HP Mini 311 on sale!

http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...dexp/hhoslp/psg/notebooks/Mini/mini311_series

nVidia ION, good keyboard, good price.. everything seems like a winner here.

Would've liked the new 3d lid design though...

 

I know it will play HD videos and it has a HDMI port... but will it play Hulu in HD and fullscreen? If it is yes, I am definitely getting one

 

Hulu/Youtube in HD fullscreen?

definately not.

Flash is decoded by the CPU meaning youtube/hulu will struggle on the Mini 311 just like any other netbook.

But for H.264 playback and some games? Hell's yea it will.

 

There's a video of a 311 playing call of duty 4 at > 30 fps... yeah, should be awesome

 

YouTube and Hulu rely on the CPU...and it's an Atom CPU, so 100% sure it won't play it smoothly.

Wish they'd put the CULV Core 2 Duo on there, then it would play those sites without a hitch. A friend of mine has the Acer Timeline series with a SU9400 which is a Core 2 Duo and plays these sites in HD Fullscreen, no problem.

 

but none of the CULV chips are paired with half decent GPUs...

 

so the 3810TG or 4810TG with 512 MB DDR3 ATI Mobility Radeon HD4330 does not count ?

 

If having more than 1GB ram is important, might want to wait until the win 7 versions are available.

Supposedly the RAM on these things are not "user upgradeable"

 

Where did you hear that about the RAM? On every other HP netbook, you can upgrade the RAM. Really easy.

You just can't buy it with 2GB RAM installed. Because of Microsoft's XP limits. You've been able to have 2GB of RAM installed on models like the Mini 110.

 

are they available for sale in the US?

 

told that by our HP rep. I'm a bit skeptical as well. We have a handful of the 110 minis and it's a piece of cake to get them to 2gb. Just a couple of screws

 

I read on one of the HP specification page that it supports up to 3GB of RAM. I do want to get one of these, but I'll probably wait until Costco gets their shipment. Getting a free 2nd year warranty is always good.

Also, is getting a N280 over a N270 atom processor worth the extra cost?

 

I think that may be the key here. 1 gb on the motherboard and 1 dimm slot (kind of like the dell studio 14Z)

The rep said he thinks the 1gb machines may not have the Dimm slot

also why they may not be offering a vista basic 2gb configuration

 

If thats the case I better get the actual product model number and compare it to online. I don't want to be stuck to only 1 GB of RAM max.

 

Well, i thought that the Adobe flash player will take advantage of HW acceleration for H.264 and other codecs.

see for example http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Flash_Player:9:Update:H.264

Since Hulu uses H.264, I connected the dots. Maybe I am still dreaming?

 

Am I right in thinking Blu-ray could run on this? You can add-on an external Blu-ray drive.

How would that perform on NVIDIA Ion? Does Blu-ray even work on XP? I know it does on Vista.

 

anyone know how long it usually takes for things to be available in Canada compared to the US? i hope its before the windows 7 version goes retail, so I can take advantage of the lower cost =D
btw anyone know how bad youtube is on these atom netbooks? cant really find a good example online to give myself an idea

 

Yeah, there's an option for Bluray.

 

That's ridiculous. The cost of developing and implementing a non-standardized ram solution is greater than just throwing in a dimm slot.

They sell a blu-ray drive for it and I think they even specifically say on the site that it can play blu-ray movies from an external drive.

Costco's getting them?! Sweet!

For $25, I'd get the N280.

 

I dont think $25 justifies the cost of the N280.

The HP Mini is already $399 and by the time you configure it with all the goodies, you might as well buy a full blown laptop that can handle Youtube/hulu AND have no problems decoding HD video!

And at the person who wanted a C2D ULV HP mini, I believe the HP DM1 uses the same shell as the Mini 311 but has a Core 2 Duo ULV in it. Which as long as the price isn't ridiculously high, that would make for a great portable media machine!

 

I've been doing researching, the HP Mini 311 still tops my list, but I've been looking at some other netbooks with the AMD Athlon Neo processor with the Radeon 3410. Seems to rival the atom processor pretty well. I'm not planning on watching HD Youtube/Hulu stuff, but I'm like into watching animes and movies (they're usually 720p MKV or encoded with H264).

