HP Mini 311 Netbook Review

The latest round of netbooks are the best yet, with faster processors, larger screens, and even better video cards for gaming. Manufacturers are now closing the gap between standard notebooks and netbooks. You’ll see why with the new HP Mini 311 netbook after the break.

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HP wanted to build a netbook with mobile entertainment in mind, and they clearly achieved that with the Mini 311. The netbook has a 11.6-inch LED-backlit screen with a 1366×768 (HD 720p) resolution, the largest we’ve seen on any netbook to date. Inside you’ll find an Intel Atom N270 or N280 processor running at 1.6 or 1.66GHz respectively. What’s different compared to other netbooks is the graphics subsystem used. HP has integrated the new Nvidia Ion technology.

If you’re not familiar with Nvidia Ion, it is a platform that combines the Nvidia GeForce 9400M chipset, DDR3-1066 or DDR2-800 memory, and the Intel Atom processor, now synonymous with nettops and netbooks. For these systems, this means that you will get 10x faster graphics and video transcoding compared to the standard Intel integrated graphics found on models like the Asus Eee PC 1008HA we reviewed last month. The Ion platform also allows impressive playback of up to 1080p high-definition video with 7.1 surround sound.

Also inside the HP Mini 311 is a 320GB hard drive and a 6-cell lithium-ion battery that HP says will deliver up to 7 hours of battery life. The Mini 311 comes pre-loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium.

It has a 92-percent (of full-size) keyboard with glossy slightly curved keys, which during our review period felt somewhat loose. Below that you’ll find a standard trackpad with mouse buttons located under the trackpad, not to the side like earlier HP Mini models. In our tests, the trackpad felt sluggish and the buttons were stiff and loud.

As we mentioned earlier, the Mini 311 has a 1366×768 resolution, that provides substantially more screen real estate than the standard 1024×600 resolution seen on smaller and older netbooks.

The HDMI port on the HP Mini 311.

You’ll find the standard array of ports including 3 USB, an ethernet jack, a VGA video-out port and 3-in-1 card reader. What you’ll find here that you won’t find on cheaper netbooks without the Ion technology is the HDMI port for connecting to a high-def TV. On the front edge of the netbook are Altec Lansing stereo speakers which sound remarkably better than other netbooks.

In our performance tests, the Mini 311 performed similarly to the Eee PC 1008HA we reviewed just a few weeks ago. When it came to testing the Nvidia Ion technology, we went to our favorite HD flash video website, Vimeo. We had no issues playing the 720p Flash video, however this was utilizing the latest version of Flash Player 10.1 beta, which supports GPU acceleration. Before this was installed, Flash video was choppy and stuttered often.

Battery life was fairly impressive for a netbook, even with the extra graphics power. We received around 4 hours and 30 minutes of battery life on a full charge when using it for web browsing and the occasional playback of Flash video.

When I was invited to a briefing with Kevin Wentzel, a product manager from HP, he made it clear to me that the playback of high-definition video is of huge importance to HP and one of the significant features of the Mini 311.

With the enhanced graphics, larger screen, and HDMI output, the Mini 311 is a home run for HP. And for $399.99 with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive (or $499.99 with double the RAM and more hard drive space) it won’t break the bank.

Pros