HP Mini 210-1010NR 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 4.25 Hours of Battery Life

Review by A reader for HP Mini 210-1010NR 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 4.25 Hours of Battery Life
Rating:
PLUSES: Takes 2gb memory module; SD card can be used for ReadyBoost; easy access to memory, PCI-e card slot, and hard drive via “pop off” bottom cover; available slot for PCI-e card (in my case, a Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator, $25 mail order, but you may want to insert a 3G card etc.); MATTE SCREEN for glare free viewing; more ergonomic keyboard than most in this category; earphone jack is also compatible with “headsets” with combined stereo earphones and mono microphone; no bottom vent slots that are easy to block if set down on a carpet or other soft surface.

MINUSES: Shorter battery life (on this entry level 3 cell battery model); “standard” netbook screen resolution (there is an HP Mini 210 HD version available with a higher than normal resolution screen); “simpler, ” non-multi-gesture touch pad (but it works very well); “speed step” is not implemented, although the N450 Atom chip now supports it (see the Asus 1001p if you want this feature for extended battery life); fan runs a little more to circulate air, there are no bottom slots to pull air through; no stereo microphone slot.

Since these netbooks have a built-in microphone on the screen, and speakers under the keyboard, it’s easy to Skype on them without a headset in “speakerphone” mode.

On the horizon (next 3 months): N470 Atom processors running at 1.83 ghz instead of the N450 in the current models running at 1.66 ghz; but the fact that this one has a PCI-e card for the Broadcom Crystal HD card is probably more important than the upcoming boost in speed (which will also run the battery down more quickly).

INITIAL IMPRESSSIONS:

Prices have come down on the HP Mini 210 series at Amazon to the point where there is no reason to go with another maker (Acer is generally the price leader) unless you are looking for a particular feature (like wireles “n” instead of “g”, a 6 cell battery for the same price etc). As promised by the reviews I read, the HP Mini 210 is slightly better designed (keyboard doesn’t flex, keyboard is more ergonomic) and finished than its competition (I have owned Acer, Gateway, eMachines, and MSI Wind netbooks – no Asus so far).

The HP Mini 210 is also “cleaner” finished – no advertising stickers on the front panel below the keyboard, even the Win7 license sticker and other “bottom of computer” stickers are gone, the Win7 license sticker is inside the case (where it can’t get smudged, a big plus, should you set it down on a gob of jam on your breakfast counter).

I purchased this 3 cell battery model expressly to keep weight down and keep the case smaller (the 6 cell battery version isn’t flush to the case). I got to save $40 as a result, which is an extra bonus. The old HP Mini 110 was rated at 3.75 hours with a 3 cell, with the new chipset in this one, battery life jumps to 4.25 rated hours. Keep in mind reading the NY Times on line with the screen dimmed will give much better battery life than watching transcoded h.264 videos with full screen brightness (in non-geek speak, reading is less taxing than movie watching).

Please note this has a MATTE screen. Not impressive in a showroom, where glossy screens just seem to sparkle, but MUCH better for actually watching video and working, no reflections to reduce image quality. Matte screens are actually rarer than the glossy variety – most Acers are glossy, the Asus 1001p (nearest competitor to this HP Mini 210 “no frills” edition) is matte too.

Manufacturers approach upgrades 3 ways: the Acers generally have little hatches held down by screws and snaps which allow access to the memory module, available PCI-e slot, and hard drive; MSI has no hatches but lots of screws (to remove the entire back panel) and an ominous “warranty voided!” sticker; and this HP seeming has no hatches OR screws.

