Introducing the HP business class netbook - HP Mini 5101 in Malaysia

Claps to Mr Hubby for posting a much more detailed review after my small review at HP MINI 5101 rocks HP Employees. Or make a search for this post on the right of my blog ! Check out more of the HP Mini 5101 and yeah, enjoy the effort that Mr Hubby put in yeah........ this lappie seems to be his 2nd beloved cause, he spent so much time on taking photos and writing review and experimenting what are the features and admiring it, wiping all the fingerprints away.... LOL. Let's see how long the wiping of fingerprints will last.... hahaha.

Figure1 – HP Mini 5101

For Malaysians, I believe most of you have not heard or seen this in the retail stores out there. This is because HP has yet to release this product in retail stores and we HP employees were used as “white mice” I think It should be available out there any time soon :)
Oh BTW, this is my first time owning a netbook so I'm very excited to give you my personal review. But before I proceed with the review of this cool gadget, here are some of my expectations of a netbook:

1. It has to be very light.. Years ago I dreamed about owning a laptop so that I can bring it wherever I go. Today I'm reluctant to bring it along although it's “only” 3kg – It was cool back then.
2. Battery power must be good enough for me to be “on the move”. At least a solid 4 hours for me to finish my Starbucks Green Tea Fruppucino :)
3. Due to a netbook's cramped up design, the keyboard must be comfortable enough to type.
4. It must be powerful enough to run several applications simultaneously. (At least an Internet Browser, Media player and Instant Messaging running together)

Since HP labels the HP Mini 5101 as a “Business class” netbook, it has to stand up to its claim as trend-savvy mobile professional requires functionally, durability and style. The netbook has to be reliable enough to withstand day to day heavy usage and at the same time provide data protection. From the top view, you'll find that HP Mini 5101 has a sturdy and shiny black brushed finish. It's scratch-resistant BTW.

Figure 2: The HP Mini 5101 features a sturdy, lightweight anodized aluminum display enclosure with a black, brushed finish.
The netbook also comes with a lightweight anodized aluminum display enclosure which is glossy (Bling 1). The lower case frame of the Mini is built of magnesium alloy (Bling 2) and the soft-touch paint on the base and palm rest gives the Mini a rubbery feel and that enhances its look and feel. Very eye-catching design and improves durability. The Mini 5101 has a accelerometer - called HP 3D DriveGuard which protects your notebook’s hard drive against impact, bumps, or drops. So you can be assure that your critical information is protected while you are on the move. I have not tested this tho. And I'm not planning to =P

Figure 3: The glossy anodized aluminum display enclosure (up) and magnesium alloy chassis frame (down)

The spill-resistant keyboard which is 95 percent of a full-size QWERTY keyboard is also newly designed. The keys are all raised from the surface and there are some spacing in between each keys. Not too sure what is the reason of such design but it took me 1 day to get used to it. The keyboard also have some kind of coating called “ HP DuraKeys” which HP claims this makes the keyboard 50 times more resistant to letters wearing out. Comparing to a keyboard without it. Another plus point specially for FPS players. (I don't think a gamer would game on a netbook though).

Another thing that I'm very satisfied with is the touch pad. It's small but very touch sensitive. I think HP has also learned their lesson but moving back the mouse buttons to the usual place. (In older versions of HP mini, the mouse buttons were on the left and right of the touch pad. Which totally sucks practicality and ergonomically)

Beside the touch pad, you can see the logo of Intel Atom and Energy Star. A device or machine with a Energy Star logo symbolize that the product is engineered for reduced impact on the environment by eliminating or reducing substances of concern, and also using fewer resources and reducing energy consumption. So far the only notebook brands with Intel Atom processor that is Energy Star compliant are: Asus, Samsung, HP, Sony, Dell, Panasonic and Fujitsu. (source: http://www.energystar.gov/)

Figure 4: The spill-resistant keyboard with two quick launch button on top left(up) and ENERGY STAR logo (down)

This Mini also comes with built in 2 megapixel web cam. Perfect for on the move cam whores. As you can see the photo of my HP Ipaq 612c below which was taken by the 2mp web cam, the imaging quality is nothing to shout about. For me It's just another “nice to have” feature on the netbook. I won't be using this very often anyway. Probably once a year? lol

Figure 5 The built in 2 megapixel web cam (up) and a photo sample taken with the camera.(down)

A quick test run on how long it takes for the Mini 5101 to boot up, I got the result of 29 seconds (an average of 3 testings). For a system with many applications installed already, it booted up quite fast I think. Maybe because my expectation is lower and I expected it to be slower due to its Intel Atom processor and low power consumption features.