 

I agree that the DV2 might be a better deal than the 311. The DV2 can be configured up to 4GB RAM and comes with Vista (eligible for Windows 7 upgrade) and bigger hard drive.

I paid $506 ($600-$50 main in rebate-8% cashback from BOA credit card) for a DV2-1030US when it was on sale at staples.com.
Some spec highlights:
Athlon Neo Processor 1.6GHz
12.1" LED display 1280x800
Vista 64bit
4GB RAM
320GB HD
External LightScribe SuperMulti 8X DVD±R/RW with Double Layer Support
ATI HD3410 with 512MB dedicated RAM
Webcam
HDMI
Wireless A/B/G/Draft N

Some negatives:
--Battery life is not the best. I might get up to 3 hours with regular use.
--It gets a little hot on the lap
-- Youtube HD and Hulu HD stutters (Atom will have the same issue)

 

I was heavily considering the DV2 myself...untill I heard of the DM3 which should hopefully be cheaper and *might* come with a better GPU...

 

Guys I have some interesting insight into what we may be getting out of this little beast. I am the owner of MyDigitalDiscount.com.

I have one of the 1st samples of an Ion Netbook from Point Of View. It is called the Mobii Ion 230.

I have been playing with it for a while and doing research.

The 1st thing I did was slap in 2GB of Ram and a 64GB Runcore Pro IV SSD to see what happened. I was shocked. As many of you may already know that to date there has been no Netbook that can fully take advantage of the speed of the Runcore Pro IV SSD due to the Intel Chipset but with the nVidia chip set this one does. I get 259/168 Read/Write and a 4K read/write of 25/13. It made the computer a rocket ship as far as multitasking, bootup, shutdown, sleep, opening, closing, and installing apps and large programs but the 1.6Ghz 230 Atom is a serious bottle neck when it comes to HD Video on Hulu and Youtube. HD video under Media Player Classic and Power DVD 8 works great.

The good news is that Adobe Flash Player will soon support nVidia CUDA technology in the next release the flash will be played through the GPU not the CPU. So Hulu and Youtube HD video should work flawlessly.

I must say gaming is not to shabby at all even with the Atom 230 I have been playing Call of Duty 4, Quake Live and Mini Ninjas with no problems. I tried Team Fortress and it is a little jumpy.

This new HP computer may in fact be the best all round bang for the buck computer I have ever seen. I already ordered 2 with the Atom N280 the increased FSB should make a big difference. I will be sure to post all of my mods and benchmarks as soon as they arrive.

Matt

Please check out www.MyDigitalDiscount.com and www.Runcore.com

 

Hello matt,dont think ive met you,but I do know of Jeremy,Colleen and Chris that go to the mydellmini forum

Interesting finds. What kind of setting/FPS are you getting with CoD4?

 

Wow that is pretty nice, though at $502 I'm semi-cringing. I mean, I have a pretty old notebook, but its still pretty reliable for what I use it for. I wanted something more portable and cheaper which is why I'm attracted to netbooks. The HP Mini 311 looks like a good deal/size all around.

Wow, if thats true... that'd be amazing.

 

It is true, this was announced months ago: Link

 

no it's pretty common to just not put the piece required on. Look at the hp's and sony's that have the slot for a SIM card for 3g, but nothing connecting it.

secondly i think you missed the point. The specs say max RAM is 3 gb. That implies at least two memory banks. We have a dell studio 14z with the integrated nvidia graphics. It has 1GB soldered on the board and one DIMM slot. Max RAM for it is 5GB, 1GB on the motherboard and a 4GB Dimm

They just make the board and leave the dimm connector off. On another run they add it in

besides it's not like a company has never deliberately hobbled something just to create product or market differentiation. Intel themselves has done it with their chips, turning off cache or even another core.

As i said, I'm skeptical as well, but I'll wait until someone actually gets one and can say for sure.

 

I have been waited for Atom + Ion for way too long that I just went ahead and ordered this without waiting to see if there would be sales, deals, etc... I don't want to wait for the other vendors (Windows 7 launch) to get this. Since I almost prefer XP anyway, this will be perfect.

