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HP Mini 5101 vs HP Mini 5102 vs HP Mini 5103

Fantastic Netbooks — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 21:36:57 +0000

The HP Mini 5103 continues to corner the corporate user

HP have been synonymous with releasing netbooks for business and mobile workers ever since the first HP Mini 2133. Since then successive netbooks have followed suit offering great build quality and strong specifications. How then do the 3 HP Mini 510x netbooks compare?

The HP Mini 5101 was released in 2009 as a business-focused netbook with exceptional build quality, strong chassis, good keyboard and screen with excellent wireless connectivity. The versions that had Windows Vista as an operating system offered poor performance and battery life was average. What also let the 5101 down was the price tag at over £400 for a very portable machine but with a low powered Atom processor.

Next came the HP Mini 5102, released in early 2010 and incorporating what we all know to be the one true netbook specification, an Intel Atom N450 processor with integrated GMA 3150 graphics and 1Gb RAM. Lots of configuration options were available to create an excellent netbook although at significant expense. Whilst looking very similar to the 5101, operating systems such as the SUSE Linux Enterprise could be tried instead of the usual Windows XP plus the battery life improved due to the efficiency of the N450 processor.

Now the HP Mini 5103 has been released to further HP’s grasp on the corporate user who wants build quality and doesn’t mind the price too much. This time the 5103 has the slightly newer N455 processor, allowing it to use DDR3 memory instead of the slower DDR2 memory. Other than that performance is practically the same. The 250Gb hard drive is a 7,200rpm model, which should be quicker than many other netbooks.

Battery life continues to improve with PC Advisor managing to get well over 7 hours from their review model. The 5103 has many options, as with previous HP netbooks, but you can pick one up for a little over £400. Still pricey but still one of the best made netbooks available.

The HP 5101 and 5102 currently occupy positions 29 and 30 in our netbook rankings whilst the 5103 will feature in this overall netbook league table shortly.

Which one of these HP Mini netbooks do you prefer? Have a look at the full comparison below.

Continue reading: HP Mini 5101 vs HP Mini 5102 vs HP Mini 5103

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Top 10 Netbooks For Going Back To School

Fantastic Netbooks — Sun, 08 Aug 2010 21:58:10 +0000

Rounding up the top 10 netbooks for students heading back to school or off to University – we’re looking for lightweight and stylish netbooks whilst making sure they have great battery life and are made from strong stuff – does such a netbook exist?

I know it feels like the summer holidays have only just started and there is a long time before school starts again in September. You don’t want to think about it but you need a netbook to help you with your school work when the new term starts. Or perhaps you are heading off to college or university in a month or two and need a portable computer for writing essays, reports and conducting research.

So if you are thinking about a new netbook to start the new school year in September then I hope this roundup of the best 10 netbooks will be as welcome as an A+ mark in your first test.

I reckon that the main features to look out for when choosing a netbook for a student at school, college or university are the following:

Good battery life – having a decent battery life is essential if the netbook is going to be used throughout the day, not always where there is a power supply close to hand.
Lightweight – nobody wants to carry a heavy laptop around with them all day. Having a lightweight netbook will ease the burden and have you skipping between lectures, lessons or lunch.
Good value for money, i.e. cheap – whoever is paying for the netbook will appreciate it if you get a lot of netbook for your (their) money.
Good design – nobody wants a netbook that looks like a brick or an old Amstrad from the 1980s.
Comfortable keyboard – if the netbook is going to be used properly to write essays, reports, conduct research and prepare for exams then having a comfortable keyboard to type on is pretty important.
Screen – we’re not so concerned about having a screen that looks good when playing DVDs whereas something you can view when outside or under bright fluorescent lights means that matte screens rather than glossy screens would probably be better.
Build quality – it is fair to say that a netbook carried around a school or college is possibly going to get knocked about a bit. This means a flimsy netbook will not be much good so we are looking for one with some sturdiness and good build quality.

