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Okay, okay, you've probably read the reviews plastered all over the likes of PC Ragazine, C|Net, and other sites. You've probably seen the reviews that say "Ugh, it can't play Crysis, what's the point? " Forget that. Deem what you're buying - a netbook. A *small*, low-to-middling performance system. It should be fairly power-conservant, but have the horsepower to actually hurry some applications, browse the Web, search for some videos (even HD, maybe), and play some games (3D games would be nice) .
Fortunately, the Mini 311 does everything you could ask for from a system of such slight stature. I personally received mine, and proceeded to wipe out its Windows install in favor of the soon-to-be-released Ubuntu Linux 9.10 (aka karmic) . So far, I've been nothing but impressed. The CPU, while being low-power, seems to do unbiased shapely with everything I've thrown at it - web browsing, e-mail, text editing, office apps (OpenOffice.org 3.1, which is also available for Windows), and even some mid-level gaming (several titles from Telltale Games), music playing, video playback (with nVidia's PureVideo hardware-assist functionality), and so on. It's not going to replace your desktop - but then, that's not the thought. However, if you're sitting on the couch, or want a limited computer you can purchase with you with grand functionality, this machine is a kindly choice. You can even hook it up to your HDTV with its HDMI port and discover HD video stammer - even Blu-Rays, if you obtain the external BD drive.
I haven't personally assign its battery life to the test, but I've heard numbers in the 5+ hour range, and they seem completely reasonable based on my spend of mine to date. The Atom CPU draws very dinky power, and the Ion chipset, though somewhat more power hungry than Intel's, more than makes up for it with the functionality boost it offers.
In short, the HP Mini 311 is a very complete, very functional minute system, and for the asking label, it's completely worth it. If you're looking for a netbook with some gaming potential, it's a safe choice. No, it's not going to arrive a $2000+ desktop system with nVidia's latest high-end graphics hardware, so if you're expecting that, you're going to be disappointed no matter what netbook you prefer.
I am lucky enough to work in an IT department that has a few netbooks floating around, so I have had a diminutive time to mess with several netbooks offered by Asus, HP, Dell, and Acer. The majority of netbooks offered by these companies arrive similarly configured, although with a smaller 10" hide and without the Nvidia ion video. This netbook performs op par with others that I've tested, with several indispensable exceptions.
First off, it's video and 3D performance are device ahead of other netbooks I've frail, as well as some standard laptops that I've passe which have integrated Intel graphics chips. To test its video capabilities, I grabbed a couple of video files I had stored including a SD, 720p, and 1080p video. All three played without any stuttering or dropped frames, both on the laptop and when connected to my 1080p TV over HDMI. The 1080p video took several seconds to initiate (probably 15-20), but once it fired up, no problems at all. I also tested both SD and HD videos streaming from Netflix and had the same results, no dropped frames or stuttering. On a standard netbook (non-ion), HD video is unplayable, and SD fullscreen videos have quite a few dropped frames. However, the HP 311 smooth struggles with HD flash video, but I've heard there is a unusual version of flash in the works which will do exhaust of discrete video processors which should be out in the next month or two, and should address this deny.
To test the 3D video performance, I tried a couple of games that I've played on and off over the years. I'm distinct there are a few WOW players out there who are wondering if WOW is actually playable on this machine. The acknowledge is yes. I am not a player myself but have dabbled with WOW in the past, and am familiar enough with the game to know what frame rates would be playable or not. I installed the WOW free trial and messed around in starting areas and entered a major city. The frame rate did dip a bit once I entered the city, but never dropped below playable levels. Might not be the ideal choice for major raiding, but helpful enough for getting your WOW fix on the go. You will stare that session changes purchase a bit longer due to the obscene voltage Atom processor, but this also occurs at speeds that I would reflect acceptable.
I also tested a game which I do play frequently, Eve Online. Again session changes took a bit longer than what I'm feeble to, but the frame rate in busy systems stayed beautiful genuine and always what I would think quite playable.
I'm not going to go natty deep into features like the keyboard and mask, they're about what you would question on a netbook, I can type well on the keyboard but net myself slowing down slightly due to it's smaller size. The 11.6" camouflage is certain (although it is reflective, retain this in mind if you view to be using it in sunlight), and quite a bit more usable than the 10" screens of slightly smaller netbooks in my thought. The touchpad is definitely not the best I've extinct, sometimes taking several tries for it to eye taps. I will mess with the sensitivity settings and view if I can iron this boom out.
My one upright gripe about this netbook is it's lack of RAM. I reviewed it as it came, running 1 GB. I took me about an hour of utilize to go serve on Amazon and order another 2GB. It's usable, but there are quite a few pauses when running several programs at once. Increasing the RAM should abet this out quite a bit, and the session changes in games that I mentioned earlier should retract residence quite a bit quicker once you add RAM.
All in all, I like this netbook a lot, it meets my requirements and I am ecstatic with the seize. It is the best netbook I have archaic thus far, and gawk forward to when my RAM arrives, which should compose the machine about perfect.
Note about upgrading the RAM: this machine will select a 1 or 2 GB chip, PC3-8500 DDR3-1066. It uses the 204 pin DDR3 rather than the 200 pin DDR2 RAM that most netbooks expend. The 1 GB that this netbook comes with is not removable, and it has 1 free upgrade slot.
I bought this proper model and did the following:
- Installed an additional 2GB RAM
- Wiped out the XP install and replaced it with an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium
I'm a scientific computing geek who uses a loaded Macbook Pro for daily work. I wanted something a bit smaller for the days where I fair needed to do email, documentation writing and web browsing. I also wanted to check out Windows 7 as well. I'm not a gamer.
Overall I'm very satisfied, this is a gigantic tiny notebook and the larger size is more than made up for in the graphics and prove performance. Even with the 1GB standard RAM the system handled Windows 7 quite well (I was very suprised) . Adding additional memory is snappy and cheap so I'd recommend it.
For email, media playing and web browsing it has been enormous. I've never arrive halt to running the battery down during half or three-quarter day sessions when I'm away from my desk. Works enormous with my Verizon high run internet dongle (Verizon USB 760) as well.
