read the reviews plastered all over the likes of PC Ragazine, C|Net, and other sites. You've probably seen the reviews that say "Ugh, it can't play Crysis, what's the point?" Forget that. Consider what you're buying - a netbook. A *small*, low-to-middling performance system. It should be fairly power-conservant, but have the horsepower to actually run some applications, browse the Web, watch some videos (even HD, maybe), and play some games (3D games would be nice).
Fortunately, the Mini 311 does everything you could ask for from a system of such small stature. I personally received mine, and proceeded to wipe out its Windows install in favor of the soon-to-be-released Ubuntu Linux 9.10 (aka karmic). So far, I've been nothing but impressed. The CPU, while being low-power, seems to do just fine with everything I've thrown at it - web browsing, e-mail, text editing, office apps (OpenOffice.org 3.1, which is also available for Windows), and even some mid-level gaming (several titles from Telltale Games), music playing, video playback (with nVidia's PureVideo hardware-assist functionality), and so on. It's not going to replace your desktop - but then, that's not the idea. However, if you're sitting on the couch, or want a small computer you can take with you with respectable functionality, this machine is a good choice. You can even hook it up to your HDTV with its HDMI port and watch HD video content - even Blu-Rays, if you get the external BD drive.
I haven't personally put its battery life to the test, but I've heard numbers in the 5+ hour range, and they seem completely reasonable based on my use of mine to date. The Atom CPU draws very little power, and the Ion chipset, though somewhat more power hungry than Intel's, more than makes up for it with the functionality boost it offers.
In short, the HP Mini 311 is a very complete, very functional little system, and for the asking price, it's completely worth it. If you're looking for a netbook with some gaming potential, it's a good choice. No, it's not going to approach a $2000+ desktop system with nVidia's latest high-end graphics hardware, so if you're expecting that, you're going to be disappointed no matter what netbook you buy. |
Perfectly Portable
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| Review Date: November 17, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Jared Westfall, |
Lets be honest about most computer users. They are not running Call of Duty 4 and they are not running photoshop. What most users want in a Notebook can be found in this Netbook. The LCD back lit screen is gorgeous to work on. It provides plenty of real estate to easily navigate a web page as well as work on document.
I chose the Mini 311 because of the ION graphics. Now with Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta you can watch HiDef Hulu in full screen with no stutter.
Its the perfect take with you computer, its light weight, long battery life while still managing to pack quite a punch thanks to the ION graphics. I recommend this for anyone looking for basic computing on the go. I have two desktops to supplement this device but I have yet to encounter a task that the HP Mini 311 has failed to accomplish.
I use the Mini 311 for work where I deal with network infrastructure. I use it at school where I am continuing my education via the Cisco Networking Academy and other IT related courses. If this fits your profile and are sick of the 10 lbs notebook then you will not be disappointed in this netbook.
I only wish these had been around when we got my mother a laptop. |
Yet another great HP product
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| Review Date: November 5, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Samuel Johnson, Wonderland, CA USA |
I just bought this product in Fry's electronics. In regards to the one star rating, always buy expensive electronics from a store. Better yet, the saleman had an opened box that was pretty much unused, but I still got a $20 discount.
Only annoying thing is the username being Fry's Electronics, but that's changeable when I stop being lazy.
For those people that want more kick out of their netbook, the ION LE in this netbook is phenomenal. I'm playing TF2, CSS, etc on this tiny laptop. Couple it with a razer orichi and you have a gaming netbook :D |
More like cheap sub notebook with nice graphics chip than the usual netbook.
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| Review Date: January 9, 2010 |
| Reviewer: FreeLikeGNU, Chicago, IL United States |
If you are expecting to receive a tiny purse size computer like a Dell or Asus 7-9in you may think this too big for the "netbook" class. However long battery life and low cost make it qualify. This is the smallest, least expensive portable you will get with an nVidia gfx capable of some games. I use this to play HD videos (yay for HDMI and VGA out!) and as a secondary Guild Wars computer. Works great with Ubuntu Linux too. Also seems to have popular support from the osx86 community too. My problem with this machine are HP locking down the two (otherwise handy) mini pci-express card slots to only HP branded cards. Why do they do this? A little searching and some bravado will show some ways around it though. This model lacks bluetooth which is a shame these days. There are tiny usb adapter for this, but usb power stays on while the machine sleeps, which may or may not benefit your use. SDHC port (not bootable) on right side but no external express card port. Ethernet port is appreciated!
Mouse buttons on this are of bad design and are difficult to press unless you do so near the innermost edges. Keyboard is ok, nothing special, but serviceable. Also don't consider this machine unless you plan on putting in 2GB more ram. Upgrade is cheap and easy though.
Upgrading harddisk and wifi/wwan cards is easy access too, but not likely to be necessary.
I think it hits a sweetspot for those looking for cheap, light and more-than-usual-netbook graphics power. |
HP Mini 311 - Love it!
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| Review Date: January 20, 2010 |
| Reviewer: E. Pratt, LA |
| We bought our HP mini using the Verizon Fios promotion ($300 !) and gave it to our teenager for Christmas. We added the external hard drive and got a custom color. Our child loves it. It's light, perfectly portable, access Wi-Fi networks easily and is surprisingly easy to use even though it's so small. Now I don't have to unhook MY laptop from all the external drives and printers and can just grab this little guy. It is just perfect for what it is... better than an iPod touch or iPhone but more manageable than a regular laptop. It's got a built in camera so we can video chat (on Skype) when she is at my ex's. It's perfectly capable handling all the demands of a High School student. I wish I had another $300 promotion certificate so I could get one for myself !! |
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