News - HP Mini 1104 netbook aimed at students on a budget

[HEXUS]

HP launches the Mini Educator for students and mobile professionals.

Read more.

[abaxas]

Here lies the problem...

Apple bundles a 3 year warranty with all student purchases. This HP comes with 1 year.

[Fraz]

Not to mention the joke resolution screen.

[scaryjim]

Agreed - just another Atom netbook, offering no benefit over any other Atom netbook, and probably a shade pricier too ($399 will equate to more than £300 once you've added VAT). Why we can't see 13" AMD Fusion laptops at < £400 I still don't know - they'd make a much better choice than a no-man's-land netbook (I mean, seriously, 1024x600? That's passable on a 7" screen, but on a 10"?)

It'll be interesting to see what, if any, improvements Intel have made to the Atom architecture - looks like both mobile parts are now 2-core 4-thread as standard, and the graphics has presumably been bumped up a bit (although whether this is an Intel design or a licensed Imagniation design I don't know). Don't suppose anyone at Hexus is willing to spill the beans on any upcoming Atom reviews...?

[wombat]

Overwhelmingly underwhelming!

[wasabi]

Might do OK for some people. The onboard HP hs2340 HSPA+ could be handy for some. You could always take this to lectures or whatever then plug it into a decent monitor when you get home.

They also launched this machine at us corporate buyer types - some might go for it simply because of the HP badge.

Still think 13 inch is the sweet spot though - just wish they'd do cheap Atoms in that size rather than furiously protecting higher margin chip sales.

[keithwalton]

Looks very similar to my compaq mini (HP mini 1100 based) hope they've fixed all the faults with it. Proper vga out is a start (mine has a special dongle you can buy) has a useless power connector though and the battery has failed (it is around 3 years old)
where have they put the speakers now ? on the screen hinge is a good location until the connectors wear out.
The trackpad looks difficult on that, I like the way my old mini has the buttons either side of the pad rather than the bottom.

Oh I only paid £220 ish for it 3 or so years ago

[Pancake]

HP

Stopped reading there, why on EARTH would anyone buy an HP computer?

[crossy]

Stopped reading there, why on EARTH would anyone buy an HP computer?

Lot of people do - especially servers. Although biased, I'd certainly buy an HP before quite a few others - Sony's too expensive and Acer's build quality (or lack thereof). That said, I tend to recommend Dell's if asked.

Getting back to the 1104 - given this was supposed to be a "low cost" device what the heck are they doing by saddling it with a US$399 price tag. I was in PC World at the weekend and they were doing perfectly reasonable netbooks (including HP ones) for <£250, and a couple were <£200. That said, aren't netbooks supposed to be horribly unfashionable and "last year's idea"?

Think I'd prefer to either pay a little bit more and get a proper laptop or check out 2nd hand ones.

[Pancake]

Lot of people do - especially servers. Although biased, I'd certainly buy an HP before quite a few others - Sony's too expensive and Acer's build quality (or lack thereof). That said, I tend to recommend Dell's if asked.

Getting back to the 1104 - given this was supposed to be a "low cost" device what the heck are they doing by saddling it with a US$399 price tag. I was in PC World at the weekend and they were doing perfectly reasonable netbooks (including HP ones) for <£250, and a couple were <£200. That said, aren't netbooks supposed to be horribly unfashionable and "last year's idea"?

Think I'd prefer to either pay a little bit more and get a proper laptop or check out 2nd hand ones.

Acers build quality is just as shoddy as HP's, even if HP's tend to look more shiny. And just because lots of people do something it doesn't mean its a good idea

[Sippin40oz]

I can't believe people are still buying these Atom netbooks. They were terribly underpowered a couple of years ago not alone now! Intel has been so lazy with Atom, 800mhz fsb isn't that early core 2 duo architecture? My mate had a similar netbook and was horrible to use even for basic web browsing and word processing!

[jim]

Lot of people do - especially servers. Although biased, I'd certainly buy an HP before quite a few others - Sony's too expensive and Acer's build quality (or lack thereof). That said, I tend to recommend Dell's if asked.

Getting back to the 1104 - given this was supposed to be a "low cost" device what the heck are they doing by saddling it with a US$399 price tag. I was in PC World at the weekend and they were doing perfectly reasonable netbooks (including HP ones) for <£250, and a couple were <£200. That said, aren't netbooks supposed to be horribly unfashionable and "last year's idea"?

Think I'd prefer to either pay a little bit more and get a proper laptop or check out 2nd hand ones.

Agreed with all of this.

I wouldn't touch one with a bargepole, purely because of the speed. My netbook is 11", with a Pentium, and it's still horrifically slow, to the point of complete frustration. I only use it when I absolutely have to.

[keithwalton]

Tablets are the current craze / big thing and they have even less performance than a netbook yet people still buy them in the millions.
I have run android-x86 on my netbook and it absolutely flies along, faster than any tablet i've seen on an alpha build.
It's like the asus transformer prime when its in docked mode. The downside is the lack of touchscreen on an os pretty much made solely for touch screen devices

Atom's struggle with a desktop optimised os but give it a mobile optimised one instead and they're more than fast enough.

[aidanjt]

Here lies the problem...

Apple bundles a 3 year warranty with all student purchases. This HP comes with 1 year.

Given that Apple laptops start at $1,000+, I think they can afford the shorter warranty period.

[crossy]

I can't believe people are still buying these Atom netbooks. They were terribly underpowered a couple of years ago not alone now! Intel has been so lazy with Atom, 800mhz fsb isn't that early core 2 duo architecture? My mate had a similar netbook and was horrible to use even for basic web browsing and word processing!

May I suggest that you read the post I quote below?

Tablets are the current craze / big thing and they have even less performance than a netbook yet people still buy them in the millions. I have run android-x86 on my netbook and it absolutely flies along, faster than any tablet i've seen on an alpha build. It's like the asus transformer prime when its in docked mode. The downside is the lack of touchscreen on an os pretty much made solely for touch screen devices. Atom's struggle with a desktop optimised os but give it a mobile optimised one instead and they're more than fast enough.

Like "keithwalton", the two netbooks in my household (Samsung and Acer) both run modern Linux distros (Linux Mint and dual-booting Ubuntu/MeeGo respectively). Both are more than capable of running LibreOffice at speeds that would be thought "acceptable". Coincidentally the possessors of the two netbooks are both students and use them for work when access to a "proper" desktop is either not practical or "too much bother". In fact, in one case the netbook has taken over from a desktop machine because, "it's easier to use".
Don't have a netbook myself - gave mine up when I got an Asus Transformer.

Acers build quality is just as shoddy as HP's, even if HP's tend to look more shiny. And just because lots of people do something it doesn't mean its a good idea

Not my experience, the HP's in my possession have had less faults than the Acer's - although for some reason both the Acer portables I've got at the moment have screen connectivity faults.

I'm sorry that you've not had a good experience with HP branded kit, although it's nowt to do with me. Oh, and before I forget - support - at least with HP you can get service manuals and information on older models. With Acer neither are available directly.

[abaxas]

Given that Apple laptops start at $1,000+, I think they can afford the shorter warranty period.

The issue is that if a student is buying a computer, they tend not to be paying for it.

Hence why so many parents buy their kids macs for uni. Buy once and providing they dont smash it up, dont buy again.