 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 |
Great little netbook
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| Review Date: March 6, 2010 |
| Reviewer: adam scheurer, |
I bought this while stationed on a small Army depot, which has nothing to do within walking distance. It will definitely do all your web surfing, document writing and other normal use you would get out of a portable PC. The charge lasts a pretty long time, considering it has a large screen for a netbook.
One big factor in my purchasing this over other netbooks was the Nvidia ION motherboard/Graphics processor, which is much more capable of graphical power than most netbooks which use Intel's shared video processor. Out of the box, it will play games such as Warcraft 3 and Unreal Tournament 2004 with graphics maxed. This wasn't enough for me, so I overclocked the CPU and GPU (I won't tell you how to void your warranty, there are plenty of forums with this info on them), and can play Age of Empires 3, Command and Conquer 3, Fable and Neverwinter Nights 2 with a great framerate at medium high graphics levels. Don't expect this little thing to be able to play Bioshock 2 or Left 4 Dead 2. (Games were downloaded via Steam, EA, Atari, Blizzard and Impulse, if you need a good idea of where to buy digital copies of games)
The only thing I dislike about this netbook is all the space taken up by HP's "what if" restoration files. About 35GB were freed up after removing system restore, hibernate, and all the install files for the programs that come pre-installed. I wouldn't get delete-happy unless you have some knowledge about computers and know or find out what you NEED and don't need. If you want to find out what parts of your hard drive are being used by large files or folders, a great free program to use is TreeSize, which will break down how your hard disk space is being used.
I use the netbook mainly for streaming music from the internet, watching downloaded movies, surfing the 'net, and playing games. If you have any sort of internet connection or a flash drive, you don't even mind that the netbook lacks a disc drive. I currently use this netbook with a laser mouse and a 17" widescreen monitor as the secondary display. The keyboard is natural to type on, and doesn't require much adjusting. There are pretty many useful keys that work with the function button, such as volume control, locking Windows, and changing the screen brightness. The mousepad is a little bit awkward until you get used to it, with the mouse buttons being right on the edge, and if I switch back to a different laptop at school I will be trying to hit buttons on the edge of the laptop! Not really an issue, even if I didn't use a mouse. I can't find any way to disable the mousepad, but when typing normally I have never had any problems with bumping the mousepad or its buttons. The speakers are pretty good for a netbook, but being located under the front where your palms rest, it sounds the best when playing music and have the netbook closed and flipped upside-down. I usually use headphones, because I currently have roommates, and enjoy turning the volume up more than some would prefer. Movies look great on it so far. I would definitely reccommend this little beast. |
HP mini311-nr1000
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| Review Date: April 1, 2010 |
| Reviewer: R. Gauldin, Anaheim, CA USA |
I selected this mini 311 after surveying many other netbooks on the market. My chief reasons for choosing this model are, relatively large keyboard with good ergonomics,a larger 11.6" hi def display, a discrete GPU with the nVidia ION with dedicated memory,and Windows XP. I did not want a Starter Edition of Windows 7 on a netbook. Besides, I did not want to learn a new OS on a netbook. My desktop is XP and I home network with the XP mini311 and the interface is identical between the two. Setup is quite easy and smooth to deal with.
Pros:
A very sharp 11.6" LED HD display.
Comfortable and good feel keyboard.
High performance nVidia ION GPU, no shared memory.
Very good speakers for a netbook.
Windows XP, not a WIN 7 starter OS.
Unit operates quietly and remains cool, no heat or hotspots.
Good battery life, 5-6hrs with normal settings and modest tasking.
Cons:
A sensitive touchpad.
Learning to navigate with the Touchpad instead of a mouse is a small challenge, the touchpad may not execute your every intention and sometimes seemingly the cursur will jump quickly and choose an action you don't want.
This situation improves with practice and I'm getting better at it everyday.
All in all, I believe the mini311 is among the best notebook offerings today.
I have no regrets. |
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