HP Mini 311 on sale!

hmm... same socket as the 330.. maybe ....you guys thinking what im thinkin

 

i doubt the mobo would support the dual core though

 

The 2ghz atom isn't dual core though , just a solo atom in there. The 400mhz or so should gie a great advantage in gaming and other applications.

 

We can always hope that nVidia releases something with nTune that will allow us to overclock the Atom. From my initial tesitng with LOTRO (far from thorough, due to lack of memory ATM) it appeared that the CPU was powerful enough to push the 9400M fully. When I enabled 4X AA, I noticed a drop in frame-rate, when I turned it off, smooth as butter for where I was at.

The part I need to test further is combat and heavy populated zones. It would turn to a slide show, but I don't believe that is because of the CPU (I checked the CPU utilization during this stage and it was *not* pegged at 100%, it was pegging both logical cores (HT, BTW) at 80% or so most of the time.

So I feel it was because of the HDD thrashing and the limited amount of shared memory. Once I throw in my extra 1GB stick or 2GB stick and get my SSD installed, I plan on doing a very thorough performance review. I hope I am right and that the memory will do the trick. I am really looking foward to testing dual channel 2GB versus single channel 3GB. I also hope dual channel actualls WORKS (as in, is enabled).

LOTRO
King's Bounty: The Legend

Those two are at the top of my list...

 

I will be waiting for your ssd review as well as Dual channel vs 2gb

 

speaker and screen lcd quality please?

also I guess u cant overclock with setfsb if everything is nividia chipset.. maybe ntune will work though

or u can use memset to get the ram to work faster

 

Anyone know where I could find the WiFi and Bluetooth drivers for XP?

EDIT:
Found this for BT:

http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/Ot...oth-Wireless-Technology-Driver-55-REV-C.shtml

WiFi:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...n&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3943766&os=228&lang=en

It will say it's for the HP Mini 110, but it worked just fine with my system.

 

i look forward to everyones reviews!!!
btw i wonder if its possible to OC or undervolt
someone check the bios =D

*scrennie with gpuz would be awesome too

 

I'll answer some quick questions

1. screen is nice, no noticable bleeds for me. can get quite bright
2. not a fan of the keyboard or trackpad, but good enough for me(big hands)
3. have a feeling it could be a little smaller
4. bottom of machine is a little warm with no blockage after an hour of web surfing.
5. speaker quality is above average for a notebook. its an altec lansing at the front of the laptop under the trackpad. I'd use headphones either way

 

Hey thanks for fixing my wifi issue! That driver is working on Windows 7 Pro.

Now I just gotta take care of this 2gb dead dimm

 

Would be nice, but I'd imagine that would come at a decent hit to the battery life.

Were you at native resolution, or something else?

 

Shouldn't be , its less than a 400mhz upgrade. 340mhz i guess to be exact. I don't think the battery life would be that much of a hit

I'd like the option at least to add it imo. Cpu is something really hurtting on these netbooks.

 

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=4000
http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=35463

TDP goes from 2 to 2.4W. Not massive, but significant, IMO.

 

put on windows 7 professional. Worked out of the box drivers Ran the Perf ratings without valid display drivers...will update when I install them(10 min?), but here they are now

Scores between 1.0 to 7.9
Processor: 2.3
Memory(RAM): 4.6 (Added 2 GB Patriot 1033 memory)
Graphics: 4.8
Gaming Graphics: 2.0
Primary Hard disk: 5.7

EDIT: Graphic Numbers updated

 

Gaming Graphics: 2.0
kinda suprised thought it would be higher than that like 3.5

 

Windows scores really don't mean much.

 

I tried several different resolutions.

Update:

I was able to get my SSD installed (finally) and I hope to God I never have to do it again. It was the most tedious install I have ever done in my life. Even then it didn't go perfect. But, I am happy to report that my machine is now running perfect.

The LOTRO hitches I was having... Well, now I am sure that they were memory related. I tried it again tonight with a clean install and non-moria content ran really well, even in combat. I didn't run fraps, but being that my desktop is a beast (4.2Ghz Core i7, 280GTX, etc...) I can safely say it was very playable. Moria is still difficult for me to pin-point and that mainly has to do with the higher traffic involved. Currently with 1GB (896MB system ram) Moria is running pretty poorly around 21st hall. It is definitely a slide show at times. I am pretty certain the extra memory will alleviate this problem. I will no more about that tomorrow.

GPU-Z reports the memory clock at 1066, so that confirms it. Regardless of whether or not you went for the N270 or the N280, your memory will be running at 1066Mhz. This is good news for those.