Personally, I would rather see a CULV + ION in a 12" or smaller, but it looks like those might be a bit ways off as well.

I ordered an extra battery as well, not that I will need it, but it would be good to have in the bag if I wanted to do some light gaming on battery mode.

If the system sucks, I will return it I guess... Anyone had to return a purchase to HP ever? I will also consider cancelling my order if things change in the next few weeks since the build date is not until October 7th. But I figure I would get my order in now... I wish for the love of God that they removed that swirl design. It looks so femmish... I hope the white doesn't show it as much... Oh well, time will tell.

 

I'd really be curious to see what you think once you get it. I know that the biggest knocks against the mini's we have are the mouse buttons and the screen resolution.

We have been evaluating the dell 11z and the acer 1410 as well as even the sony w. Everyone is overwhelmed by the screen resolution but after they use each for a few days they start to find issues with them....

Battery life and keyboard on the sony, trackpad and battery life on the dell, screen brightness and overall build quality on the acer( it feels fragile)

The HP on paper looks like a good unit (assuming the RAM is user upgradeable) and we are going to order one in once they are really shipping.

FWIW: everyone in our office much prefers the white over the black. The swirlies are more understated on the white models

 

The HP Mini 311 is a 11.6" screen and the resolution is 1360 x 768, so it should be quite a bit better than the regular mini as far as that goes. My biggest issue with this is going to be the lack of CPU power, which is why I would prefer a CULV. I am confident ION can handle the graphics side of it, but I don't think the atom can keep up. Who knows, I opted for the 'faster' ion so maybe these things will perform a bit better. If it passes the LOTRO test, I will be happy... If not... Uhm... Well it will get returned.

 

yes that's why we are putting a minimum requirement on future purchases that the screen be at least 1360x768. The usability jump is huge.

The dell and the acer we are testing are both CULV systems. The interesting thing is that in real world use- not bench marks, the CULV systems and the atom 280 feel pretty close to the same.

That's why we are wondering if the video(which is intel on all three systems) is the limiting factor here which the ion obviously exceeds

 

For the record, Atom + Nvidia 9400 = ION,so referencing ION as the 9400 is a little misleading.

As for the RAM limit being 3 gigs,heres a few possibilites,because it cant just be "3 GBs of RAM"

1. They're saying its 3 GBs but in reality its 4,but when paired with a 32 bit OS, its only "3 GBs"

2. 1 GB is soldered on the motherboard with a single DIMM vacant for another 2 GB

seeing how the DV2 only has 1 DIMM,Id be willing to bet thats the case here too,so either one could be right,but well need someone to confirm how the RAM is setup to be sure

 

Quicker to say ION than nVidia 9400M. But you are correct. Bottom line is that it is an integrated GPU with 16 scalar shaders.

On a side note, since this is integrated GPU, it will likely use onboard memory, which means that dual channel will offer better performance. If this thing does pack 1 DIMM slot, then filling it with a 2GB could potentially hurt performance over slotting only one additional GB. It all depends on how the memory channels are setup for that chipset. I am also curious to know the clock speeds of the shaders themselves, as well as the ROP clock speed. I believe it is around 500Mhz for the ROPs and 1100 Mhz for the Shaders. Like I said before though, I happen to believe the GPU isn't going to be pushed by the Atom. Difficult to say for certain though until we have some benchmark numbers to go off of.

 

I'm really interested in seeing a thorough review of this netbook.

I'm particularly interested in how many dimm slots it has (as is everyone else in this thread, too, lol). The 3GB limit may be the OS limitation - I hope it has 2 dimm slots. I'd love to know how long the battery lasts, too.

 

yup cant wait till reviews come out and when it will arrive in canada!

 

Did anyone get confirmed that mini 311 can be upgraded to 3GB memory?

