HP Mini 5103

The HP Mini 5103 is a dual-core netbook that features an Intel CPU clocked at 1.5GHz and a sleek, sturdy metal body that is lightweight and is extremely portable at around 3 pounds. There's also a 10-inch widescreen display with an option to get it with a capacitive touch screen and 2GB of memory.

HP has designed the Mini 5103 with an aluminum black top that makes it look stylish for all settings, from work to pleasure. The keyboard has a chiclet-style key design similar to the Apple MacBook's and they're very comfortable and easy to type with. None of the keys feel small or improperly sized/placed. The track pad right below the keyboard is the same color as the palm rests (and rest of the body too) and looks very uniform. It's also appropriately sized and is comfortable to use.

The 10.1-inch widescreen display is surrounded by a rather thick bezel that is also the same color as the rest of the computer. The standard model comes with a resolution of 1024 x 600, but a high-resolution option is available to increase this to 1366 x 768, which is well worth the added cost. If you also want to have a capacitive touchscreen on your HP Mini, that is also available. The touchscreen is very responsive and works well, but keep in mind you cannot use it as a tablet because the screen doesn't swivel down like a convertible tablet. Besides that, the screen is very bright and has excellent viewing angles.

The specifications on this HP Mini 5103 includes a dual-core Intel Atom N550 CPU (1.5GHz) CPU, 2GB of DDR3 RAM, built-in 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, a 5400RPM 160GB hard drive, and an integrated Intel GMA 3150 graphics processor. Note that this computer does lack an optical drive since it is a netbook. It comes loaded with Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-bit).

In terms of port selection and other inputs on the HP Mini 5103, there are 3 USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, VGA out, a media card reader (supports MMC & SD), audio out, headphone port, and a Webcam with integrated microphone too.

Thanks to the dual-core Intel Atom processor, performance with the HP Mini 5103 is noticeably better than other single-core netbooks. However, it isn't the fastest netbook on the market, but it's definitely near the top. The 2GB of RAM is an added plus too since most other netbooks top out at 1GB. With that said, don't expect to perform any massive video encoding or large photo projects in Adobe Photoshop because a netbook simply isn't able to perform those tasks as well as a laptop or desktop. The integrated Intel graphics processor is well-suited for productivity tasks and Web surfing, and even some light gaming (non 3D) and some light Adobe Photoshop use.

High definition video playback is supported on this netbook as there is an HD decoder chip inside the unit. Both 720p and 1080p playback is supported, but you cannot export the content to an HDTV because there is no HDMI port. Because the HD playback is hardware processed, you must use software that supports hardware processing of video, but the standard Windows Media Player works well, but some other 3rd party applications that we tried don't work as well or at all.

The HP Mini 5103 comes with a 6-cell battery, which is quite large compared to other models. The battery life is estimated at around 6:30-8:00 hours.

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