Let the hive mind of Engadget get that for you.
"We need a digital camera that can be switched on and fire off that first shot fast. It's not a commonly tracked statistic on any review site, and nobody seems to have this information for every camera. We were hoping other readers could inform us as to what small digital cameras can fire off their first pics in under a second (ideally under half a second). It needs to be small, but mostly, just really quick in operation. Thanks!"
I just got a HP Mini 311. Engadget's overall assessment kinda misses the real point and all of their benchmarks boil down to nitpicks.
Netbooks are not full on laptops. A netbook's primary function, as its name implies, relates to the internet. The fact that these particular netbooks CAN do many of the things a regular portable can is an added bonus.
The fact that people bitch and moan when a $400 netbook can't do this stuff as well as a $2,000 laptop is just pure greed at play. People want more for less. Nevermind the fact that a netbook is not supposed to compete with a notebook.
I blame this on the manufacturers. Though equally motivate by greed, Intel & MS set forth recommended specs for netbooks for a reason. Netbooks are essentially supposed to be the 21st century version of the old PDA. Nothing more.
Unfortunately, caving in to consumer greed, netbook manufacturers keep on ignoring the specs. They're pushing these netbooks into laptop territory, drawing the inescapable comparisons and expectations of functionality.
Like I said, I just got the HP Mini311 w/3GB. Prior to getting it, I was totally ANTI-netbook. However, with it now in my hands, I'm actually impressed. It not only does what I expected it to do, but it also does more. I'm pleasantly surprised.
Look, when I want to do my whole CG thing and bust out 40mil polys I'll head to my $3,500 desktop workstation. That's where I'll install the latest and greatest PC games that the industry has to offer.
When I want to sit in bed & maybe surf the net in comfort, I'll whip out the netbook. This is the sort of system I'll drop on early 00s games like Deus Ex, Quake 3, or WoW. A netbook is a perfect sort of system for retro gaming. Drop on the SNES emulator and play Mario wherever you go.
However, I wouldn't expect a netbook to play Modern Warfare 2. That's just not what a netbook is designed to do. NOBODY, not even Engadget, should expect more from a netbook than they should.
Pay for $400 worth of PC and get $400 worth of PC. With these ION equipped netbooks, you get as much power for $400 as you would have for a $2,500 PC back in 2003. That sounds bad, but, iirc, we did quite a bit with PCs in 2003. Best of all, it's all portable.
Here's my rundown of the HP Mini 311:
PROS:
- Small & lightweight
- Fast for what it is designed to do
- Solid 5hr+ battery life, which is more than enough since you're not going to spend all day on a netbook.
- Solid 3D power for low poly CG work. Handles 250k pols in C4D quite well in real-time.
- 160GB is more than enough HDD space since XP has a small footprint
- A max of 3GB of RAM is more than enough since XP idles at ~150MB or so.
- Pretty good 1080p performance & MP4 playback
- Handles all of my favorite old school PC and emu console games very well.
- Far less pre-installed bloatware than my desktop PC
- 2 minutes to upgrade RAM. 2 minutes to permanently hack the ION LE to ION full.
CONS:
- Roxio's recovery utility is crap and doesn't work. I had to create custom bootable USB recovery stick from the included I386
- The view angle isn't meant for more than one person.
- The contrast ratio is a notch below my Cintiq 12wx tablet and far below my 22" SynchMaster.
- Weak speakers
- Super sensitive touchpad. Bundled ALPS drivers won't disable touchpad while typing or when a external mouse is connected. (Dell touchpad drivers fix this problem though.)
BOTTOM LINE:
This thing blows the doors off of the old Toshiba my college gave me when I started my freshman year in 1993. Apples to oranges, but I remember getting a whole lot done on that laptop. I also owned far more expensive desktops in the past that did far less than this netbook.
For what a netbook is designed to do, the HP Mini 311 is a dream. It doesn't matter to me if "x" app starts 2 seconds slower than "y" netbook. That's trivial. Does it get the INTENDED job done? Hell yeah. Does it do that job well. No doubt. Can it do more than just net-based apps. Yes and surprisingly well. Will it ever replace my desktop or laptop? Not. Then again, it's not supposed to.
Remember that. A netbook is NOT a laptop or desktop replacement. Anybody expecting $3,500 worth of PC for $400 is basically a cheap SOB. Shell out the dough for a desktop if you need desktop gaming/work power.
@nullifythenight Thanks for the review. Absolutely the HP Mini does more than a laptop from 10 years ago, but it does feels slower than some netbooks that cost $100 less. I say at the end, if graphics and some HD streaming is important to you than you can sacrifice the performance and battery life (though I do agree, the battery life on the Mini 311 isn't too bad) and go with one of these. Also, I bet you paid $399 for your Mini 311 which is a good deal, but our unit was nearly $500 when speced out.
