page-4 | HP Mini 5101 - Professional travelling companion | Laptops

HP Mini 5101 - Professional travelling companion - Physical aspects

Wednesday, 28 October 2009 08:26 Laptopfreak

Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/laptop-review.eu/public_html/administrator/components/com_sh404sef/sh404sef.class.php on line 2914

Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/laptop-review.eu/public_html/administrator/components/com_sh404sef/sh404sef.class.php on line 2915

Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/laptop-review.eu/public_html/administrator/components/com_sh404sef/sh404sef.class.php on line 2914

Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/laptop-review.eu/public_html/administrator/components/com_sh404sef/sh404sef.class.php on line 2915

Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/laptop-review.eu/public_html/administrator/components/com_sh404sef/sh404sef.class.php on line 2914

Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/laptop-review.eu/public_html/administrator/components/com_sh404sef/sh404sef.class.php on line 2915

Deprecated: Function eregi() is deprecated in /home/laptop-review.eu/public_html/components/com_sh404sef/sef_ext/com_content.php on line 39

Article Index
HP Mini 5101 - Professional travelling companion
Specifications
Package contents
Physical aspects
Physical aspects continued
Benchmark
Benchmark continued
OpenOffice – mostly for students
Conclusion
All Pages

Page 4 of 9

Physical aspects

First impression

The HP Mini 5101 is not the thinnest and may in fact be one of the bulkier netbooks on the market. Nevertheless, it is still highly mobile and easy to carry around. It takes up less space than an A4 sheet of paper and is perhaps as tall as a pack of cigarettes lying down. It is quite easy to handle and it does not add too much weight to your bag at only 1.2kg.

The design is reminiscent of HP’s ProBook series, but unlike previous business-oriented models, this particular device is black rather than silver. The lid is made of brushed aluminium and the shell itself of a magnesium alloy coated with a rubber paint. This is a technique dubbed SoftTouch, and the end result is a very smooth and comfortable surface that feels good to the touch.

The lid itself has a bit of texture etched into the black surface. It actually seems similar to what you might find on a tree. That gives it a very exquisite feel, and the overall impression is of a solid and tasteful netbook. This should appeal to everyone, businessmen in particular.

The keyboard is of full width, giving it the familiar 95% size so the keys are easy to reach and use. They have a comfortable surface which means you can type away for an extended period of time without getting annoyed. They are supposedly coated with a material that makes them more resistant to visible wear and tear.
Typing does not make much noise, so the overall experience of using the keyboard is quite a pleasant one.

The same cannot be said for the touchpad. It is rather small compared to many other netbooks, making it hard to navigate. It also has a glossy, shiny surface that does not go so well with the rest of the design. The touchpad area could also do with a more frictionless surface.
The buttons feel much like the keyboard though, so they are nice and easy to use. They are also of an adequate size.

The display is crisp and beautiful, with a nice 10.1 inch size. It also sports a native resolution of up to 1366 x 768 pixels. It is comfortable to use for surfing, and you can easily enjoy a movie or stream internet content in a decent size. With that in mind it is nice to see this netbook has pretty good sound. Of course it is not a stereo system or anything like that, but the audio is well-balanced and you can sample all the tones from base to treble without feeling cheated.

When it comes to I/Os, this netbook is rather pitiful. It does have the standard VGA and USB ports, a card reader and Ethernet port, but it lacks DVI, HDMI or really anything that would help it stand out. But okay, the focus is elsewhere and it does have the ports you need to function.

The design and surfaces, particularly the smoother ones, are practically magnets for dust and hair fibres. In strong light you will also be able to see fingerprints and those can be hard to get rid of. A lot of this will be visible in the pictures as a camera easily reveals such things. I do not think it is as bad as it looks, but do note that light exposes a grimy machine.