So now we have an idea of what we are looking for, let’s have a look at the top 10 netbooks.

Continue reading: Top 10 Netbooks For Going Back To School

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Netbook Offers – Friday, 4th June 2010

Fantastic Netbooks — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 15:05:13 +0000

Netbook deals updated weekly - this week includes Samsung N210 with free accessories and software bundle worth £89

Throughout May there have been many great netbook offers and deals from cheap netbooks, big discounts, free netbooks with mobile broadband and even netbook and satnav bundles giving you great value and all available on our Netbook Deals page, updated weekly.

We started the month with an Asus 1005PE down to £269.00 and £100 off the Sony W Series netbook from PC World, which you can still get at only £299.99 inc. VAT. The PC World website says that deal ran out of 5th May but you can still grab it now.

The Samsung N220, a top 3 netbook in our netbook rankings, was reduced by Amazon UK down to £288.90 and you can still get it at that price. The Samsung N220 is pretty much the most popular netbook right now.

Then came another set of big reductions with £70 off a Dell Mini 1011 netbook from PC World and a massive £150 off the Acer Aspire One 751H from Amazon UK.

We rounded the month off with £40 off a HP Mini 210 at only £229 and the Samsung N150 down to £249.99 at PC World. Finally, the brand new Acer Aspire One 532H is just £259.95 at John Lewis, which is not only a good price but you also get free delivery and a free 2 year guarantee.

June has started off no different, straightaway we are presenting some great deals, including a Samsung N210 netbook with free netbook case and software bundle worth £89 from Amazon UK, a refurbished Dell Mini 9 (one of our top 10 ever netbooks) for just £179.97 and another top 10 netbook in the form of the Samsung N120, a Grade A1 (as new) netbook from Laptops Direct for only £229.97 inc. VAT when it is normally around £285. Go to Netbook Deals to find out more.

So have a look at our Netbook Deals page, updated weekly and sign up to our weekly netbook deals e-newsletter, which will be delivered to your inbox each week. If you are worried about the safety of your email address then please don’t, we will not sell or pass your email address onto anyone else.

If you have any feedback on our Netbook Deals section then please let us know in the comments, it would be great to hear from you.

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Netbook Offers – Friday, 5th March 2010

Over 50 netbooks now in our netbooks rankings

Fantastic Netbooks — Wed, 19 May 2010 22:08:52 +0000

The Acer Aspire One 532H is a solid update to the popular 531H netbook model and is now ranked in our updated netbook rankings

A recent update to our netbook rankings section has seen the number of netbooks rated jump over 50 to a total of 56 individual netbook models including brand new netbooks such as the Acer Aspire One 532H and Lenovo IdeaPad S10-3.

Divided into overall rankings, lightest netbook rankings and netbooks with the longest battery life – having over 50 netbooks rated and ranked means it has now become a lot easier to see which are considered to be the best netbooks.

Our netbook rankings are the clearest way to see which netbook is best. We take into account the leading industry reviews from top magazines and review sites around the world including Laptopmag, PC Advisor, PC Pro, Computer Shopper and CNet, amongst others. We add up the scores gained and divide by the number of reviewers to gain our overall rating for each netbook.

This time around we have added a succession of 2010 netbooks and one in particular has had an immediate impact, gaining the highest score seen for some time. The full list of netbooks added include the following:

Continue reading: Over 50 netbooks now in our netbooks rankings

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HP Mini 5101 vs HP Mini 5102 vs Toshiba NB305

Fantastic Netbooks — Sun, 02 May 2010 19:17:49 +0000

The HP Mini 5102 is an update to the successful and well received HP Mini 5101

The business netbook comparison – we’ve put 3 business favourites up against each other, namely the HP Mini 5101, its new sibling the HP Mini 5102 and the road warriors favourite, the Toshiba NB305.

Mobile workers and business users like their netbooks to be well made, solid, reliable and have a long battery life. The HP 5101 received good reviews when it was released in the summer of 2009 and is currently sitting at number 19 in our netbook rankings. Whilst reviewers liked its durable build and excellent keyboard they felt it was perhaps on the expensive side.