The Core Clock (ROPs) has a max speed of 450Mhz. With powermizer (battery mode) this will fluctuate from 200Mhz - 450Mhz during gaming. GPU-Z does not report the actual shader speed during these downclocks, but the default shader speed is 1100Mhz.

4 ROPs @ 450Mhz
16 Shaders @ 1100Mhz
64-Bit Memory @ 1066Mhz

Blacklight Bleed - Nothing that I really noticed. Honestly, I have not really inspected it all that close, however, I am rather picky when it comes to LCDs. This one looks pretty darn great. However, I almost think the resolution is to high for the size of the display. Everything is so tiny. You don't even need anti-aliasing with this kind of DPI,

Battery Life - This is the first laptop that I have owned where I am not trying to conserve battery life. I mean, I used to almost never unplug it just in case I needed to use it unplugged later. Difficult to explain, but I was really stringy with it always worried that if I used it now, I wouldn't have it charged when I needed it. Well, with this laptop, I don't ever get the filling that I need to be near an outlet.

So far I have been sitting in the 21st hall in LOTR (Mines of Moria) unplugged for about 40 minutes or so. The battery meter reports 82% life left. By my standards, that is pretty good. The screen brightness is default battery mode set. It is a bit dim, but I can still see the game without a problem.

The keyboard is dissapointing. HP typically makes some of the best keyboards in the business. Take a look at the DV4/5/6 series. The keyboards exhibit no flex and have a wonderful feel. Well, that isn't the case with the Mini 311. Only the center of the keyboard has a solid feel. Keys TYUIGHJKVBNM are solid and don't really exhibit much flex, the rest of the keys do. So in seems like the center is solid and as you move out it gets a springy feel. Is it THAT bad? No... No, not at all. It is just like your average Acer or Dell now.

Touch Pad... Well, I don't use mine unless I have too. Seems 'ok'... and it 'feels' nice. I currently have a laser mouse and uses a dongle (very small dongle, like 1cm long or so) that provides a 2.4Ghz signal for my mouse. That works fine, with one exception. Booting this laptop up with that dongle plugged in causes BIOS to lock up. This is actually someone common, many times a USB device will cause BIOS to hand regardless if you have boot from USB on or off. Just is a goofy thing overall. I do plan on getting a blutooth mouse in its place, which will save battery life.

BIOS options are very sparse... and I mean very! You really can't do anything, or see anything. You get a list of stats, a few boot order options and that is it.

Still coming up from me probably tomorrow night or maybe the following day after:

Battery life - How long can I play LOTRO before the battery goes dead (or near dead). My current prediction is 2 hours and 30 minutes. However, based on a 10 minute test, (if accurate) it is entirely possible that it might go very close to 3 hours.

Dual Channel Versus Single Channel - I want to see this for myself. So I decided to spend an extra $20 bucks or so to get an extra memory module for testing. I should receive these tomorrow, unless Newegg screwed up my order. Fingers Crossed!

 

Yep, I actually get anoyed (not at you guys) when some of my friends talk about the Vista/Win7 scores. They are so worthless. With that said, I do also find it odd that Vista is giving you a score that low. Nothing I'd worry about. The sad part is that 4500MHD gets 3.1 or so gaming performance and it is absolutely pathetic compared to this new ION. I tried LOTRO on 4500MHD, Dual Core T3400. The CPU was about 3 times faster than the N280 with superpi scores (probably everything else too) but it still couldn't pull anywhere near the frames that this mini can. Which just further illustrated how worthless the Vista scores are...

Anyway, don't read more into this than it seems. I think it is totally fine to talk about vista scores, but to actually believe they mean anything other than a score is foolish. I have to remind a co-worker of this frequently.

 

BTW - More comments on the keyboard. I can typically type right around 100WPM after going back and correcting for accuracy. On this mini notebook, I do make more mistakes and thus it takes me longer to fix them, but I can still manage right around 75 or so on the netbook after corrections. So I take about a 25% loss in typing speed overall and accuracy takes a huge hit, which is the main reason for the loss in typing speed, because then I have to go back and correct, unless I am lazy, which I typically am when it comes to forums.

Hopefully that gives you an idea on the keyboard performance.

 

Thanks for the info ArchAngel.

Can you also run half life 2 on this and mabye oblivion and fallout 3 if you have access and time ?

 

One more update. Scaling really sucks on this LCD. If you are finding 1366x768 to small for your eyes and try 1280x720 (another 16:9 rez) you will find it VERY blury. Which I find strange which something of this low of a DPI. I might try and add a custom resolution of 1024x600 or something. I am not sure I will be able to handle 1366x768 for gaming. My eyes already hurt... hehe

Another note, you can change scaling options on the control panel. You can disable scaling altogether, allow it with fix aspect ratio, or just scale edge to edge regardless of ratio.

