The good: HD video playback; quite a few configuration solutions; low beginning cost; good touch pad.
The bad: Beta software program required to stream HD video.
The bottom line: The versatile HP Mini 210 adds best-of capabilities from other HP laptops, but the HD video card needs a still-in-beta Flash update for streaming Flash video.
Review:
We've normally been extra partial to the Netbooks put out by HP's organization side (for instance the Mini 5102), but budget-conscious buyers can get largely comparable systems from HP's consumer side with lower beginning costs. The consumer lineup, previously anchored by the Mini 110, has gotten a modest makeover in 2010, morphing into the Mini 210.
New to this version are Intel's newest Atom N450 CPU and optional lid colors. Most importantly, the awkward side-anchored mouse buttons have been moved to a a lot more standard spot below the touch pad, fixing 1 of the key annoyances of ... Expand full review
We've usually been a lot more partial to the Netbooks put out by HP's company side (including the Mini 5102), but budget-conscious buyers can get largely comparable systems from HP's consumer side with lower beginning costs. The consumer lineup, previously anchored by the Mini 110, has gotten a modest makeover in 2010, morphing into the Mini 210.
New to this version are Intel's most recent Atom N450 CPU and optional lid colors. Most importantly, the awkward side-anchored mouse buttons have been moved to a far more conventional spot below the touch pad, fixing 1 of the main annoyances of the Mini 110. There is also an alternative for the Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator, which enables HD video playback (but is additional of a mixed bag for streaming on-line HD video).
With its outstanding keyboard and touch pad, the Mini 210 is among the nicer-looking overall Netbook packages offered. The base $299 version consists of the exact same hardware you'd come across on competing $299 Netbooks from Dell, Acer, or Asus (so it is largely a matter of personal aesthetic preference), and this $384 configuration consists of the HD video accelerator as well as a higher-definition 1,366x768-pixel display, generating it a great deal.