Digital Home Thoughts: Behold the HP Mini 311! Powerhouse Netbook!

"When is a netbook not a netbook? PC makers have been looking to expand the definition of these systems by outfitting them with larger screens and bigger batteries, but one constant has remained: a low-powered processor that limits their use to surfing the Web, checking e-mail, editing documents, and watching standard-def video."

Laptop Magazine is one of the first publications to get a review of the eagerly anticipated HP Mini 311 out of the gate. The HP Mini represents one of the first NVidia ION powered netbooks to come to market. The review covers all the details you need to know about the sweet little device, and yes, it plays games faster than in slide show mode, and yes, it is capable of 1080p video, provided you are playing back something that is GPU accelerated (Flash 10.1 cannot come early enough!) and yes, it can even do video editing at a reasonable speed. Unfortunately, I see two things that could potentially make the Mini 311 less attractive. First, with a 11.6" screen, the Mini 311 comes dangerously close to entering the notebook market. This is probably on purpose though, since people are finding lilliputian screens hard to watch for an extended period of time. Second, why, oh why does it have a single core CPU? Still, at a launch price of $399, it is really hard to knock this beauty and it will probably find its way into many homes soon.