Our HP Mini 311 (311-1000NR) features the following specifications:
- Operating System: Genuine Windows XP (32-bit)
- Processor: Intel Atom N270 Processor 1.60GHz (533MHz FSB)
- Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
- Storage: 160GB 5400 rpm SATA HDD
- Display: 11.6-inch diagonal WSVGA+ (1366x768)
- Graphics: Nvidia Ion LE
- Wireless: 802.11a/b/g
- Expansion: 4-in-1 media card slot
- Dimensions (H x W x D): 0.78-1.20 x 11.4 x 8.0 inches (including feet)
- Weight: 3.34 lb (not including weight of AC adapter).
- Power: 6-cell Lithium-Polymer battery
- Warranty: One-year standard warranty
- MSRP: $399.99
Build and Design
The HP Mini 311 looks like an obvious evolution of the HP Mini design. In fact, if it weren't for the larger size of the 311 you could easily mistake this netbook for the old Mini 1000. In short, nothing substantial has changed in terms of the build or design of the latest generation of Mini netbooks. That said, this isn't a bad thing. HP engineers did a lot of things right with the earlier Minis, and the Mini 311 likewise offers a nearly fullsize keyboard, large touchpad, and acceptable build quality at a low price. The clamshell-like design gives the Mini 311 a very clean look and the "Black Swirl" Imprint finish features a nice spiral pattern design that looks like either a bunch of black/silver galaxies bumping into each other or a bed of black roses. This Imprint design not only gives the lid a distinct appearance, but also helps protect the lid from scratches.
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Screen and Speakers
The new 11.6-inch screen on the Mini 311 is a nice LED-backlit display panel with a 1366x768 native resolution. The glossy screen surface helps to improve color and contrast, but we noticed the colors look a bit "washed out" or "pastel" compared to what our test desktop background looks like on other laptops. Although the 1366x768 resolution is a nice step up from the 1024x600 resolution seen on most netbooks the washed out colors made the viewing experience less than perfect. Vertical viewing angles are average with some color distortion when viewing from below and some over-exposed colors when viewed from above. Horizontal viewing angles are better with colors remaining unchanged at extremely wide viewing angles; you won't have trouble sharing a YouTube video with friends using this display.
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The built-in speaker performance on the Mini 311 is extremely good for an 11-inch netbook. I'm not a fan of the location of the built-in speakers since they're located on the bottom front edge of the netbook, but the audio quality is quite good. The speakers produce excellent volume (enough to fill a small room) and there is minimal distortion even at higher volume levels. The speakers lack much bass, but the range of highs and midtones are perfectly enjoyable.
Granted, most audiophiles will want to use external speakers or headphones for a better listening experience ... but the built-in speakers work well in a pinch. The audio output from the dual-function headphone jack/microphone jack produced some high frequency background noise/distortion with some of the headphones we used during testing, but other headphones worked fine with no distortion.
Keyboard and Touchpad
As previously mentioned, the HP Mini 311 features a nice and large keybaord that is 92% of full size. Most of the primary keys are the same size as the keys you'll find on a typical notebook and the spacing is likewise normal, but the space bar and some of the keys that are used less frequently are smaller than normal. If you prefer the shape and feel of traditional keys then you'll probably like this keyboard. That said, I personally prefer the "Chiclet" style keyboard used on many netbooks and ultraportables since there is more space between the keys to prevent me from accidentally hitting the wrong key when working in tight quarters. Still, the keyboard on this netbook is quite usable and should be perfectly fine for typing quick emails or editing documents while traveling.
The ALPS touchpad used on the Mini 311 is a multitouch gesture-enabled model that allows you to use multi-figure gestures such as "pinching" your fingers together or "pulling" your fingers apart to zoom in or out. The ALPS control panel in Windows also allows you to customize these gestures as well. Sensitivity and tracking seemed accurate even when you move your fingers quickly over the touchpad surface. Speaking of which, the touchpad is covered in a glossy smooth surface that sometimes makes it east to slide your finger across the surface and other times causes your finger to "skip across the surface because of the lack of texture/traction. The left and right touchpad buttons are located beneath the touchpad and each button has shallow feedback with loud clicks when pressed.
Input and Output Ports
In terms of port selection the HP Mini 311 offers a few more bells and whistles than your average netbook. You get three USB 2.0 ports, a 4-in-1 media card reader, dual-function headphone/microphone jack, Ethernet port, and two video out ports in the form of VGA and HDMI.
