HP MINI 5101 N280 EN

I've owned a netbook since April '08 when I bought one of the first mass market Asus EeePC Surf models. It was a useful travel tool, light, easy to store and secure, but it lacked two things.. screen size and an adult size keyboard. The HP Mini 5101 covers both those issues and more.

I've had the 5101 for a week now, and been on my first trip with it. No complaints. Keyboard feels great, good key action. Metal case (aluminum and magnesium) feels solid without being weighty. The power brick is the same as the one my work laptop (also HP) uses, so I can even use that in a pinch when the 6 hrs of battery life runs out. Wireless is great; I picked up wifi points my smaller netbook never saw at the same hotels and airports.

If you're looking for a solid work class netbook, I strongly recommend this one.

Never liked HP, but needed a netbook for my Toyota Tacoma. It needed to be tough, and so far (4.5 months), it has held up great! I mounted it on a Jotto desk (swap the laptop desk for the side desk... perfect fit, velcros on). So far I've hit some pretty rough bumps while read/writing and no probs at all, though I wouldn't recommend intentionally doing it. I wanted to swap drives for a SSD, but it would double the cost of the netbook, which was supposed to be cheap (er). I don't like HP, but this is a jewel.

Pros: great keyboard, tough little machine, 2G option available, Win XP Pro an option.

Cons: Yes, it is a dust, fingerprint magnet, who cares? (Cheap shower caps from Sally Beauty Supply cover it nicely)

Conclusion: In the netbook market (tough and rugged), the Samsung NB30 or the HP 5101 were my two top picks. I went the HP route and haven't regretted it.

Buy HP MINI 5101 N280 EN Now

I've had this since September now, so it's been with me for 9 months.

The good

+ The netbook is very light and convenient to carry around.

+ The keyboard is a great upgrade from any ASUS I know. As large and comfortable as it could be in a computer this size.

+ The aluminum cover is resistant to scratches and other minor damage from daily use.

+ Plays standard quality video, music and Flash very well.

The not-so-good

o Not very easy to clean the thing is a fingerprint magnet!

o Windows XP doesn't run well with 1Gb an upgrade do 2Gb is very cheap and can be done at home, but will only help if you buy a good, fast anti-virus/firewall.

o Cannot handle HD video this was to be expected from a single core processor.

The bad

If you decide to install Linux (I'd definitely recommend it for most netbooks, if not for performance, for security reasons), then you lose HP 3D Driveguard support. That's a shame since Driveguard will protect your hard drive not only from falls (which are very rare), but also in the event of a turbulence in an airplane, or a bump while riding a cab.

If HP had Linux support for all the features in this computer, I'd certainly give it 5 stars.

Read Best Reviews of HP MINI 5101 N280 EN Here

This notebook is more expensive for the specs of hardware you get, but if you like aluminum cases and hard-rubber around the keyboard, then this laptop is perfect for you. It has no problem playing flash videos (even full screen "HD" videos), and plays downloaded DVD's just fine, though I can't vouch for the ability to play blu-ray quality movies.

The keyboard is the largest keyboard you fill find on a netbook. It really is 95% of the size of a full size keyboard, so even for someone 6' tall, I don't feel like I'm cramping my fingers to type. The built in webcam runs smoothly for Skype, AIM, and MSN, and probably works just as well for other clients.

The Catch

The problem with this netbook is not the hardware. The problem is not even Microsoft Windows XP SP3 that it ships with. The problem is the TONS of crapware that HP installs with this netbook by default. To put it in perspective, it took *2 hours* for the netbook to boot for the first time, and not because it had to install XP. It was installing the loads of garbage software that HP decided would enhance your experience or whatever. The best part is, some of that garbageware that HP installs will actually *break* the functionality of XP. Case in point: HP forces the installation of a 3rd party network manager that *disables* XP's built in networking capabilities. If you uninstall that network manager, you will NOT be able to connect to the internet without using 2 registry hacks to re-enable XP's network manager.

I want to give this netbook 5 stars, but HP's garbageware is enough to lower the experience from excellent to "holy crap why does my new computer run like it's 1998?"

Do NOT buy this netbook if you don't know how to reformat and install your own copy of XP, Windows 7, or Linux.

Want HP MINI 5101 N280 EN Discount?