The HP Mini 5103 is the latest business-class netbook from Hewlett Packard. Physically it looks almost exactly like the HP Mini 5101 and 5102 which precede it. The primary difference is that in the US the netbook is only available in a new dark brown "espresso" color. Under the hood, the HP Mini 5103 has all the things that made those earlier models special — plus a number of new options.
First up, the netbook comes standard with a 7200RPM hard drive, a hard drive sensor which stops the drive from spinning in the event of a fall to prevent damage, a battery with a built-in LED to let you know how much power you have left, and an all-metal case made of aluminum and magnesium alloy.
The HP Mini 5103 is also the first HP netbook available with a dual core Atom N550 processor, although it will also be available with single core Atom N455 or N475 CPU options. The model HP sent me to review also has a number of other premium options, including a 1366 x 768 pixel HD display, a capacitive touchscreen, a Broadcom Crystal HD video accelerator, 2GB of memory, and Windows 7 Professional.
While the base model of the HP Mini 5103 runs $399, those options all add to the price, and I suspect the unit featured in this review would likely run well over $600, since HP won't be offering all these options together in a single "smart buy" configuration. The touchscreen alone, for instance, would cost $50 extra.
Design
For the most part, the HP Mini 5103 is physically identical to the HP Mini 5102 I reviewed a few months ago, so portions of the design section of this review may seem familiar. Physically, the only difference is that the new model ships in the US in a new "espresso" brown color, which is dark enough to be mistaken for black from some angles. The sides of the computer and area around the screen are black, but the rest is dark brown.
There's a brushed aluminum finish on the lid, while the magnesium alloy chassis including the palm rest area has a matte, smudge-resistant finish.
Even though the laptop has an all-metal case, it's just as light as most 10 inch netbooks which are covered in plastic. It just feels sturdier.
With a 4 cell battery and standard display, the HP Mini 5103 measures 10.3″ x 7.1″ x 0.9″ and weighs about 2.6 pounds. Add a touchscreen and it will get a little thicker, and add a 6 cell battery and the laptop gets a little thicker and heavier.
The HP Mini 5103 also looks a bit bulkier, thanks to its boxy design. While the corners of the netbook feature a rounded design, the edges are a bit sharp.
There's a single access panel on the bottom of the netbook which you can use to replace or upgrade memory. HP has devised a nifty system for letting you do this without a screwdriver. You simply push the two switches holding the battery in place to remove the battery. Push them again and the RAM access panel door opens up.
You might not actually need to access the memory slot all that often, but this feature should make it much easier for schools or businesses that buy the mini-laptop in bulk to upgrade the memory of multiple laptops at once without dealing with tiny screws that are easy to lose.
Around the sides of the computer you'll find 3 USB ports, a VGA port, Ethernet jack, mic and headphone jacks, and an SDHC card slot.
At the front of the computer there's a switch that you can slide to toggle the netbooks wireless modules on and off.
And above the keyboard there's a power button and two dedicated shortcut keys for launching the default web browser and email applications. You can also use these buttons to launch HP's quick start software that lets you load a web browser or email app without first waiting for Windows to boot. There's also a new app that lets you view your Outlook calendar from the quick boot screen.
Some of the design elements that make the HP Mini 5102 stand out from the netbook crowd aren't visible. For instance, there's the 7200rpm hard drive, which is significantly faster than the 5400rpm hard drives found in most netbooks. HP also offers a high per
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