HpMini311
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iPass? The best present and future alternatives to the Apple iPad
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPad he was quick to shake his finger in the nose of the other devices out there attempting to fill the gap between cell phone and full-sized laptop, and in particular those market-dominating netbooks. In Apple's opinion, the iPad may be the gadget for surfing the web, watching movies, reading books and running apps, but it's surely not the only game in town. And if you aren't sold on the iPad, but happen to be someone who's looking to buy a secondary computing device to use while traveling or while simply lying on the couch, your choices at the moment come down to netbooks and... well, more netbooks. And that's not such a bad thing, especially if you need a feature Apple's tablet can't offer, like multitasking, a keyboard, or Flash support. So, before you get up on Saturday morning and run off to purchase that iPad, you may want to peruse the best current (as well as coming) alternatives we've rounded up after the break.
MSI Wind12 U230 unboxed and benchmarked, trounces netbooks of yesteryear
It's no Pine Trail when it comes to power consumption, but AMD's Congo platform is no slouch, either. TestFreaks recently received the Congo-powered MSI Wind12-U230 for review, and discovered that its dual-core Athlon X2 L335 CPU and speedy Seagate drive made neat work of last year's Atom netbooks, including the formerly formidable HP Mini 311. After shooting the requisite unboxing video and posing the slender machine for a few close-ups, TestFreaks praised the large, comfortable keyboard and touchpad, while scoffing at only four hours of net browsing as the entirety of its battery life. You'll find pics, a host of benchmarks and even CPU-Z screens at the source link; now, we just want to see how the netbook handles a contemporary competitor.
Ion netbooks head-to-head: Atom, overcharged?
It's been more than a year since NVIDIA announced its Ion platform, promising to bring HD video and gaming to the underpowered Atom CPU. After all the hold ups, we started to wonder if we'd ever see the platform packed inside a netbook, so imagine our surprise when no less than four Ion-based machines launched in the past few months. With bigger screens, better specs, more graphics muscle and, of course, the resulting higher price tag, each of these Ion machines promises quite a bit, but which one lives up to the hype? We got them all together and spent the past few weeks testing the ASUS Eee PC 1201N, Lenovo IdeaPad S12, HP Mini 311 and the Samsung N510 -- follow on past the break for our complete faceoff. %Gallery-81099%
Verizon rolls out HP Mini 311, Mini 110 netbooks
The cat may have gotten out of the bag ahead of the Windows 7 launch, but Verizon has just now gotten official with its latest subsidized netbook offerings, which include some unfortunately pricey 3G-equipped versions of HP's Mini 311 and Mini 110. As expected, the 311 is the first one out of the gate (available right now), and packs an 11.6-inch screen, an Atom N270 backed up by NVIDIA's ION chipset, 2GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive, Windows 7 Home Premium and, last but not least, a price tag of $249.99 on contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. The Mini 110, on the other hand, kicks things back a whole generation to Windows XP and straight-up Intel internals, and will be available for $199.99 (on contract and after rebate again) sometime in mid-November -- in the meantime, you can still pick up the carrier's HP Mini 1151NR netbook while supplies last.
HP Mini 311 set for spec bump, Windows 7 Professional
With the overdue passing of Windows XP into the next world comes the cheery note that Microsoft's ceiling on netbook specs will also be no more -- and the Mini 311 is among the first to get upgraded in time for the new king of Windowstan. The already competent performer will be getting the full (non-LE) ION treatment, max memory of 3GB, an 80GB SSD option or up to 320GB of the old school storage stuff, and a choice of Windows 7 flavors up to the Professional level. This info comes from the machine's maintenance guide, so we can't be certain of when the upgrades will be ready for consumption, but HP's track record would suggest the answer to that is soon. [Via Liliputing]
HP Mini 311 reviewed with earnest, ION-enhanced affection
It's taken longer than we thought for a honest-to-goodness NVIDIA ION-powered within arm's reach, but sure enough the HP Mini 311 accomplishes just that. Laptop's managed one of the first reviews, and much like what the site intimated with earlier benchmarks, you're looking at a surprisingly capable and sleek $400 netbook with good battery life. In fact, the only major complaint seems to be a trackpad that's a bit too rough for the reviewer's tastes -- probably a sacrifice worth making if you're definitely in the market for a new ultraportable right now. Hit up the read link for the full review.
HP Mini 311 with ION benchmarked: it goes very fast
We've already seen the NVIDIA ION-based HP Mini 311 perform impressively during demos, but now that the netbook is hitting reviewers it's time for some real benchmarks -- and according to the crew at Laptop, they're more than solid. The 311 scored a 1,917 on the PCMark 05 test, almost 500 points above the average netbook, and put up a scorching 1,386 in the 3DMark06 test -- 1,200 points over the netbook average, and basically the same score as a MacBook Air. That's not too surprising, seeing as ION is just a netbook-oriented variant of the GeForce 9400M, but it's still rather impressive -- and combined with 1080p video playback, the potential for some light gaming, and (eventually) ION-accelerated Flash, we'd say the Mini 311 is looking like a real contender.