I was gonna place an order today and just to confirm I had a live chat with HP customer support.. and the representative said the website stating 3GB is an error

Chat:

" 09/25/2009 02:24:27PM Agent (Debra): "I understand that you want to know if the Mini 311 is capable of a 3GB memory, right?"
09/25/2009 02:24:35PM Ahsan: "yes"
09/25/2009 02:26:21PM Agent (Debra): "It has only 1GB memory, Ahsan."
09/25/2009 02:27:06PM Ahsan: "Oh Ok, so is this specs page on support not correct?? http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...522&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN"

09/25/2009 02:27:31PM Agent (Debra): "Yes. We do apologize for this website error."
09/25/2009 02:27:40PM Ahsan: "ah ok ,"
09/25/2009 02:27:41PM Agent (Debra): "Thank you for the feedback."
"

If anyone can give some info on memory, that would be nice!...

cheers

 

Laptop Mag says the ram is expandable to 3GB.

Gizmodo specs say 1 Dimm up to 3GB.

 

Thanks Jayayess1190 for the links..

So, I guess I should jump on it, plus a SSD for it

 

I wonder which one comes first: someone actually opens the bottom of the laptop to see if there's a free slot, or HP posts Service and Maintenance Manuals in their website...

 

Found this on flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/13815526@N02/3925887861/in/photostream/

 

Oh joy... it looks like there is only one DIMM slot.

 

well this is off my list

 

Assuming, if that picture is a correct representation of 311. The ram is removable. So upgrading to 2Gig be easy. Since its XP, there shouldn't be any problem. Because in comparison, the performance from 2gig to 3 gig. You can hardly tell the difference.

Not being able to play Hulu in full screen might be a turn off...

I am in market of buying a mini. But i have to buy it from HP. I am wondering if HP mini 110xp with upgrade to processor, display and adding broad com chip. Will play high def full screen... Like Hulu and stuff.

 

Could there be a possibility, that 1GB Ram is on the motherboard/processor module and this DIMM Slot can take a 2GB ram stick, making it a total of 3GB memory... ??

I am kinda confused now, after checking the pic.. maybe I wil have to wait to jump on this mini 311.......

 

That matches what our HP rep told us, 1gb on the motherboard and one dimm slot. Though he went farther and said the 1gb xp machines shipping in the us dont have the dimm connector either.

Still waiting as well. Everything else makes me want one

Edit: the main specs page for the US now say memory 1gb (1 Dimm) which would imply that the memory is all in the dimm and not on the motherboard

2nd Edit: if that 's the case 2gb is practical but 3gb is REALLY expensive since you'd have to put in a 4GB DDR3 DIMM. Anybody priced those lately?

 

gonna be pissed if the dimm connector isn't there. I ordered my mini at launch date on the 23rd. Went by the hardware specs saying 3 GB was maximum and picked it up since I own Windows 7 RTM and wanted to get an ION netbook....

wonder if I can return it

EDIT: Spoke with HP, one slot they say, but they say you can upgrade to 3 GB ;P. yeah im not shelling out $250+ to put in a 4 GB stick

 

The good news is that it won't be long before 4GB SO-DIMM modules are ramped up in production. So even if you purchased a 2GB module (fine for XP), you could always get a 4GB chip later on when you needed it (Windows 7 potentially). Only the desktop version of the Atom's are x64, so you won't see 4GB of usable memory in these things for quite some time to come.

I am still curious to know if there is 1GB on-board... Again, I'd probably take 1+1 over 2+1 for Windows XP anyway. In most cases the extra bandwidth of the dual channel would pay off during light gaming - assuming it was setup to use dual channel.

I am tempted to cancel my order, but when I really get down to it is; Do I really want to wait another 2-3 months? I mean, damn... I have been waiting since they anounced the ION platform and am getting really impatient. The only alternative going on in my mind right now is the Samsung N510, but that won't even be released until October 22 (if that even) and Samsungs are a difficult to find in the U.S initially... They do eventually turn up on NewEgg, like 4 months after they are announced and released officially and that is only if they are popular. But I do like the Samsung. It probably is more aestheticly peasing than the HP, at least in pictures.

 

I didn't realize that. You just killed any interest I had in Ion, not that it mattered since one dimm slot also killed any interest I had in the Mini 311.

Back to waiting for the right netbook/notebook to appear. Looking more and more clear that I'm going to probably go with a dm3 when they finally show up.

 

The upcoming Pinetrail Atom's (N450, N470) are 64-bit compatible, so if the Mini 311 gets a refresh next year...