And one more note on top of that...

Boot Time! With my 64 SSD (Indillinx controller based) and only 1GB of ram with a fresh install of XP and all drivers is right around 15 seconds from when I hit the power buttom. I didn't get a stop watch, but the XP screen only shows up for less than a second... I really am enjoying this mini quite a bit.

 

Well, ArchAngel777; that settles it. I will be ordering mine tomorrow. It say build date to be @ oct 16 grrrrrr. Oh well, cant complain, since i only have to pay $200 for the hp311; that includes upgraded processor shipping and tax.

 

=O how come $200, anyone planning to play dota on their 311? i wanna know the fps =D

 

i need help! i can't seem to get a fresh windows install going from a usb drive.
i have tried 2 methods:
http://windows-xp.ezas123.net/2009/02/09/installing-microsoft-windows-xp-from-usb-device/
http://www.liliputing.com/2008/04/install-windows-xp-on-mini-note-usb.html
every time i get to the text part i cannot see my hard drive. it seems to be looking for a mass storage device and not the hd. it won't let me format my hd so i am stuck. pls help.
thank you for your time.

 

I've had a bunch of issues with the touchpad messing me up when I type. The problem is specific to the TAP function because my right hand tends to touch the touchpad causing the focus to jump around wherever the mouse is. I'm most likely going to invest in a laptop mouse like the VX Nano and disable tapping even though I really like... to tap...

 

First thing I do is disable 'tap to click' if I have to use a touchpad. That is the most anoying thing (to me) on a touchpad.

 

Been there done that. Here is what you need to do in a nut shell. A few posts back someone posted a link for the ION LE platform drivers. Run the setup on any computer and look to see where it extracts the information. Once you have the extracted contents (there will be four main folders for each of the devices) you will want to download a program called 'nlite'. The only option you need to check when building a custom XP disc is the drivers.

One note on the drivers - when it asks you where they are and you point to the IDE ---> IDE/SATA there will two options of drivers. Text & Graphics. You *WANT* text mode for this part, not the graphical drivers.

After that build your OS image.

Once you have your new modified Windows XP setup CD, THEN follow the steps in your SECOND link, which is the whole USB type thing.

Let me know if you have any other questions on it. Remember, the only thing you are missing is the SATA drivers, so when using nlite, althought tempting to 'try' other options, my advice is to ignore them and stick with only slip streaming the drivers.

 

I've been waiting for the ION netbooks to be released ever since they were announced earlier this year/late last year. I had a Dell Mini 9 (hackintoshed) and loved it, but it just couldn't handle Flash videos (Youtube etc.) and some 720P anime/movies MKVs I watched so unfortunately that was a deal breaker.

Now the ION netbooks finally arrived and I read all the available reviews of th HP Mini 311 and all 28pages of this thread and I am hopeful. Like ArchAngel777 I intend to put 2-3GB of RAM and a SSD in here since it'll be my "everyday PC" just for internet browsing, music, movies, and Microsoft Office usage. I currently have a macbook Pro 15" and that's all I do on it so its kinda a waste lol. Hopefully this Mini 311 can handle all that (only thing I'm worried about is that I tend to have like 60 tabs in Firefox open at once so not sure if this can handle it, the Mini 9 Dell could not lol). Was going to wait for reviews of the other 2 announced ION netbooks (Lenovo S12 and Samsung N510) but I'm liking the looks of the HP so will probably get that. Wish there was a sale though since I priced one out in the HP store decked out with N280, 802.11n, bluetooth, extra battery ($50 due to 50% off sale is not bad) and external DVDRW drive ($50 for one is a fair price) comes out to $650 w/ tax and shipping. Ouch $650 for a netbook is kinda crazy. Wondering how shini_gamie can get one for $200?

 

So im looking for an ssd like 16gb just for OS, i just want to make sure this is
mini pcie SATA not PATA because they look the exact same in the pictures

 

looks like its pata casue newegg only has 9 satas and 8 of them are sold out

 

Oh Verizon gave me $300 HP certificat. For signing up with there FIOS

 

He probably had a deal like I did. Verizon FIOS was running a special where you got a mini 110 free after signing up (valued at $299). When I saw the 311 released I wondered how the promotional coupon would work. As luck would have it, you can apply the coupon to anything that HP sells. My neighbor got a new monitor with his. So the total was $532.49 with the upgraded processor and wireless N, I paid $232.50 with tax and shipping.

So not a bad deal at all -- but I did have to sign a contract.


EDIT: So what is the final answer on the best 2g memory to get for for the N280?