Fortunately before this arrived I was reading the HP on-line documentation (which is much better than Acer’s and eMachines) and they showed how to pop off the bottom panel to access the memory module, PCI-e slot, and harddrive – it’s pretty easy to do, and I marveled at HP’s design team when I snapped it back together. The PCI-e slot, BTW, is included in most netbooks so you can install a 3G telephone wireless card; some netbooks have two such slots; some have a slot shared with the wireless LAN card; but this HP has a single, uncluttured slot and I used mine for the Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator card. This card is designed to accelerate certain video streams (but not all); it is supposed to work with Windows Media Player if it is decoding H.264 video (the current “standard”); with Hulu and other sites running Flash for video support (but not too well yet, Flash 10.1 has not yet been released and is still buggy); and with some DVD/BluRay software player programs. For $25 mail order from Hong Kong (off eBay) I was willing to give it a try.

This HP accepted a standard netbook memory module upgrade to 2gb without a hitch – no BIOS adjustments required. Check crucial dot com for memory specs; usually, but not always, when Amazon tells you other customers ordered a particular memory module to go with a particular netbook, you will be ok.

The fit and finish, ergonomics, and software welcome windows on the HP are much nicer than on any of the Acer variants (Acer makes Gateway and eMachines too) or the MSI’s I have – even the keyboard is easier to use, although still shrunken. The mini-led’s (really tiny dots) on the wireless function key on the top row of the keyboard, on the power slide switch on the side of the keyboard, and on the other side of the computer to indicate hard drive activity, each looks very classy. Be careful about pressing the top row function keys – unlike other netbooks, where you have to press the Fn activator key next to the space bar to access netbook functions (like wireless on or off, speakers on or off, volume, brightness) on this HP the top row keys default to netbook functions, and you have to use the Fn key next to the space bar to use them as normal F1-F12 function keys – while trying to hit F11 to maximize a browser window, I accidentally turned off my wi-fi.

I would have preferred to have the power switch under the cover, where it can’t accidentally be activated – it is on the right side of the case instead.

The touchpad works well – I don’t have my usual problem accidentally clicking when I meant to slide.

Although Pg Up and Pg Dwn aren’t labeled on the arrow keys, they are actually there, and activated by the Fn key near the space bar. The arrow keys themselves are laid out nicely in inverted “T” style.

Initial set up operations and downloards were quite zippy, felt quicker than on a 1gb Acer ao532h I just returned (but that may have been a function of the limitaton to 1gb on that Acer). Here are the Windows Experience Index numbers for this HP with an SD card inserted in the card reader and set up for ReadyBoost:

Processor, calculations per second: 2.4

Memory operations: 4.6

Graphics, Aero Desktop: 3.1

Gaming Graphics: 3.0

Disk operations: 5.3

Processor power # is the same as on my recent Walmart special eMachines 250 (N270 chipset, same as Aspire ao250 etc.), as are all the other numbers EXCEPT Graphics, Aero – Aero graphics on this new chipset jump from 2.1 to 3.1, a sizeable increase. (This number is not influenced by the Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator card I added, it is the same number I saw on an HP Mini 210 at Costco).

So basically the new chipset, just introduced in December 2009, mainly just saves battery power, with some small performance increases – except for the graphics, which is one generation better than the last GMA 950 processors but not capable of DirectX functions (you have to get a machine with GMA 4500 or an Ion for that). (FWIW the new N450 chips also run Win7 64 bit, and have Speed Step instructions for changing the clock speed to save power on netbooks that have software support built-in).

I don’t intend to load a lot of programs on this netbook, so the 160 gb hard drive is fine for me. Part of that space is used by HP for a restore partition (in lieu of providing restore disks), and that restore partition, which mostly goes to waste, is thankfully smaller than usual.

If you intend to haul around a lot of converted video or lossless music (FLAC or Apples loss-less) or photos, you should definitely pop the extra $40 for the 250gb harddrive editions. My personal strategy is to use an external USB hard drive to hold my “library” and just download to the netbook as needed, so I am not as sensitive as some to hard drive sizes, and can remember then an 80gb hard drive in a laptop was “big.”