GPU-accelerated 720p Flash video gets demoed on a netbook (smoothly)
It's been a long wait since NVIDIA and Adobe announced their plans for GPU-accelerated Flash video back in January of this year, but it looks like the pair now finally have something to show for themselves. While it's not quite clear how official it is just yet, the folks at NotebookJournal have nonetheless published a video that shows 720p Flash video running smoothly on a netbook (an ION-powered HP Mini 311, to be specific). Unfortunately, it looks like we'll still have to wait until sometime in the first half of 2010 to see the technology become publicly available (at least if the slides in the video are any indication), but you can now check out the demo for yourself after the break. Just be sure to stick with it for a while or skip ahead to the 1:20 mark -- they show a non-accelerated video at the beginning for an all too painful comparison.[Via Liliputing]
HP's Ion-infused Mini 311 netbook now on sale, starts at $400
We had originally assumed that Lenovo's IdeaPad S12 would be the first netbook to ship with NVIDIA's Ion platform, but since that rig was delayed until Windows 7 could make its retail debut, HP decided to swoop in and claim the honors. You heard right -- the recently introduced Mini 311 has just become the first netbook in the universe with NVIDIA's Ion to actually ship to end users, and it's up for order right now starting at $399.99. 'Course, you'll be asked to pay extra for a white chassis ($20), Atom N280 ($25), Bluetooth ($25), 802.11n ($25) and integrated WWAN ($125), but at least that 1,366 x 768 resolution display comes standard.[Thanks, Steve]
HP's 11.6-inch Mini 311 pairs Atom with NVIDIA ION graphics, Windows XP
Three great tastes that taste great together? We suppose we'll find out soon enough. HP has stuffed NVIDIA ION LE graphics into the new (already leaked) Mini 311 netbook-ish PC, but instead of being forced by Microsoft to go Windows Vista or Windows 7 to get the new chip in there, HP has stood by good ol' Windows XP. It comes with a big caveat, however: "Streaming HD video playback not currently supported," and of course an Atom N270 processor is still an N270, no matter what graphics you pair it with -- stay away from heavy Flash video, dear friend. The 11.6-inch WXGA screen dreams of something more, however, and the ION chip can decode HD video and output over HDMI. Of course, it's hard to complain about the $400 starting pricetag. %Gallery-72810% %Gallery-72811%
HP Mini 311 listings appear on support site
The HP Mini 311 may not be confirmed by the Mothership just yet, but that isn't stopping the ION-equipped netbook from popping up on the company's support pages, in 37 different sub-flavors (don't read too much into that, it's just the way the company works -- after all, Pavilion z2300 has 31 entries of its own). It still doesn't answer the question of when we'll see the potent portable, but at least we know it's inevitable at this point.Update: NotebookItalia has a boatload of press shots, and we must say, we're digging the style. [Thanks, onelove]
HP dm1 and dm3 ultraportables leaked, Pavilion dv8 to pack Core i7? Update: Mini 311 has ION!
Eager HP fans have been doing some digging around and have uncovered details on the company's Fall updates. Heading the pack will be the 18.4-inch dv8, set to feature a quad-core Core i7 720QM CPU, 640GB of storage and 4GB of memory. The processor formerly known as Clarksfield has 6MB of onboard cache and can be Turbo Boosted to 2.8GHz, which should do justice to the gargantuan screen size and included Blu-ray drive. If, on the other hand, you want to be able to move your laptop, there's the CULV-powered 11.6-inch dm1 or 13.3-inch dm3 (pictured). Both will come with 1366 x 768 glossy displays, while the dm3 will also offer a cheaper AMD Neo flavor. Another three models, a TM2 tablet and Mini 210 and 311 netbooks, are also known by name if not spec. While the usual pinch of salt is advisable, a Dutch website already has the new laptops listed in its price comparison engine, corroborating the specs and the expected arrival alongside Windows 7's October 22 release. Update: We've also come across the specs for the Mini 311. Apparently, it'll be an 11.6-inch NVIDIA ION machine, with the Microsoft-mandated Atom N270, 1GB RAM, 160GB HDD spec and a six cell battery. See it in the flesh after the break. [Via Liliputing and Notebook Spot] Read - HP Softpaq update reveals new models Read - Pavilion dv8 listing - €1,426.81 / $2,040 Read - Pavilion dm3 listing - €677.11 / $968 Read - Pavilion dm1 listing - €481.89 / $689 Read - Mini 311 specs
