Archive for the ‘HP Mini 311 review’ tag
Anandtech reviews the HP Mini 311
The folks at Anandtech have published an extensive review of the HP Mini 311 – the first HP netbook to feature the NVIDIA ION graphics platform. As most of you know by now, ION brings the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics chipset to the Intel Atom processor platform – promising to deliver increased graphics and video decoding performance. Of three (actually now four) known ION-based netbooks, the Mini 311 was the first to actually ship even though it was the last to get announced (the other three coming from Samsung, Lenovo, and ASUS).
Typical configurations for the Mini 311 include the Intel Atom N270 processor, the NVIDIA ION LE platform, 1GB of RAM, 11.6 inch glossy LED-backlit display, internal hard drive, 2-channel HD audio, HDMI output, media card reader, VGA port, and choice of Windows XP Home Edition or Windows 7 Home Premium.
For the folks into extensive reviews, the Anandtech review certainly won’t disappoint. You’ll find a review that covers a bevy of benchmarks – everything from application performance to graphics performance to the quality of the display.
Ultimately the question of the HP Mini 311’s worthiness is based on its comparisons with other products available on the market today. We’ve seen substantial changes in the mobile market over the last 6 months – especially with the rise of CULV-based thin-and-light notebooks that offer substantial performance increases over netbooks yet cost just a tad bit more than high-end netbooks. For the price of the HP Mini 311 one has to ask whether its better to save the money and spend just a bit more for a system with a heftier processor and awesome battery life. Thus here’s what Anandtech thinks:
“With so many other viable options, ultimately the HP Mini 311 is an interesting product that doesn’t do enough to get our full attention. . . . Intel’s Atom has always been about keeping costs low and reducing power requirements; spending $400 on any Atom netbook is tough to recommend, and the HP Mini 311 will usually cost closer to $500 once you add a few extras. The most likely buyer for the 311 is users that want a netbook with an external Blu-ray drive and software, in which case $630 for the Mini 311 is a fair deal. Ultimately it’s not a bad netbook, but neither is it Editors’ Choice material.”
After using the ASUS UL30A-X3 thin-and-light, we’d also be hard pressed to recommend anyone spending more than 400 dollars for a netbook these days – especially with the advent of thin-and-light notebooks.