Finally, there is one very nice “feature” on this netbook that the others I have seen don’t have – it doesn’t have any vent slots on the bottom. It is engineered to vent solely through the side vent. This means you can actually set it on your lap or a soft surface without blocking any vents and overheating the unit. With our other netbooks and laptops we are scrupulous about placing them on a laptop board or cutting board, to keep access to the air vents open, but on this one we don’t have to worry about that. I’m good about keeping air vents open, but if you have kids who are going to set a netbook down on a plush carpet or on the bed, the HP Mini 210 is a better choice – they only have to keep the one set of side vents free and clear. Conversely, with no bottom vents, the bottom tends to get hot, but this does not bother me.

Review by Reviewer for HP Mini 210-1010NR 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 4.25 Hours of Battery Life
Rating:
Okay, I’m just going to write a short, straight to the point review on this netbook. I first purchased this netbook here on Amazon when I received a $300 Amazon Gift-Card for completing online surveys. I originally owned an Acer Aspire and mostly IBM ThinkPads. So this was pretty much my first netbook I’ve ever owned. When I first opened it, I was surprised how small and lightweight this laptop was. It obviously has a 10.1″ screen and weighs less than 3 pounds so you can easily fit this laptop in a small backpack or even a larger purse! What you get out of the box are power cables, 3-cell battery, cleaning cloth, manuals, and the netbook. The netbook itself does a have a decent keyboard and a very sleek design compared to most other netbooks. Unlike most HP laptops, this one does not have any imprint finishes or designs on the cover. If you are getting this HP Mini or any netbook out there for the first time, it’ll take some time to get used to it since the screen is considerably much smaller and the computer runs slower. A few things I didn’t like about this netbook is that the cover of the laptop gets fingerprints very easily and the touchpad isn’t that good. Also, you’ll get only about 2 hours at most of batter life when fully charged. The main problem I have with the touchpad is that the clicking buttons are also part of the pad and you can move the mouse even by touching the clicking buttons. What happens is that your cursor may move all over the screen. Also, the screen it has is not one of those shinny, glossy ones, it’s a matte finish. This is a great laptop to buy if all you’ll need to do is listen to music, browse internet, do homework, or to check emails. If you’re like me, that creates websites and does video editing, this laptop is definitely not for you since this laptop will keep freezing. Netbooks are just for basic things and can only runs like 2-3 programs smoothly. I would definitely recommend this laptop and it runs at a very good price ($298.95) when I brought it.

Review by Jonathan Cordova for HP Mini 210-1010NR 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 4.25 Hours of Battery Life
Rating:
The best thing here is really just the price. For well under the $299 benchmark you get a functional laptop with all the basics but no frills. The second best thing is the styling, which is slick even for a netbook, especially with the practical anti-glare screen. Otherwise, there’s nothing special here.

It’s one of the few laptops with an anti-glare screen, and I love that. Even then, the coating is a bit distracting in its own way–you can see the speckling when you look for it. It was worth it for me, but I’m starting to think HP is a little bipolar with its screens: too much reflection or too much anti-glare coating.

Battery life really is just four hours max, so that’s about two hours of streaming video or music with the screen open. It’s more than worth getting the bigger 6-cell battery separately or standard with the Mini 210 1030, which is identical otherwise. Since the “4.75 hours” claim is accurate, I gather the Acers & Asuses claiming 5 to 10 hours are telling the truth too, so if you plan to stream video on the go or expect it to last the whole work day…spring for that 6-cell and be prepared for a heavy netbook.

But the presumably wimpy battery does result in a super-slim and light form factor measuring a tidy 10.5×7 inches. The Mini 210 feel like an actual paper notebook or appointment book! It makes the Dell Minis look bloated and clunky. Combined with glossy black finish and the almost shell-shaped lid, this netbook look very slick.

Performance? As usual modify your expectations and you won’t be disappointed…but one note: 1080p video will be a disaster, and streaming 720 will be choppy, but downloaded 720 videos can be played reasonably well using VLC Media Player 1.1.

I’m sure there are better software solutions out there, and the Crystal HD chip is only $100 or so, but once you start optioning up these netbooks with RAM and everything, you end up with a $600 10-incher.

See, one of the things that makes a netbook a netbook is price, so there will always be compromises.