 

o dang thats nice

 

Got it. Just came in like 20 mins ago. Installing win 7

 

those of you who installed ssd is this one going to work
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227439

 

Grats!

Please let us know how this goes--whether you upgraded, getting the wifi working etc. I guess it recognized the USB stick as a boot up option with no problems?

Also, did anyone need to sign for the delivery or were they able to leave it?

 

You can sign a waiver when you receive shipping confirmation to have the computer left w/out your signature but then HP/Fedex is not responsible if it comes up missing/stolen.

"I understand that HP requires signatures acknowledging receipt of delivered goods. By signing the Shipment Release Authorization form and leaving it attached to my front door prior to shipment, I hereby authorize HP’s carrier to leave the shipment at the location I have specified for delivery in the Shipment Release Authorization form. I understand that, in doing so, I assume the risk of loss, theft, or destruction, and release HP and its carriers from all liability from loss, theft, destruction or other damage that may result from leaving the shipment as requested and indicated by me in the Shipment Release Authorization form."

 

Windows 7 is done. wifi worked out of the box. I am going to switch the wifi with my itx car minipcie wireless n board. Let you know how that goes. I have an external dvd so i didnt need to do usb install.

 

ARG ... borders is running a promotion where i get hp epp, but after i already ordered it ... could've saved $25 ...

so 1066 memory works, but is it better to go with 1333?

 

Ahh... this looks so sweet. Hopefully it'll come to Canada before Christmas =(

 

You should get the external drives from another party like newegg. It will be cheaper and any usb drive will work.

 

Just got my Mini 311 this morning. Typing this on it now. The back cover was not secured well when i pulled it out of the box. None of the plastic tabs were broken, so no big deal, but QA should catch things like that.

Installed a 2GB DDR3 1066mhz dimm from Corsair before even initially booting it. It works fine. Uninstalled all the bloatware, and installed 147MB of updates (57 of them). Yea for using old XP images, HP.

Things are relatively snappy and boot performance is good. Screen is bright and clear. Off angle brightness dims significantly. Glare screen as we all know. Fan noise is present. I'm DLing a bunch of stuff off the net as i write this, and updating WoW to 3.2 on an external HD thats plugged in atm. The fan noise isnt bad, but its noticible. Its speed is more dynamic than I'm used to so the slight pitch changes are annoying, even though the exhaust heat is never really all that warm.

Revision3 HD Nation is very watchable on low quality full screen or no, High quality stutters and HD is a no go. Can't wait till GPU-Enabled-Flash hits the streets. This will be quite the machine. Threw on PowerDVD 9 and watching a bluray rip from the SD Class 6 card I put in is smooth. More initial impressions to come.

 

Whatever laptop I buy, my requirement is that it will run SW: TOR when it comes out. I might have to set the resolution ridiculously low, but it needs to at least be playable.

 

if your buying this year it may be your only choice otherwise you have to wait for dual core atoms and the ion non le verison but that may not happen till next holiday. The only thing I can see better than this is if netbooks drop with the neo 1.6 45nm chip and the hd 3200 as I believe the hd 3200 will have 384 megs of built in ram and then can share up to 1.8gigs more. The neo would take up to 8 gigs also and is 64bit. That would be your best bet and hopefully will hit the end of october , of course expect half the battery life of this laptop

I really want to play tor on this . I'm hoping this is socket compatible with the 2ghz atom and mabye dual core atoms. If it is then I will be happy.

I would just use this for leveling up and grinding anyway , i wouldn't actually try to raid or do anything of vast importance on it.

 

Heads up SV2132 will get you $30 bucks off this order. Just for anyone thinking of getting it , basicly makes the upgrade to the faster cpu free.

 

Initial WoW Performance -

All things on High/Ultra ***Except*** Shadows (Shodows @ low) @ native resolution

Tauren Starting Zone: 20-30fps
Dalaran: Mild City Population 10-14 fps- dips to 5-8fps with texture loading

 

Awesome.. You running XP or Win7? How many megs ram?

 

3GB Ram win XP out of the box - SSD and Win 7 going in soon. Its a keeper in my eyes so far.

My guess for lvling this would be OK - For real instancing, one would want to improve things a bit by lowering down a few settings here or there. But overall its very impressive. WoW Isnt that intensive of a game graphically. Its much more CPU and bandwidth sensitive.

 

I have my eye on something Congo-based, but I must admit, I'm extremely jealous that you all have the 311. I sounds as though the performance is a little better than I expected it to be. I still want to wait and see what gets released on the 22nd.

Did anyone ever figure out if the ram is actually soldered on and not hidden under the keyboard? Gratz on your new machines, everyone

 

Purchased a 2GB Stick.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148192