The HP Mini 5101 is a business class netbook with premium features. While that might sound silly, there’s no better way to describe the HP Mini 5101, which has a number of characteristics that set it apart from the crowd. Sure, it has a 10 inch screen and Intel Atom processor just like virtually every other netbook on the market. But it also has a 7200rpm hard drive, a 2MP webcam, a magnesium alloy chassis, and an accelerometer that shuts off the hard drive to prevent damage in the event of a fall.

But while the HP Mini 5101 has a premium set of features, it doesn’t cost much more than a typical netbook. Prices start at about $399.

The unit featured in this review has a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard drive and 6 cell, 55WHr battery. It features a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 802.11a/b/g/n wireless, Bluetooth, and runs Windows XP Home Edition. Other configuration options include a 1366 x 768 pixel display, a 4 cell, 29Whr battery, and SUSE Linux.

Design and Display

The thinking behind the HP Mini 5101 wasn’t to give a cheap netbook premium features. Rather, HP basically started with a ProBook style notebook and made it smaller and lighter. Along the way, the company did cram a low resolution display and Intel Atom processor in the netbook. But it really does look like a professional machine thanks to the magnesium alloy case, the large keyboard, and overall no-nonsense style.

On the front of the laptop you’ll find a wireless switch, and around the sides there are 3 USB ports, an Ethernet jack, mic and headphone jacks, and a VGA port. There’s also an SD card slot.

Above the keyboard is the power button which glows a light blue color when the computer is powered up. It flashes when the PC is in sleep mode. There are also two quick-launch buttons, one fo a web browser and the other for your default email application.

On the bottom you’ll find the battery and a single access panel which you can remove to upgrade the RAM. What’s interesting just how easy it is to open the RAM access panel. No screw driver is required. All you have to do is squeeze the two switches that hold the battery in place to remove the battery. With the battery out of the way, squeeze them again and the RAM access panel door will pop open.

There’s a single memory slot and the computer can support up to 2GB of RAM, which means you’ll need to remove the 1GB stick that comes with the HP Mini 5101 and replace it with a higher capacity stick.

I asked the folks at HP what the thinking was behind this new easy-access approach, and I was told that the company received a fair number of complaints that it was too difficult to upgrade the memory on earlier models that required you to remove the keyboard to access the computer memory. So HP did a 180 with this model and made it incredibly easy to upgrade the memory. While you probably won’t actually need to open the RAM access panel very often, it’s a welcome improvement, and it should come in handy for corporate or education oriented clients that purchase dozens of these netbooks and want to upgrade them all to 2GB of RAM.

The  lid does show fingerprints, but it’s not nearly as glossy as most of the plastic-covered netbooks I’ve used to date.The bezel around the display, on the other hand, is a fingerprint magnet.