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# Video Review: HP Mini 5102 Netbook

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<!-- video src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dDVzo1pI.m3u8" -->
## Video: Video Review: HP Mini 5102 Netbook

[Watch (HLS stream): Video Review: HP Mini 5102 Netbook](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dDVzo1pI.m3u8) (4:09)

![Video Review: HP Mini 5102 Netbook](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/dDVzo1pI/poster.jpg?width=720)

_Published 2010-03-18. Techland's gadget critic looks at why you may want to buy HP's latest netbook -- despite it being a bit pricey_


---

Jul 27, 2023 1:21 PM UTC

---

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### Sexy iPad Or Cute Netbook? The Debate In Dating Terms

---


## Transcript

We're looking at the HP Mini 5102. This is a netbook, 10. 2 inches and in this configuration that I looked at, it costs $ 415. Will you be buying it? Probably not! Unless you work for your company's IT Department or you own a small business because this unit is sold from the HP's small business unit. Would a guy like me own one? No! Look at my shirt, it's not even-- it's not even ironed. I'm a-- I'm a mess. I'm more of the plastic netbook crowd. This thing is made from some sort of space- age polymer feels like aluminum, the build quality is excellent and its weight is under 3 pounds. So, very portable.

Under the hood, we've got a 1. 66 gigahertz Intel atom and 450 processor, that's the new Pine Trail platform; 1 gigabyte of RAM and 160 gigabyte Hard Drive, and the Windows Experience Index is 2. 3, which is hamstrung by the processor itself. It's running Windows7 Starter, Bluetooth Built- in, which is nice, and as far as ports go, we've got 2 USB ports on the left side along with VGA Out and the AC adapter Input and on the right side , we've got headphone jack, microphone jack, another USB port, Ethernet port, Kensington Lock and the memory card slot. This comes with a 4- cell battery which is good for about 3- 4 hours, depending on what you doing with it.

You can upgrade it, but the pricing gets all screwy. So this, in my hand is $ 415. I went to see what would happen if I added a high resolution screen and a 6- cell battery, so, immediately the base price jumped from $ 415 up to $ 518, which is weird, and then when I added the high resolution screen and the 6- cell battery the final price was $ 683, almost 700 bucks. So, look at this here on the back, this is pretty cool as far as upgrading goes. If you wanna upgrade the RAM real quick, and I mean real quick, you just use these two little clips, push them in, pop the battery out and then this clip on the right hand side, you push it in even more, and look, the RAM slot opens up.

I mean, it's amazing! So you just pop it in like that, close it up, put the battery back in, BOOM you're done. It forces you to take the battery out before doing a RAM upgrade which is a good idea. Take it from me, I'm a fluff certified. So, HP's got the quick web features, if the computer is turned off, you just hit this little button right here and you go from boot to usable browser in about 30 seconds. As far as speed is concern, not gonna lie to you. It's a little sluggish. That could be due to Windows 7 starter. That could be due to the 1 gigabyte of RAM or that could be a combination of both those things I've just mentioned.

It could also be McAfee Antivirus that's loaded up on this computer. Now I would never tell anybody to uninstall antivirus software under any circumstances. Never, ever uninstall antivirus software, but if you buy a netbook, under any circumstances, no matter what, always uninstall the antivirus software. I don't know why they put antivirus software on netbooks, because all it does is slow them down tremendously. This thing was running at a 100 percent CPU utilization when I booted it up for the first time, McAfee. After I took that off, I'm not gonna say smooth sailing, but smoother sailing. Personally if it-- if it were mine, I would upgrade the RAM right away, take the antivirus software off, I would have it with a 1366 x 768 display and I would get it with a 6- cell battery.

That's the HP Mini 5102 netbook, build quality, excellent; instant boot into web browser, excellent; and starting price for a based- level netbook with the, you know, build quality like this built- in Bluetooth, that kind of stuff, pretty good at $ 415, although like I said once you get to upgrading stuff using the configurator, things get all weird.

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