Fantastic Netbooks » HP Mini 311

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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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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