Digital Home Thoughts: The HP Mini 110: A Refined Netbook

This is an review video of the HP Mini 110 XP Edition [Affiliate], a follow-up video to my unboxing and first impressions video. This netbook is a second-generation unit, following on the heels of the HP Mini 1000 released in 2008. The HP Mini 110 that I'm looking at features a 1.6 Ghz Atom N270 processor, 1 GB of DDR2 RAM (easily upgradeable to 2 GB), a 160 GB 5400 RPM hard drive, integrated 802.11b/g WiFI, and a 10.1 inch LED Anti-glare (matte) 16:9 aspect-ratio wide screen at 1024 x 576 resolution, driven by an Intel GMA950 graphics processor. It's running Windows XP SP3.

There's a webcam of unknown resolution (likely VGA), and the finish is "Black Swirl". "White Swirl" and "Pink Swirl" are also available. There is no CD/DVD drive, and the version I'm looking at has a 3 cell battery.

Much like when I ordered and reviewed the Dell Mini 10, this HP Mini 110 is the low-end version of the product: my main complaint about this version is the relatively poor battery life. With a 3 cell battery, using my "Surf and Type" test, it only lasted 2 hours and 14 minutes. This test involves putting the brightness at 100%, having WiFi turned on, and browsing the Web at a reasonable pace and typing in Wordpad. No YouTube videos, nothing overly stressful for the processor. 2 hours and 14 minutes isn't much to write home about, especially considering the usage patterns of most netbooks tend to be more of the "use it for 30 minutes then put it into sleep more" variety - the 3 cell battery doesn't allow for many of these scenarios to occur before the battery is dead.

Similarly, the resolution on the unit I was sent is average - and average means some programs, such as Windows Live Messenger, can't be configured properly unless you hide the taskbar because the dialogue menus are so big. Having the HD resolution option would make the unit more usable overall. Still, those quibbles aside, this is a very capable netbook - but I strongly urge anyone purchasing one to opt for the 6 cell battery and the HD screen option.

Want to buy one? Prices start at $329 USD from HP.com. [Affiliate]

Jason Dunn owns and operates Thoughts Media Inc., a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys photography, mobile devices, blogging, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's still searching for the ultimate netbook.

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