If you’re looking to upgrade from XP or Vista on your netbook, or perhaps you already have, then here’s some great news for you. Some netbook makers have already updated the driver download pages to include Windows 7 drivers which should work better than Vista drivers you may be using instead. Most Asus netbooks now have drivers for Windows 7 from their support page.
Other companies have updated their support pages but, not all companies support many netbook models. There is support from Toshiba for the NB205, while Acer are providing Windows 7 drivers for the Aspire One 751 and AOP531h with AOD250 to follow. Dell are listing drivers for the Mini 10v and Mini 10 but not the Inspiron Mini 9 or 12. HP on the other hand have support for discontinued netbooks, such as the HP Mini 2140. They’ve also got support for the 110, 5101 and other models. Lenovo have also updated their support page to include manuals but, no drivers yet. This could change soon though.
With many netbooks already able to load into OS X it comes as no surprise that the netbook/CULV device from HP can also run OS X. One hacker over at the Insanely Mac forums, has successfully loaded into the Apple operating system on their HP Mini 311. Both the high resolution of the device (1366 x 768) and graphics (NVIDIA GeForce 9400M) are supported in OS X along with the card reader, Ethernet, webcam and bluetooth. Unfortunately WiFi and sound don’t work at the moment. Neither does the sleep/resume function but, this has been a case with many Hackintosh netbooks.
Over at LaptopMag the folks benchmarked the HP Mini 311 with 3DMark06 along with trying Far Cry 2 on the ION powered netbook. Users asked for more specific tests to be done which relate to very popular games. They asked for the netbook to be tested with Spore, Call of Duty 4 and World of Warcraft. Call of Duty 4 has already been demoed on the HP Mini 311 which you can view here.
Laptop Mag listened to their readers and have videos of the netbook playing both World of Warcraft and Spore. Overall they were pleased with the results. They even made use of the 1080p HD Video out and connected it up to a Samsung HD TV and the results are very impressive. While doing their tests, they’ve also played the HD trailer of “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” back, which apart from some motion blur, had smooth playback. You can view their videos of the games and trailer tested here.
Well, this certainly brings a new meaning to gaming on the go. The recently announced HP Mini 311, which falls into the CULV category, features an NVIDIA ION chipset, which can bring gaming to the netbook world and not just solitaire or similar. As the video below shows, Call of Duty 4, one of the top games of 2007/2008 (and still very popular) runs very smoothly on the CULV netbook. The settings are naturally set to the lowest settings but, considering it packs a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor it certainly impresses.
In conjunction with Notebooks.com and 24 other websites, HP are running a back to school promotion dubbed “Better Together”. Readers of the blogs will have the chance to win a HP Mini 110. The actual prize is a bundle, which consists of the netbook, the Pavillion DV6 notebook and a Timbuk2 bag. There are 25 bundles up for grabs and the sites are running the promotions at different times of the month, with some overlapping, but one ending each day up until September 6th.
The Mini 110 features a 10.1 inch display, 1GB of RAM, 160GB HDD, Intel Atom processor and a six cell battery, where as the notebook offers a 16 inch display. You can view the list of sites taking part in the promotion along with the dates after the jump.
While the HP dv2 isn’t officially considered a netbook, its list of specs speaks for itself. It’s got a 12-inch screen (similar to the Samsung NC20), AMD’s Athlon Neo mobile processor (which is just a tad bit better than Intel’s Atom chip), lacks an ExpressCard slot and optical drive plus it only costs $699. Then everything else about it just screams netbook. Even at 12-inches, it’s still smaller than your regular laptop, and while it has an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3410 graphics chip with 512MB dedicated VRAM, it doesn’t sound like a great gaming machine from the review. The review even recommends that this notebook is best for netbook-specific tasks like a few hours of emailing/surfing or using it on the couch. Read the full review at the post linked to below.
The Mini 1000 netbook from HP originally launched with two storage options, 16GB SSD or 60GB hard drive but HP have updated the storage options available for the Mini 1000. It’s now possible to get the HP Mini 1000 with SSD memory of the original 16GB or with 32GB. Where as the hard drive option has only upgraded it’s 60GB hard drive. The 60GB version is no longer available to purchase from HP, but an 80GB hard drive option is.
For most netbooks, 80GB is pretty minimal, but HP use 1.8 inch hard drives instead of the usual 2.5 inch hard drive which makes prices for more higher storage, much more expensive. The speed of the hard drive however remains the same at 4200RPM.
Other customizable options for the HP Mini include a choice between 512MB of RAM or 1GB, 8.9 inch or 10.1 inch display, as well as a choice between a 3 cell battery or a 6 cell. There’s also an option to receive both batteries so you have a backup. Bluetooth is also an added option when purchasing the HP Mini.
HP have recently released the high resolution version of the HP Mini 2140. MyHP Mini Forums member Inconnu has grabbed the netbook and posted several photos up of the netbook, including photos showing off the high resolution 10 inch display.As expected the 1366 x 768 resolution gives the screen a lot more room for web browsing, photo editing etc. You can view Inconnu’s photos after the jump.
We recently reported that the anticipated high res display model of the HP Mini 2140 would be available from the 6th April. There’s been no set backs or delays and we can now confirm that the high res model is now available to purchase. So if you’ve been holding off on grabbing the Mini 2140, there’s no need to wait any more, you can head over to the HP website and get the upgrade. More great news is that the higher resolution, while it does make the netbook a higher price, does not make it over priced. The upgrade will only set you back an additional $25, making the upgrade cheaper than that found on the Dell Mini 10 high res model.
Some ladies in Germany who may still be eyeing the pink and uber-girlified HP Mini Vivienne Tam Edition netbook won’t have to be waiting for a chance any longer. Already widely available in other parts of the world since last year, this feminine netbook is now listed for sale by none other than Amazon Germany. The overall specs are the same, so that means it’s equipped with a 10-inch screen, Intel Atom processor, and a floral decoration on its outer lid. In the U.S., it is available from HP’s web site for $699.99. Amazon Germany is offering it for only 499.23. Euros (equivalent to $677 USD, which makes it at least $20 USD cheaper than in the U.S.). Check out the rest of the details of the deal via the links below.
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