The HP Mini 5102 has just been released and was reviewed earlier this year. Again, good reviews but perhaps the 5102 is a small refresh rather than an overhaul of the 5101.

The Toshiba NB305 is already readily available to buy in the UK and has become a firm favourite after Toshiba gained netbook ground with the earlier NB200 model. The huge battery life and all round quality from the NB305 mean that mobile workers are happy to take it with them.

But which one of these 10 inch business netbooks do you prefer? Have a look at the full comparison below.

Continue reading: HP Mini 5101 vs HP Mini 5102 vs Toshiba NB305

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Best 45 Netbooks Ranked

Fantastic Netbooks — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 00:43:57 +0000

We’ve added another 5 new netbooks to our netbook rankings to give us a total of the 45 best netbooks plus we have given the section a bit of a tidy up in anticipation of some new netbooks rankings coming along soon.

After not updating the netbook rankings since September we thought it was about time the tables were updated plus we’ve revamped the section slightly in readiness for the addition of one or two new netbook rankings, which will make their appearance in the next few weeks.

This means that we now have separate pages for the Overall Score Rankings, the Lightest Netbooks and the netbooks with the Longest Battery Life and each table has been updated to include the full set of 45 netbooks.

The following new netbook models have been added this time around to build our chart up to 45 netbooks in total:

HP Mini 311 – read our review roundup of this netbook
Lenovo S12 Ion
Asus Eee PC 1201N
MSI Wind U135
Asus Eee PC 1005PE

Only 2 of these netbooks made it into the top 20. Are netbook reviews getting harsher than they used to be? Click through to the netbook rankings overall score chart to find out where they placed. One of the new additions is also way down near the bottom so keep your eye out for that one.

What this means is that there are several golden oldies still at the top of the rankings and you can pick some of these up for an absolute steal in our Netbook Deals section.

There will be more coming soon so keep your eyes peeled.

Are these netbook rankings tables helpful to you? What improvements or changes would you like to see?

Find the latest netbooks at the lowest prices at our Netbook Shop.

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HP Mini 311c vs HP Mini 110c vs HP Mini 210

Fantastic Netbooks — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:03:57 +0000

HP Mini 210 has brand new Atom N450 processor

A HP Mini comparison comprising the excellent HP Mini 311c including Nvidia Ion graphics, the HP Mini 110c and the new pine-trail equipped HP Mini 210.

HP have an excellent range of netbooks these days and the Mini 311c was the first one to sport the fantastic Nvidia Ion graphics chip, which greatly improves performance and even allows you to play a few games on your netbook. You can read our comprehensive review roundup for the Mini 311c.

The HP 110c has been a well-received netbook throughout the latter half of 2009 and is now being superseded by the brand new HP 210, with new pine-trail Atom processor and Windows 7.

Both the HP Mini 311c and 110c netbooks can be found in our netbook rankings and the 210 netbook will join them shortly once enough reviews are released for the new model.

Let’s get on with the comparison, how do these great HP netbooks compare?

Continue reading: HP Mini 311c vs HP Mini 110c vs HP Mini 210

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HP Mini 311 Review Roundup

Fantastic Netbooks — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:13:21 +0000

HP Mini 311 with Nvidia Ion

Here we have the HP Mini 311, the first netbook to feature the much talked about NVidia Ion graphics chip twinned with the slightly old fashioned Intel Atom processor. So we’re expecting good graphics performance, ability to play HD video clips, some video editing perhaps and even a bit of gaming. All this using a larger than average 11.6 inch screen with a bigger than average resolution of 1366 x 768.

Let’s see what our 6 top industry reviews thought in our HP Mini 311 review roundup.

Buy Now – the Samsung N130 is now available from Amazon.co.uk for only £315.97 inc. VAT or from Laptops Direct for just £303.97 inc. VAT.