Figure 6: Booting up the system took about 30 seconds. Not bad for a netbook.

For a device to be truly portable and usable, it has to have all common I/O ports and slots readily to be used. The Mini 5101 has

- 3 USB 2.0 ports
- 1 external VGA monitor output (A must for presentation and secondary display)
- 1 headphone/line-out
- 1 microphone in
- 1 RJ-45 (LAN/network port)
- 1 SD/MMC card reader slot

Figure 7: I/O ports on the left and right side of the netbook.

Due to Mini 5101's miniature design, I find it slightly difficult to remove any plugged-in USB thumbdrives connected on the left USB ports. Especially when you use both of the ports. The distance between the port and the table surface is very small and the ports are basically just right beside with literally no spacing in between.

Figure 8: Cramped spacing if both ports are used.

The Mini 5101 netbook in Malaysia comes with a standard 4-cell battery which is claimed on HP Website that I can last for 4 hours and 30 minutes. However when I tried to cycle the battery a few times, I can only get an average of 3 hours and 30 minutes. When performing this test, I use my netbook with Bluetooth turned off, Screen brightness at 80%, Wifi turned on and I didn't connect any other USB powered device besides my mouse. I guess we can only achieve the extra hour if I turn the screen brightness down to the minimum where even someone perfect eye sight with have problems reading the screen at this setting. I can't really blame HP because this is a marketing strategy used by all companies when they justify “minimum requirement” :( However, you can replace and upgrade the battery to a 6-cell which HP claims the battery can last up to 9 hours. Well, I'll assume and take that as 7-8 hours :)

One very cool feature with the HP mini 5101 is you can know how much battery juice is left without turning on the netbook. There's this battery level indicator bar on the physical battery itself and all you need to do is pressing it and it'll show you the current battery level status. With this, you can quickly check if your netbook requires charging before you bring it outside.

Figure 9: Battery level indicator bar with Cyan colour showing the level of the remaining battery power.


Figure 10: Battery level indicator can also work when the battery is removed from the netbook.

Upgrading the memory on the HP Mini 5101 is a snap. What you need to do is unlock and remove the battery via the latch, then press the latch again and the memory cover will be opened. No screw and screwdriver involved! How cool is that!

Figure 11: Top cover of the memory slot can be easily removed.

Last and not the least, the cooling system in the Mini 5101. Honestly I'm extremely impressed with how well heat ventilation is managed on this netbook. Even after a continuous operation of 8-9 hours, the netbook does not feel hot at all. Not even when I'm charging the battery. Besides Intel Atom, perhaps the credit should also go to the netbook's case frame which is built from materials like aluminum and magnesium alloy.

Figure 12: Ventilation holes of the HP mini on left and bottom.

In a nutshell, I would say the HP mini 5101 is worth considering for professionals or even students who is always on the move and do a lot of presentations. This netbook is rugged and its built quality is second to none. (Alright that's a joke but at least superior to most of the netbooks available in Malaysia today) The battery power should be more than enough for the preparation together with the presentation. Bloggers and Starbucks go-ers would also love this thing.

Pros: Superior built quality. HP 3D DriveGuard. Splash resistant keyboard. Good heat management. Power indicator bar on battery.
Cons: No Mobile broadband feature (Apparently this is available in the US) Speaker is not loud enough for a movie presentation (But good enough for personal entertainment)

More pictures on the HP mini 5101

Figure 13: Viewing http://loveraholic.blogspot.com from the mini 5101 (left)

Figure 14: HP mini's screen resolution. (1024x600-pixels) the standard resolution for netbooks. Apparently an optional upgrade to a higher resolution display (1366x768 pixels) is available in the US.

Figure 15: HP mini with the original box.