Why It’s Hot: One word: NVIDIA ION. Okay, that’s two but pick either one because they’re both equally good reasons to pick up the 11.6-inch HP Mini 311. While most netbooks chug their way through HD video and the simplest of games, the Mini 311 gets a big boost by offloading much of the graphics-intensive tasks to the NVIDIA ION LE chip. For $400, you’ve got a netbook that feels quite a bit more nimble than most of the other netbooks.
Why It’s Not: Sure, the ION chip helps but there’s a new ION coming out soon and most of the netbooks sporting it will also feature newer Atom processors. The Mini 311 is powered by the previous generation of Intel CPUs and, at 3.26 pounds, it’s a little on the heavy side as netbooks go.
Price: Starting at $399.99
Product Page: HP Mini 311
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