By the way, you figure out how to use the keyboard without knocking the touchpad? Took me like 2 days to get it right.
@nullifythenight
I hear you brother.. ooOOoo the gospel speaks with you!
@Joanna Stern
I agree with most of what you said, and I actually had a long discussion with friends about how smaller Atom based laptops shouldn't carry the "netbook" moniker. However, I disagree with this:
"For what a netbook is designed to do, the HP Mini 311 is a dream. It doesn't matter to me if "x" app starts 2 seconds slower than "y" netbook. That's trivial."
When you are comparing similar devices, this sort of thing is totally important! Of course, you have to take everything into the decision that you make, but for me, the speed of opening programs and how quickly the respond is incredibly important. It's the only reason I upgraded to a 3Gs. You make good points in that "netbooks" should really serve minimalist computing purposes, but with any piece of computer technology that I buy, responsiveness is within the top few items on my list to cross off before I move on to the nest one.
@nullifythenight
Nullify, I'm not sure what year you're living in but it is almost 2010. Happy New Year! Just because you remember when you had to pay $3000 for a laptop doesn't make you qualified to appreciate where technology is today. You seem to be stuck behind in times as well (and you, for example, couldn't sell me your supposed $3,500 workstation). Because no one with such a workstation would even waste his or her time on a netbook for videogames. Absolutely no one.
And your pathetic and naive plug about "consumer greed" actually makes me wonder where you were even raised. Do you even know what shareholders are? I doubt it.
Why don't you tell us what you use your $3,500 desktop workstation for? And why you feel it is worth so much to you?
Someone here may believe you.
@ARM vs Intel
@ARM vs Intel
You crack me up.
WHAT QUALIFIES ME TO COMMENT ON TECHNOLOGY?
For one thing, my apartment is outfitted with a 10 node network. Each PC node has been built, configured, and optimized all by me. My "supposed" $3,500 workstation is just one of the PCs.
HOW COULD I JUSTIFY A NETWORK & WHY WOULD I NEED ONE?
Perhaps it has to do with my profession. I'm a visual effects professional. My areas of concentration are character modeling/animation and architectural visualization.
I'm 35 years old and have been self-employed for a little over 16 years. I require my own render farm because I often have to prepare high quality visuals for clients. The deadlines are usually tight and the individual project specs are typically high end.
SEEING AS HOW YOU'RE SO CONCERNED ABOUT MY UPBRINGING AND INTELLECT....
- I'm a New Yorker, born & raised.
- I learned to program computers at age 8. I started with C64 BASIC & ASM. I worked my way up to x86 ASM, Pascal, & C/C++.
- As a child, I was prep school educated. While there, I was the president of the Electronic's Club, Strategic Games, & Young Republicans.
- As a young adult, I attended Fordham University. I was also accepted at Colgate, MIT, RPI, Columbia, Manahttan College, & Hartwick. I chose Fordham because of an academic scholarship and because it was closer to my family.
- By highschool graduation, I already completed 3 years of college level calculus & 2 years of college level physics.
- At age 18, I taught a year long Physics 101 course to 6th graders
- My younger sibs attended Cornell & Wesleyan.
- I went to college intending to major in Physics, but ended up as a CompSci major with a 3.8 GPA and multiple dean's list awards.
- At college, I wrote complex psycial simulation for a theoretical magnetoplasmadynamic propulsion system.
- I started doing CG when I was 15 years old and only started to earn a buck from it when I was 19 and in college.
- I'm the oldest of 3 children and uncle to a cute 2 year old nephew.
- I'm a 4th generation American of Puerto Rican descent.
- I don't speak Spanish. However, I studied Latin for 6 years, ancient Greek for 2 years, & Italian for 2 years.
- In high school, I varsity lettered on the wrestling & fencing teams. I fenced sabre.
- I have owned somewhere around 40 computers since the age of 7. Maybe more. I lost count. I've built quite a number of them.
- I like video games and own a... Wii, PS3, 360, PS2, PSX, GameCube, N64, SNES, NES, PSP, an original B&W GameBoy, Gameboy Color, a 1st Gen Gameboy Advance, a 1st Gen NDS, a NDS Lite, an old Commodore 64, an Intellivision, and a dedicated 1970s Pong machine.
- Not including my PC TV tuners, I own 3 TVs: One 52" Sony Bravia & Two samsung Syncmaster T240HDs
- On my desktop machine, my current apps of choice are Maxon Cinema 4D Studio R11, Adobe Photoshop CS3, After Effects, Pixologic ZBrush, & Pilgway 3D-Coat. (All legit licenses before you cast stones.)