Here is a quick tour around the HP Mini 311:
Front view: No ports here, just clean lines.
Rear view: No ports here either, just the hinges and battery.
Left side view: Security lock slot, power jack, vent, USB 2.0 port, and HDMI.
Right side view: 4-in-1 card reader, dual-function audio port, two USB 2.0 ports, VGA, and Ethernet.
Performance and Benchmarks Unfortunately, Nvidia'a Ion graphics can't do anything to overcome the performance bottleneck of the Intel Atom processor. Although the latest version of Flash Player supports GPU acceleration, we didn't see much (if any) improvement in HD Flash playback because of the weak processor. When we tried to watch Hulu HD on this netbook there was significant lag and the video and audio playback was out of sync. In fact, if you watched a Hulu HD clip with a man and woman having a conversation the audio was so out of sync that it looked like the woman's voice was coming from the man and the man's voice was coming from the woman. Overall performance with the Intel Atom platform is very reasonable for daily activities like web browsing, email, using Microsoft Office, listening to music, and even watching standard definition movies. If you're in a bind you can even use photo editing software like Photoshop or GIMP for basic image editing. Unfortunately, the Intel Atom N270 processor still feels painfully weak for general computing ... which means multitasking. Typical multitasking (such as switching back and forth between a full-screen web browser and Microsoft Office) was sluggish at best and frustratingly slow at worst. All of the synthetic benchmarks we use to rate the performance of a laptop show the HP Mini 311 offers slight improvements over typical netbooks, but "real world" use is still limited by the weak processor. For example, games like World of Warcraft play flawlessly, but games like Counter-Strike: Source dropped to an unplayable 12-15 frames per second at the lowest detail settings whenever the CPU had to handle a large level map. wPrime processor comparison results (lower scores mean better performance): PCMark05 measures overall system performance (higher scores mean better performance): 3DMark06 comparison results against netbooks @ 1024 x 768 resolution (higher scores mean better performance): HDTune hard drive performance test: Heat and Noise The cooling fan often kicks on, particularly when the netbook is plugged in, but the noise wasn't particularly loud. If you are very sensitive to noise then the fan might bother you in a quiet room, but chances are you'll never notice it. Below are images indicating the temperature readings (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) taken inside our office where the ambient temperature was 74 degrees Fahrenheit: Battery Conclusion Unfortunately, the Intel Atom N270 processor is still painfully weak for general computing. Although the latest version of Flash Player supports GPU acceleration, we didn't see much (if any) improvement in Flash playback because of the weak processor. Translation: don't try to watch Hulu HD on this netbook. Typical multitasking (such as switching between the web browser and Microsoft Office) was sluggish at best and frustratingly slow at worst. In short, the HP Mini 311 gives you a netbook that's better than a typical netbook (one that uses Intel GMA 950 graphics) but still suffers from one of the same problems as other netbooks: a weak processor. Although the Mini 311 is a nice netbook we have a hard time recommending this netbook at this time considering that there are a number of Intel CULV-based ultraportables and soon a variety of AMD-based ultraportables for the only $50 to $100 more. Pros: Cons:
The performance section of a netbook review is generally the most boring part because all netbooks have virtually identical performance. That said, HP hopes the Mini 311 will change that thanks to the use of Nvidia's Ion graphics. In this case, our test configuration comes with Nvidia Ion LE ... basically standard Ion with some of the features crippled via software. Despite this, our performance benchmarks indicate Ion indeed gives the Mini 311 a nice boost over netbooks that use Intel GMA 950 graphics.
Temperatures on the new HP Mini 311 are quite comfortable and typical of most current-generation netbooks. Temperature readings taken from the outside of the plastic chassis remained "lap friendly" during normal use. The only time that temperature readings spiked was when I stressed the GPU and CPU when playing games.
Battery life with the integrated 6-cell lithium-ion battery . In our test with the screen brightness set to 70%, and wireless active, the Mini 311 stayed on for 6 hours and 18 minutes of constant use. Although some netbooks offer closer to 10 hours of battery life, the battery also has to feed the power-hungry Nvidia Ion graphics and larger 11-inch screen. All things said and done I think it's safe to say 6 hours of battery life will be fine for most people.
At the end of the day HP created a very nice netbook with an 11-inch screen, reasonably powerful graphics, and a nice keyboard ... and then crippled it with Intel's Atom processor. If all you want to do is very basic web browsing, email, social networking (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and play World of Warcraft then the HP Mini 311 is a great ultraportable laptop.
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