Top Netbook: HP Mini 5102

Are you a sophisticated business professional who’s shopping for a top netbook? An executive whose briefcase holds only the finest gear available? Congratulations. You’re part of an elite audience, one of two target markets for HP‘s flagship netbook, the Mini 5102. The other? Who else belongs to such a deluxe demographic? Are you sure you want to know?

OK. It’s the kid next door and his chums in grade school.

Actually, it makes sense to consider an ultraportable built for the rigors of the K-12 crowd. It explains why, compared to other netbooks, the Mini 5102 bears a bit of a premium price at $415 (or a super-premium price if you want a custom-configured model; more on that in a minute).

Instead of the usual plastic case with rounded corners, the 2.6-pound 5102 is a black metal slab with an anodized, brushed-aluminum top and magnesium-alloy base, reminiscent of HP’s handsome ProBook laptops (or Lenovo’s ThinkPads, for that matter). Like the company’s EliteBook notebooks, the Mini has a spill-resistant keyboard plus HP’s 3D DriveGuard, an accelerometer that senses and instantly parks the hard drive in the event of a drop or fall. One option for little hands, a built-in carrying handle, is so nifty that adults will be tempted by it too.

The chiclet- or island-style keyboard is another attraction. Though not quite full-size (the A through apostrophe keys span 7.7 instead of 8 inches), it’s extremely comfortable, with a firm, precise feel for fast typing; a fumble-free, intuitive layout; and a top row of brightness, volume, and other control buttons that don’t require holding down a Fn key (they team with the Fn key for F1 through F12). The touchpad below the space bar is small and its glossy surface collects finger smudges, but it works well, with nicely tactile yet quiet buttons.

Read the rest at Hardware Central.

RELATED NEWS AND ANALYSIS

• Ethics and Artificial Intelligence: Driving Greater Equality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  December 16, 2020

• AI vs. Machine Learning vs. Deep Learning

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  December 11, 2020

• Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  December 04, 2020

• Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 18, 2020

• Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  November 10, 2020

• Top 10 AIOps Companies

  FEATURE |  By Samuel Greengard,
  November 05, 2020

• What is Text Analysis?

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  November 02, 2020

• How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 29, 2020

• Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 23, 2020

• The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  October 16, 2020

• Top 10 Chatbot Platforms

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  October 07, 2020

• Finding a Career Path in AI

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Guest Author,
  October 05, 2020

• CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science

  FEATURE |  By Guest Author,
  September 25, 2020

• Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 25, 2020

• Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2021

  FEATURE |  By Cynthia Harvey,
  September 22, 2020

• NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 18, 2020

• Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 14, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]

  ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE |  By James Maguire,
  September 13, 2020

• IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI

  FEATURE |  By Rob Enderle,
  September 11, 2020

• Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality

  FEATURE |  By James Maguire,
  September 09, 2020