HP’s third-gen Mini 110 netbook is an economy-class version of the Mini 1000 with some upsides and downsides of its own...
HP’s Mini 110 is one of a series of budget-minded netbooks aimed at keeping the segment humming along at the same time as higher-spec versions stretch the acceptable price limits (Dell has adopted the same strategy with its Mini 10v).
In the case of the Mini 110, HP took the generally well-regarded
Mini 1000 and cut a few corners in order to cut the price tag. Yet the result is a netbook that in many ways is preferable than the Mini 1000 and is arguably better value to boot.
We put the Windows XP version of the Mini 110, which goes on sale this week for $699, through its paces. One of the immediate differences is that this now packs a faster and larger hard drive – a 2.5 inch 160GB platter spinning at 5400rpm, compared to the 80GB 4200rpm disk of the Mini 1000.
There’s no option for a solid state drive, alas, although the $499 Linux version of the Mini 110 comes with a 16GB SSD.
The Mini 110 also re-instates the standard VGA connector which the Mini 1000 dropped in favour of a proprietary multimedia/dock connector. This is a win for mobile professionals, business users, students and anyone else who wants to hook their netbook up to a projector or external monitor without stumping up some $150 for HP’s ‘Mini VGA adaptor cable’.
In a third win for common-sense HP has dropped the oddball Mini Mobile Drive system, which debuted on the Mini 1000 and was essentially a deeply-recessed USB port mounted directly onto the motherboard which could be reached only with a one of HP’s slim elongated ‘Mini Mobile Drive’ USB flash drives.
Making the Mini 110 to be a little fatter than the Mini 1000 allows this to be replaced with a standard USB port, bringing the Mini 100’s complement back up to the mandatory three USB 2.0 ports along with the equally must-have memory card slot.
Not that the Mini 110 is a pudgy portable – at just over 2.5cm thin and weighing 1.1kg, it’s still the epitome of a go-anywhere netbook. And it’s still got the same excellent keyboard as the Mini 1000, with a near-full 92% spacing and large flat keys.
The finish is less polished, however – it seems HP has opted for a cheaper resin coating, and on our review model the secondary key functions – such as PgUp, PgDn,Home and End on the arrow keys, and the Fn modifiers on selection Function keys – were rendered as black blobs whose meaning was almost impossible to discern.
And yes, the Mini 100 still sports the same awkward layout of mouse buttons on either side of the trackpad, the wide-but-shallow design of which makes scrolling a pain. Of course, you get used to this after a few hours...
The Windows XP model of the Mini 110 is available in three colours: black (at launch),
silver and pink (available later this month). The Linux version comes only in black
The 10.1 inch panel has a native resolution of 1024 x 576 pixels, down slightly from the 1024 x 600 that’s standard for 10 inch netbooks. This will be an issue with some programs whose screens are simply not designed for a vertical resolution of less than 600 pixels, resulting in buttons and settings being pushed off the netbook screen’s viewable area.
The 'Pink Chic' colour scheme is a little much for the blokes, we think...The Mini 110 returns to a design which insets the panel behind a thick ungainly-looking bezel rather than the modern design aesthetic of an edge-to-edge display. Yet HP’s penny-wise decision to swap the Mini 1000’s glossy panel for a cheaper matte panel may win some fans who dislike the glare of glossy screens.
Likewise, the striking top-mounted speaker grille has been deep-sixed and the speaker relocated to a thin area running along the bottom of the display bezel, which results in a somewhat muffled sound.
Black's the go for the cafe set and button-down business brigade, but we reckon silver takes the ribbon for general style
HP rates the standard-issue 27Whr three-cell battery as good for up to three hours. Our test unit hit managed two hours on a heavy-duty battery test (using BatteryEater Pro) with Wi-Fi inactive. Experience tells us you’d easily hit 2.5 hours under more real-world useage patterns and could manage close to three hours without wireless networking.
An optional six-cell 52Whr battery pack will set you back a mere $110 and almost doubles battery life, so this sounds like a smart purchase. During testing the Mini 1000 ran pleasingly warm and without any thigh-searing hotspot on the underside of the chassis.
Boosting memory above the factory-fitted 1GB (512MB on the Linux version) is a snap, thanks to the pop-out plastic panel covering the memory slot. There’s only one slot, alas, so if you want to take the Mini 110 up to 2GB of RAM – which is the limit for any netbook running the Atom processor – you’ll need to swap the factory-fitted 1GB wafer for a 2GB module.