HP Mini 5102 Netbook Review

The HP Mini 5102 is hands down one of the best mini laptops out there. It has a great keyboard, gets great battery life, and is incredibly sturdy. Granted, it’s a little more expensive than typical netbooks, but it’s aimed at businesses that probably wouldn’t mind shelling out a few bucks more for a netbook with premium features.

The HP Mini 5102 is basically an updated version of the HP Mini 5101. The new version looks a lot like the old version, but there are some spec changes. While the Mini 5101 has an Intel Atom N280 processor, the Mini 5102 is powered by an Atom N450 Pine Trail processor.

HP Mini 5102 Specifications

Processor: Intel Atom N450 1.66GHz Processor
Screen: 10.1-inch screen with 1024 x 600 or 1366 x 768 pixels, optional capacitive touch screen
Operating System: Windows 7 options (including Home Premium and Starter editions), Windows XP Pro or Home, FreeDOS, SUSE Linux
Memory: 1 GB (expandable to 2 GB)
Storage: 160/250/320 GB 7200 RPM HDD, optional SSD: 80/128 GB

The HP Mini 5102 is different from the Mini 5101 in a few ways. On the one hand, it is offered with an optional capacitive touch screen. It is also offered with larger capacity batteries. The 4-cell battery is expected to provide up to 4.5 hours of battery life. The 6 cell battery will power the laptop for about 10 hours on a charge. Other new features include an optional handle that can be useful in educational settings and optional GPS.

The touch screen recognizes multi-touch gestures like pinching and zooming. The handle is not removable, but it is an optional feature that you can choose when ordering the laptop.

Battery duration

The HP Mini 5102 has slightly better battery life than its predecessor. This is likely due to the improved power efficiency of the Atom N450 processor, which is said to consume less power than the Atom N270/N280 processor. HP also increased the power of the batteries. The six-cell battery offered with the Mini 5102 is rated at 66 WHr. The previous model had a 59Whr battery.

Design and build quality

The HP Mini 5102 is incredibly robust for a 10-inch netbook. It weighs about 2.6 pounds with the 6-cell battery and is only 0.91 inches thick. If you buy the netbook with the touch screen, you may find it a bit thicker. The laptop is available in black, red, and blue colors. The design is attractive.

keyboard and touchpad

The keyboard is almost full size. It is excellent and comfortable to write. The touchpad is the normal size for a 10-inch netbook. Touchpad sensitivity is good.

Ports and Slots

The HP Mini 5102 has the normal array of ports. Supported connectivity options include Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n, optional Ethernet, Bluetooth, 3G and GPS.

Performance

The performance is completely satisfactory. The netbook has enough power to handle everyday jobs like browsing the web and writing documents. What if you want to watch some HD videos and play some modern games? Well, Atom-powered netbooks aren’t necessarily good at decoding 1080p HD video. But to solve this problem, HP offers the option of configuring the Mini 5102 with an enhanced Broadcom Crystal HD media accelerator that would allow 1080p video playback. It also supports HD video streaming using Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta. Previously, only HP’s consumer-oriented netbooks offered the Broadcom card.

Prices

The HP Mini 5102 starts at $399, which doesn’t make it more expensive than a typical netbook. But if you need additional options like touch screen and handle, you will have to pay more. In fact, a fully equipped machine can cost up to $1,000.