HP Mini 311 Good Points:

1. Screen and resolution – the HP Mini 311 has an 11.6 inch screen with a resolution of 1366 x 768.

Laptopmag liked the large 11.6 inch glossy screen with a good resolution of 1366 x 768 and excellent horizontal viewing angles though tilting the screen forward resulted in a rather quick image reversal. CNet also thought the screen was one of the 311′s highlights and found it to be very readable. PC Mag spent a paragraph going on about different screen sizes in the netbook world without actually saying whether they thought the Mini 311′s was any good or not. Pocket-link thought the screen was crisp and sharp, the highlight of the netbook and Computer Shopper believed the screen to be outstanding with vivid colours and superb image clarity. They also commented on the screen being a bit reflective but not much of a hindrance and it apparently helps provide a wider viewing angle. PC World thought the screen looked pretty sharp but suffered from a bit of glare when used outdoors.

FN – Overall then it is a glossy screen, could struggle outdoors but everyone thought it was pretty great with only a couple of minor grumbles.

Continue reading: HP Mini 311 Review Roundup

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HP Mini 311c vs Samsung N510 vs Lenovo S12 Ion

Fantastic Netbooks — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 09:10:53 +0000

HP Mini 311c uses NVidia's Ion graphics chip

Here we have a comparison of 3 of the top netbooks using NVidia’s Ion graphics chip, which gives netbooks greater capabilities in the video and games departments amongst other things. The 3 netbooks are the HP Mini 311c, Samsung N510 and Lenovo S12 Ion.

Each of these netbooks have larger screens with two of them sporting 11.6 inch screens with decent 1,366 x 768 resolutions whilst one has a 12.1 inch screen coupled with a 1,280 x 800 resolution.

This takes them into ultra-portables territory with prices of the 3 netbooks pushing towards the £400 barrier although the HP certainly appears to offer better value than the other two.

We have lined up 3 of the best and most recently released netbooks with enhanced graphics capabilities. Do they measure up to your expectations? Check out the comparison below to find out.

Each of these netbooks will be added to our netbook rankings shortly.

Continue reading: HP Mini 311c vs Samsung N510 vs Lenovo S12 Ion

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40 Netbooks Ranked

Fantastic Netbooks — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 17:08:51 +0000

Lenovo IdeaPad S12 - one of the netbooks added to our updated netbook rankings

We hit the big four-oh with the top 40 major netbooks ranked in order according to the scores awarded to them in real reviews.

There have been some tough reviews this time around since we last updated the netbook rankings in early August with several of the top netbooks falling up to 15 places.

The following new netbook models have been added this time around to build our chart up to 40 netbooks in total:

Lenovo IdeaPad S12
ViewSonic VNB101
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2
Gateway LT3103u
MSI Wind U123

The highest new entry of these 5 netbooks is number 23 but which one is it? Click through to the netbook rankings chart to find out. One of the new additions is also propping up the netbook rankings table so keep your eye out for that one.

Along with the new additions, we have updated scores for several of the existing chart entries as new reviews are released. The movers and shakers this time around are as follows:

HP 5101 – up 7 places
Acer Aspire One 531 – down a huge 15 places due to some harsh reviews
Samsung N310 – down 4 places
Acer Aspire One D250 – down 1 place
Asus Eee PC 1008HA – down 4 places
Acer Aspire One 751 – stays in the same position
Asus Eee PC 1005HA – down 7 places
Asus Eee PC 1101HA – down 1 place
Dell Inspiron Mini 10 – stays in the same position
MSI Wind U115 Hybrid – up 1 place
HP Mini 110 – stays in the same position
Samsung N110 – up 3 places
Toshiba NB205 – up 3 places
Samsung N120 – up 4 places
Asus Eee PC T91 – down 9 places due to some harsh reviews

What this means is that there are several golden oldies at the top of the rankings and you can pick some of these up for an absolute steal in our Netbook Deals section or purchase them in our new Netbook Shop.

Continue reading: 40 Netbooks Ranked

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