Thursday, February 4, 2010

A Lighter Option

I went to Section 14's Digital Mall 2 Sundays ago to look for a new laptop or netbook to replace my Lenovo latop which I have sold off. It's really a spoil for choice place if you ask me when you're in a computer/gadget mall. Everything is there for you to choose for. From laptop, PDAs, handphones, softwares and the list goes on and on and on.

However, my mind has been set on a few brands to make things easier. I have shortlisted my preferred brands to HP, Fujitsu, Toshiba and Lenovo. I was there quite early. Was already a the Digital Mall at around 10.30 in the morning while most of the computer shops/stalls are barely opened. While moving my way up to the topmost floor on the escalator, I was even stopped by the guard as the company that occupies the floor only open for business at 11.00am.

After snooping around, I was attracted to a HP netbook. The model of the netbook is HP Mini 311-1002TU. It runs on Intel Atom processor N270 1.6GHz ( standard chipset for Netbook ). What makes it stands out to me is that it comes with 2GB DDR3 RAM & 250GB HDD. It also comes with a NVidia Ion graphic card. It has 11.4 inches screen. To me, the specs is good enough for my daily needs. I don't play much computer games except Civilization IV and Fifa. Those games are usually played on my desktop. I intend to get a laptop/netbook mainly for meetings and when I'm travelling on business purpose. Else, there's no need for the extra machine.

HP-Mini311a

My new baby - Mini 311

HP-Mini311b

Eagle eye view

This baby is really light weight. it's only about 1.4kg with the battery and without battery, it's about 900gm. The rest of the standard accessories are all there-3 USB ports, SD card reader, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. I find a very good review on CNET after I purchased this model. Keeping my fingers crossed that I made the right choice. So far, so good. Oh yah, it's preinstalled with Windows 7 Starter.

HP-Mini311c

Side view

Another thing which swayed my decision to buy this Netbook is also that it comes with an external DVD writer. It's HP's own DVD writer. As one of my desktop PC's DVD writer is kinda faulty, this USB powered DVD writer also can be plugged into my desktop machine.


HP-Mini311d

The portable DVD writer that comes with the Netbook

As a couple of days ago, I was having a lunch meeting with my wonderful GM, I brought along my HP Mini to perform some numbers crunching using MS Excel. I realised that it was really a power saving machine. The HP Mini was running on MS Excel with around 4-5 files opened and after 4 hours, I still have about 20% battery life. The 11 inches screen does not really put a strain on my eyes. I am fine working on it compared to my previous 14 inches laptop. Furthermore, the shop which I bought this machine threw in additional freebies for me : spillproof cover for the keypad, a headphone, a LCD screen cleaner, a cooling pad, a mouse and a Netbook bag. So, all in all, I think I had quite a good deal.

I would really recommend this machine for casual users who would not want to lug a laptop all around town for average use. I am thinking of bringing this machine with me the next time I am going to have drink at Starbucks.

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