HP Mini 5102 Laptop Computer

Hewlett-Packard has released an upgrade to its Netbook line of laptop computers, the Mini 5102. This computer retails for $424.00 on most online outlets.

HP is known for excellent quality, and the Mini 5102 is no exception. The computer contains the new Intel Atom processor, which is great for a moderately priced computer.  The Mini 5102's body is made of aluminum and magnesium alloy, so it feels significantly more rugged than many of the plastic Netbooks with whom it competes. The excellent keyboard layout makes typing a breeze. The 5102 offers only minor cosmetic tweaks from previous versions, but also more configuration options, including a touch screen.

This computer has a standard 1,024x600-pixel resolution 10-inch display, along with a single-core Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7 Starter Edition, and 1GB of RAM.

The 5102 has a stylish black brushed-metal lid and matte black keyboard and keyboard tray, offset by a glossy touch pad. This makes the computer look more like a business computer, but it definitely isn't out of place at your book hangout or coffee shop. Though it's not the thinnest or lightest Netbook ever, it feels solid and durable, without being a brick.

The keyboard layout is easy to use and functional. Important keys, like Shift, are nice and large, and the top row of function keys are reversed--which means the actually useful tasks of controlling volume and screen brightness, and so on, are the primary functions of those keys, while the somewhat more obscure F-key functions require you to hold down the Fn key.

The 5102 comes with a VGA video card, headphone and microphone jacks, 3 USB 2.0 ports, and an SD card reader. The computer also has the standard Ethernet and Wi-Fi wireless connection capabilities. The base model does not have Bluetooth, but you can get it if you upgrade for additional cost.  

Curiously, HP includes the Corel Home Office software rather than the usual Microsoft Office trial version. For those who prefer Microsoft Office, you could easily download the free Open Office suite as a Microsoft Office alternative. 

Intel's new single-core 1.66GHz Atom N450 CPU is the new standard for Netbooks, and while it doesn't really offer any performance gain over the previous generation N270 and N280 Atom processers, it offers greater power efficiency.

This computer probably isn't the best for gaming, but for those of you who expect to use the computer for surfing the Web and drafting and saving documents, this is a highly efficient and cost effective computer that will do the job for a modest price.