HP Mini 311 Review Roundup
The HP Mini 311 is one of the first netbooks out that really blurs the line between netbook and full featured notebook, thanks to its NVIDIA ION GPU. That’s not all, with an impressive screen and new features coming with Windows 7 and Flash 10.1 the Mini 311 may actually be a netbook with enough power to be the primary PC for average users.
We’ve gathered up the HP Mini 311 reviews and hands on experiences to give you a good look at what you can expect from the little powerhouse.
The HP Mini 311 looks impressive but how does it actually stack up to real world tests? Our own Xavier Lanier had some hands on time with the HP Mini 311 and provides a good introduction to the new HP Mini 311 netbook.
Reviews:
CNet: “The real payoff is in the Nvidia Ion, which, while not a true discrete GPU, offers enough power to play HD video files smoothly (a sticking point for Netbooks), as well as do some basic gaming. For nongraphics tasks, it won’t affect performance much (and GPU support for Flash video, such as Hulu, is still a work in progress), but it does solve some of the frustrations associated with Netbooks, without driving up the price.” – Dan Ackerman
PCWorld: “By netbook standards, the HP Mini 311 is reasonably priced and offers features most netbooks lack. You’re paying a small premium for a netbook that has an HDMI port and can drive 1080p resolutions to a bigger display. Though it didn’t deliver on 1080p playback, it handled 720p and 1080i videos better than netbooks with Intel-based graphics. For those who were hoping to make a gaming netbook out of this, think again. High-end 3D games are still best played on full-fledged laptops.” – Cisco Cheng
Blog.laptopmag.com: “The design, the bright and beautiful screen, and the price all make this netbook a head-turner.” … “The trackpad is very smooth and our fingers glided easily across it. We also like that the two mouse buttons sit underneath instead of on the left and right sides. The bottom of these buttons is flush with the edge of the chassis, a nice design touch.” – K. T. Bradford
LaptopMag official Review: “With the Mini 311, HP has broken the netbook mold; no longer will users be limited to simple activities on these small systems, nor will they have to pay upwards of $600 for portability and performance. At its $399 price, consumers in the market for an inexpensive system can’t go wrong with this notebook. While we would have liked a better touchpad, the Mini 311 offers dramatic performance benefits in comparison to traditional netbooks while still offering nearly six hours of battery life.” – Michael A. Prospero
Laptop Magazine was so impressed with the HP Mini 311, that despite having issues with the trackpad, it was given an “Editor’s Choice Award”.
If you want to know exactly how the Mini 311 stacks up to the competition in all kinds of benchmarks including 3dMark, battery life, file transfer speed and much, much more be sure to hit up the detailed comparison at LaptopMag.com.
Notebooks.com: The Nvidia ION GPU that earns the HP Mini 311 high marks from pretty much anyone who lays hands on it also gives the Mini the ability to transcode files much faster than similarly spec’d netbooks without the Nvidia Ion. In this video you can see just how fast the mini transcodes a movie file compared to a Lenovo S12 without an ION GPU.
The Mini 311 is already impresses reviewers with Windows XP installed and it looks like things will only get better when Windows 7 arrives.
According to Liliputing.com on October 22nd you will be able to purchase the Hp Mini 311 with an 80 GB SSD 2-3GB of Ram and a full Nvidia ION GPU. By replacing the Nvidia ION LE, which is available now, with a full version users should experience better HD processing and will gain DirectX 10 support which will bring greater game compatibility.
Another improvement coming to the HP Mini 311 in the near future addresses the ability of the HP Mini 311 to play Flash video without looking like a bad kung fu movie. When Adobe releases Flash 10.1 this year it will be able to use the Nvidia ION GPU to provide stutter free streaming HD Flash Video.
Overall the reviews are positive with the trackpad being a point of contention between the Laptop Magazine blogger and the official reviewer. Even with shorter lasting battery life than many competitors the ability to do more including watch HD content, play games and, when Flash 10.1 comes out, watch Hulu more than makes up for this shortcoming.
This is one netbook I can’t wait to get my hands on once Windows 7 and the additional options come out, even if they do bump the price up into notebook range.
Subscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
Comments (8)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
Sites That Link to this Post
- Acer Timeline Series Get Dual Core, 8 Hr Battery and new 11.6″ model | Notebooks.com | October 14, 2009
- Holiday Gift Guide: 10 Notebooks under $600 | Notebooks.com | November 23, 2009
Extended HP Mini 110 and 311 review can be found here – http://hpminireview.com/
Save your money and time and do not buy the HP Mini 311. I bought one and had a problem with the touchpad, exchanged it and still have the same problem. Now HP does not want to buy it back from me, I have to send it for repairs (even though the warranty says I could bring it to an authorized repair center, apparently they don't fix hardware issues), and I have to pay for shipping. Yes, not only I had to pay for a netbook with a faulty design, but also for shipping it to a repair center (will it be fixed?!!) Not to mention I am now without a laptop for at least 2 weeks. Thank you, HP – I will never buy anything from you. You must have too many customers since you got too comfortable and treat us this way.
Save your money and time and do not buy the HP Mini 311. I bought one and had a problem with the touchpad, exchanged it and still have the same problem. Now HP does not want to buy it back from me, I have to send it for repairs (even though the warranty says I could bring it to an authorized repair center, apparently they don't fix hardware issues), and I have to pay for shipping. Yes, not only I had to pay for a netbook with a faulty design, but also for shipping it to a repair center (will it be fixed?!!) Not to mention I am now without a laptop for at least 2 weeks. Thank you, HP – I will never buy anything from you. You must have too many customers since you got too comfortable and treat us this way.
I got a HP311 from Verizon Wireless with a 2yr data plan in was $199. It replaces a Lenovo S10e. But to tell you the truth the ION graphics are good but the Atom 270 still slows the computer down and makes multi tasking a pipe dream still. Try playing a video stream and go back to surfing and you will deffinately see its limitations. Especially with Windows 7 Premium. I am not even sure 7 Premium should be on a single core netbook. I also agree the Alps touchpad sucks but i have yet to find a Alps pad that works as well as Synaptics. I have a Alps on a Dell Inspiron and it has issues with tracking and sensitivity too.
Yes, I have a HP311 with Windows 7 Premium and the Alps Touchpad is not very good. I have tried using the most recent drivers and it still does not help. They need to have more options to adjust sensitivity on the Touchpad. I really think they did not account for the human factor . I like the screen size which is why I bought it. But HP definately is no better then Dell in customer service.
I bought an HP Mini 311, and it died after about 3 hours of use. After the Hyderabad call center had me on hold for over an hour, I finally got them to authorize its repair. Now I'm waiting to see if they fix it, and how long it'll last once it's returned.