November 1st, 2009
Holiday Gift Guide 2009: Netbook computers
HP Mini 311
HP has consistently churned out top-rated netbooks for both consumers and business users. Last year the HP Mini 1000 made our holiday list. HP’s latest model, the Mini 311, is one of the first netbooks to use Nvidia’s Ion, which addresses one of the chief shortcomings of the category–its inability to play HD video. The Mini 311 is based on an 11.6-inch display with a resolution of 1366×768, which is better than most netbooks. It starts at $399.99 with the usual netbook specs: 1.60GHz Intel Atom N270, 1GB of memory, 160GB hard drive and Windows XP Home SP3. The configuration that I would recommend, which is similar to the one CNET tested, has the 1.66GHz Atom N280, 2GB of memory and Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit for $499.99. That’s a lot for a netbook, especially when budget laptops routinely sell for $350, but this is a relatively capable netbook given its specs (CNET found even intense games like Call of Duty 4 were “fairly playable” and 720p video playback was “excellent”) and it’s certainly more portable than your typical budget laptop. Note that Windows 7 Home Premium adds a full $50 to the price; HP does not offer the Mini 311 with the cheaper Windows 7 Starter Edition. The HP Mini 110, the company’s 10.1-inch netbook, starts at $299.99, but it is not available with Nvidia’s Ion platform. One of the big question marks with Ion was battery life, but the Mini 311 lasted well over 5 hours on CNET’s tests. Add it all up and this is about the closest you’ll get to a no-compromises netbook.
John Morris is a former executive editor at CNET Networks and senior editor at PC Magazine. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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