Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
 Great netbook! February 20, 2010
P. Gray (Austin, Tx)
49 out of 52 found this review helpful
I purchased this netbook because of the small size, excellent price, long battery life, and great customer service that HP is known for.
As far as the computer goes...
The computer itself is very light weight and easy to tote around. Not too heavy in a purse or bag and the size it great for concealing what you're carrying, say on a city bus or train.
I'm not a big Winblows fan so I changed the OS to Linux Mint 8 and that gave me back around 8 or 10GB of space that the old OS was eating up. There is plenty of room on the hard drive for a mid-sized music collection, lots of files, and plenty of pictures with room to spare.
The keyboard is great, but lacks a home key, page up, and page down. The touch pad gives you the ability to double click or single click by touch and there is a button on the keyboard for a right-click action.
The AC adapter is plenty long for most tasks and the battery life is excellent.
The webcam is fairly low quality but for basic things, such as using Skype or other conferencing methods, it will do the job. Speakers and mic are great and produce good quality sound for a netbook.
Customer Service...
After having the 210-1030nr for only two weeks, my hard drive went bad. No drops, no spills, no crazy room mates, just went bad. I called HP customer service and they were excellent! They're sending me the shipping materials to send the computer back and are footing the repair bill for me. Great customer service, just like I expected.
The 210-1030nr would have earned that fifth star had the hard drive not gone bad on me. I know, however, that this is a rare occasion for a netbook and sometimes things are not made properly or other issues occur that are beyond my, or any one else's, control.
This HP has performed very well up until the hiccup with the hard drive. My boyfriend was very impressed with the machine, despite his initial aversion to it's small size; he was worried it would be fragile or flimsy. He will be purchasing one for himself very soon.
Low Price, keyboard makes it a very good deal June 26, 2010
DC's Finest
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
We ordered this unit as a graduation gift for a kid. We mostly wanted a light weight, long lasting netbook and this unit fits the bill. Since we were getting it for a kid, we didn't want to spend too much. I was surprised by how nice this unit was for the price we paid. Here's the quick breakdown:
+ Good battery life for it's size
+ Good keyboard. Full size right shift key makes this a mobile blogging machine.
+ HP software to sync with your main PC
+ Unbelievable price (below 3 Benjamins)
+ Works great for email, music, web surfing, Microsoft Word, etc.
- Touch pad sucks. I use a mouse anyway.
- No bluetooth or wireless N
- I still prefer my Asus for my use but they do cost a bit more
- Can be sluggish, probably due to it's slow hard drive
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000F7QRTG?ie=UTF8&tag=pc-accessories-10-20&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B000F7QRTG
* I saw another reviewer mention issues with the Norton trial. I purchased license keys from ebay for cheap and didn't have a problem.
* As others mentioned, consider installing Chrome browser.
* Since the touch pad is not great, consider getting a retractable mouse:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001IWOBE0?ie=UTF8&tag=pc-accessories-10-20&linkCode=as2&creativeASIN=B001IWOBE0
I can't say this is the best netbook but it may be the best netbook for the price. It almost seems like a price mistake. HP sell this unit for so much more. The other thing I like is the keyboard. I can type really fast on it thanks to the full size right shift key. If you don't need bluetooth or wireless N, consider this unit!
 Its perfect for what its designed for June 5, 2010
Raun S. Kunkel (South Bend, IN)
17 out of 20 found this review helpful
If you buy a netbook knowing what they are actually designed to do, you wont be dissapointed with this HP.
Pros:
- The Keyboard is AWESOME. Very easy to type and its by far the best keyboard ive used any any Netbook or regular laptop for that matter and I have wide hands with short fingers. My typing speed is probably 20 words per minute faster than on my dad's netbook.
- I was considering getting the HD screen but im glad I didnt waste the money because the standard screen is perfectly clear and a great size for a netbook.
- I installed Google chrome as my default web browser and it is VERY FAST loading web pages and etc. Internet explorer is too slow.
- The web cam seems to work very nicely for a netbook. But dont expect it to be home video quality. No web cam is that good.
- The $279 price tag is unbeatable. The same computer with the STANDARD BATTERY of 3 hours cost $329 on HP'S website. And like i said this has the 9 hour battery. Fantastic price.
- 9 hour battery has many different settings so that you can customize for performance or longer battery life.
- the battery seems to recharge very fast for a netbook
Cons:
- The Norton internet security that is pre-installed is the netbook edition. This means that if you have standard Norton Internet Security 2010 for 3 pc's on your home's desktop, the activation key wont work with this software and thus you will have to pay for a separate subscription for your netbook. Unless you can somehow install NIS 2010 standard edition onto your netbook. I couldnt because I dont have the CD. I update via download every year when my subscription expires.