- My input method of choice for art is my Wacom Cintiq 12wx touch screen tablet. It's a bit on the small side, but still more portable than the big boy.
- My hobbies include sculpting, painting, fitness, writing, video games, circuit design, & programming.
Anything else you need to know? IQ? (147) My height & weight? (5'8" & 160-lb) How much I bench, squat, or run? (225-lb, 310-lb, 5 miles) How many girlfriends over the years? (6)
SHEEEEEESH!!!
Simply because you and I don't agree doesn't mean that you have to make assumptions about my knowledge, upbringing, or naivete.
WHY WOULD I OWN A NETBOOK WHEN I OWN SO MANY DESKTOP MACHINES?
The 311 is a lightweight alternative to my current HP 17" notebook. It is easier for me to lug a 3lb netook on the subway for client meetings. Ride NYC subways and you'll understand why a netbook is easier to transport than a regular laptop
Second, I can sit down with a client & demo my WIPs or finished works to them in a meeting. 90% of the time, I'm demoing stills, pre-rendered works, & comps to them. Very little of what my clients need is of a real-time nature. The HP doesn't have to be fast. It just has to get the job done.
WHY WOULD I PLAY GAMES ON A NETBOOK?
WTF else am I going to do on an hour long trip into the city. No cell reception in the tunnels. Too much rocking to type. I might as well pop in one of my old favorite games to kill time. It's a nice time waster on a long trip. For the most part, most of my gaming is done on my consoles.
AM I UP TO DATE ON PC HARDWARE?
Eh.... I try to be. I tend to upgrade/replace my hardware every 18-24 months. Naturally, with 10 PCs, I can't afford to swap out all at once. I usually do about 3 at a time. Some are actually due for replacement this June. I generally spend somewhere in the realm of $10k-$20k a year in hardware and software.
In case you're curious, it's easy to rack up so much money in one year on hardware & software. For 2009 alone....
- $3,500 for a new fresh Cinema4D Studio r11 license
- $2,000 for a laptop to replace me dead Toshiba
- $3,500 for a new HP desktop
- $1,000 for my Wacom Cintiq 12wx, to replace my 12x19 Intuos3
- $600 for a fresh ZBrush 3.5 license
- $235 for a 3D-Coat license
- $1,000 for a JVC HD camcorder to replace my GZMG255, which I use for motion referencing as part of my character animation work
- $500 for a new Olympus digital camera to replace my old Canon, which I use mostly for texture & anatomical/location referencing
That's ~12k for the 1st half of 2009 alone. See how it adds up quickly?
Naturally, the hardware pays for itself since an archvis job can easily earn me $5k-$7k for 2 weeks of work.
MY PRIMARY WORKSTATION
- Intel Quad Core @ 2.83GHz
- 12GB RAM
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
- 3.5TB Storage (2.5TB of which is external: 1TB Simpletech, 1TB Lacie, & 500GB Maxtor)
- A Samsung syncMaster T220 in a dual monitor configuration with my Wacom Cintiq 12wx
Again, just because you don't agree with me doesn't mean that you have to invalidate my OPINION.
@Joanna Stern
It only took me maybe 5 or 10 minutes to sort out the touchpad issue. Mostly Googling. I swapped out the default ALPS drivers for another non-HP related set. That did it.
Yeah. I paid $399. I wouldn't spend more, given that I have other, larger machines for other tasks.
Does it feel slower than some other netbooks that cost less? Hard to tell. Synthetic benchmarks only tell part of the story. Real world handling is often different. A lot of stuff can ultimately affect performance, especially software side configuration. A modern PC can perform like junk pile 286 of yesteryear if it is poorly configured, maintained, or admined.
In the end, I think that the 311 _feels_ peppy enough for what it is. The Win7 version I demoed felt sluggish. The XP one was more zippy. The OS seemed to have been a factor here, imho.
@nullifythenight
Actually, nullify, your opinion is mostly invalid whether you're qualified to make a comment on it or not. You're one of the very few people I've ever seen repeatedly compare a netbook to a modern $3500 desktop.
You're of Puerto Rican descent, yet you've learned useless Greek and Latin over Spanish (lol). Why is that? ...I speak Spanish, by the way.
Oh! And by the way... your IQ is nothing at all impressive to me either. You're shorter and you've had far less girlfriends than I (you're doing pretty good for an engineer though). And judging by your resume, I will even assume that your artistry is inferior as well.
Please keep your penis down next time, tiger! Before I cut it off.
@nullifythenight Smart on the touchpad solution. I send these things back after testing them so I don't have that much time to figure that stuff out. As for the OS, I totally agree with you!