HP Mini 311-1000NR Netbook
Commuting to work this morning, I was playing Left 4 Dead on HP's Mini 311-1000NR--that's right, on a netbook. Few netbooks are up to that task, and HP is first to market with an nVidia Ion-based portable. The 3.22-pound, 11.4-by-8.0-by-1.2-inch Mini 311-1000NR has a reasonable amount of power and a $399 asking price. (Our review unit, as configured, sells for $450 as of October 5, 2009.)
What's Ion? If you've somehow missed the reams of stories I've already written about the Ion platform, here's the executive summary: For netbooks or nettops, it marries an Intel Atom CPU (in this case, the 1.66GHz N280) to an nVidia Ion LE GPU, yielding more-powerful, affordable machines that can output high-def video and even allow you to play some games.
Also fueling this machine are 1GB of RAM and a 160GB 5400-rpm hard drive--standard-issue netbook guts. In basic PC WorldBench 6 tests, it earns a 37 -- fairly average and expected. What we found in our standard 3D gaming tests wasn't quite as thrilling as originally hoped: 16 frames per second in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars at 1024 by 768 pixels (at normal settings).
What's Ion? If you've somehow missed the reams of stories I've already written about the Ion platform, here's the executive summary: For netbooks or nettops, it marries an Intel Atom CPU (in this case, the 1.66GHz N280) to an nVidia Ion LE GPU, yielding more-powerful, affordable machines that can output high-def video and even allow you to play some games.
Also fueling this machine are 1GB of RAM and a 160GB 5400-rpm hard drive--standard-issue netbook guts. In basic PC WorldBench 6 tests, it earns a 37 -- fairly average and expected. What we found in our standard 3D gaming tests wasn't quite as thrilling as originally hoped: 16 frames per second in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars at 1024 by 768 pixels (at normal settings).
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