- Its a little slow to boot up but nothing i would really complain about. Just close the lid when not using and that puts the netbook to sleep which is faster to boot up.
- Some people may not like that the 9 hour battery has a lip to it so that the computer does not lay flat on a table top or whatever. I personally dont care and would rather have the bigger battery rather than worry about that.
Summary: You cant go wrong with this little netbook especially for this price. This price will not be beat trust me I have been researching netbooks for 6 months before buying my own. You will love this computer.
 It's OK, but it's got some LIMITS April 25, 2010
J. Wilson (USA)
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
First of all, this is a decent computer that will allow you to view video content, listen to music, do some word processing, read and send email, etc. Fine. It does all of that well. HOWEVER, due to a wimpy amount of RAM and a weak processor, it frequently CRASHES when I'm using Skype. It just can't handle it.
Other issues: There is NO WAY it has 9.75 hours of battery life. Maybe with the lid closed.
Also, the data transfer software for transferring files from your main PC to this one was IMPOSSIBLE to use, and I use computers a lot. I just could NOT figure out how to make it work, and I searched all over the Internet for advice. That is, the manual that comes with this unit SUCKS. It tells you virtually nothing.
Furthermore, online support is also virtually useless, so if you have a problem with this unit, you'll be talking to a person in India, which I've done about 4 times regarding the crashing problem. One guy claimed it was my Avast antivirus program that was incompatible with Windows 7 (I found out on the Windows 7 website, afterward, that in fact Avast IS listed as compatible). This tech talked me into buying McAfee from him (at an inflated price...what was I thinking?), which I returned after my discovery. Probably just lying for cash as he'd been instructed by his boss. Nonetheless, I was pissed, and I had to pay for shipping.
Other issues:
1. This computer gets HOT on the bottom, and has no vents there, only one on the left side.
2. The battery jiggles, as it has an imperfect fit. This is actually rather annoying.
3. You cannot open up the screen more than about 75 degrees, so it won't open flat or anywhere near it. Sometimes, due to my viewing angle, I can't open it wide enough to see the screen as clearly as it could be. Annoying.
Overall, it works great as a second computer, which I keep on my coffee table in the living room. Fine. I browse the Internet with it for hours, listen to all of my music files, read and send email, check bank balances, etc. I watch Hulu videos with it, I download content with it at acceptable speeds, etc. The screen resolution is great, and the keyboard is actually excellent for a netbook--way better than other models. Just know that it's not a workhorse, like all netbooks, so it has limited multitasking capability, and if you overload it, apparently it'll just crash on you.
4 Stars +1 for reliability March 19, 2010
Maxwell P. BLOCH (Maryland, USA)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
Well, I did not purchase the HP Mini 210-1030NR from Amazon.com, but I purchased it from my college's campus bookstore. I read the 4-star review from P.Gray, who says she would have given it a fifth star, except that her hard drive died after two weeks, but HP covered all repair costs.
Well, with my particular HP Mini 210-1030NR, I couldn't be happier. I have been running this thing for almost two months now with what I would rate 99% reliability. First off, the most outstanding feature of this netbook is its battery life. Paired with Windows 7, and a good Power Settings policy, you can get the advertised battery life from the netbook by keeping the LCD brightness low when on battery. After two months, with my particular average use, I get about 6.5 hours of battery life out of my Mini. With intermittent use, and letting the netbook sleep when I close the lid, I can go to campus with my netbook in the morning, use it throughout the day, and not have to charge it until I return home after midnight.
I was skeptical when netbooks appeared on the market a few years ago, but whether you choose the HP Mini 210-1030NR or another netbook, I would like to recognize the processor -- the Intel Atom N450 as a revolutionary processor. Where perhaps the N270 would be underperforming, the N450 Atom processor integrates several key motherboard chips into one -- a decent graphics processor, the memory controller, and the core processor. This increases battery life and performance, and it's noticeable. Case in point -- I can watch full-screen 480p video with no skipping whatsoever. No, this isn't 760 or 1080p HD, but it looks great compared to the lower resolution H264 video streams available out there.
My previous laptop would not wake up from sleep mode using Windows XP. This netbook sleeps and wakes up without a hitch, and it's fast, too, on Windows 7. I encourage anyone to consider this netbook or any other based on the Intel Atom N450 platform, quite seriously. It's everything you need it to be, and then some.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 22
|
