Customer Reviews

HP Mini 1110NR 8.9-Inch Netbook (1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 Processor, 512 MB RAM, 8 GB Hard Drive, Mobile Internet Experience Software, 3 Cell Battery)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I had very low expectations for this. After all it is cheap and it's tiny. I have to say as far as hardware is concerned, I am extremely impressed. The Mini runs well, connects to everything very easily, and I found the basic configuration to be great.

The "Mobile Internet Experience" whereby HP takes the Linux operating system and tries to make it "idiot" proof however is frustrating. At first look it's pretty sleek, but you are so limited. You can not modify the main screen, the default application installer greatly limits the applications that you can see, and you have to know something about Linux to get under the hood and make this thing really do what it can. I think that MIE was unnecessary. Some specific welcome screams on Ubuntu and it would have been fine. HP also could have saved a few bucks in developing MIE which is just a pretty way of limiting what you can do with a great machine. If it weren't for MIE, you might have gotten me up to 5 stars.

I joined the netbook trend to have another computer in the house to check email and basic web surfing. This netbook does that fine. However, in retrospect I wish I would have gone with the XP Home version. THe Linux-based OS does simple duties, but isn't the easiest for people who are used to Windows operating systems. My wife, for one, can't figure out how to work it (which isn't always a bad thing. I got this so I wouldn't have to keep prying our 15" laptop out of her hands). All in all this does its job, but would be nice if it played well with some of my hardware (such as my USB phone) that only work with Windows or Mac.

DISCLOSURE: After a couple of conscientious objectors pointed out that this is not an objective technical review, I feel I must be fair and say that my review is indeed subjective and I was extremely frustrated after just having spent a couple of hours on the phone with various conference calls and on different websites when I wrote this. I bought this netbook for my 14 year old who is enamored with the latest in mobile tech and this review is written from the perspective of a 46 year old parent that is content to surf on a 5 year old PC and still thinks Googling is a marvel.

REVIEW: If you are expecting a netbook that you can hook up to your wireless home router network right out of the box- forget it.

I wound up calling HP and after establishing that no, the computer would not "find" the configuration of my home router, the HP service rep proceeded to call my cable company. They were no help because my wireless router was not through them, so the HP service rep then called Netgear which is my router manufacturer. He needed the configuration of the router to manually get the netbook up and running through the cable connection and then "everything will be fine" as far as having a wireless connection that works.

Naturally my service contract expired with Netgear over two years ago so they wanted $65.00 to extend my contract and thereby give me the configuration of the router. I said "no way".

After an hour and a half of this complete nightmare, I told the HP rep that I'm sending this back and no I didn't want a replacement because this model of Netbook/Notebook is obviously wrought with problems with regard to wireless connection.

Subsequent contact with stateside HP reps suggested that it was most likely a defective computer. I have since returned it and was refunded with no problem.

I know the problem was not on the router end because the Wii "found" it just fine a couple of months ago and it was no problem to get that system running.

Needless to say I am not a computer geek and I am truly looking for a simple, user-friendly experience and this was NOT IT!!