Compaq Mini 110c 10.1-inch Netbook Laptop PC

Aug 19 2009 - The Compaq Mini 110c is essentially a less expensive version of the older HP Mini netbooks with the added wireless wide area networking capabilities added in. This means that the system retains many of the same great features of the HP such as the great keyboard and anti-glare screen great for outdoor use. It also comes with some of the awkwardness as well including short battery life and side positioned trackpad buttons. Still, a great low cost option for those looking for a WWAN capable netbook.

Aug 19 2009 - The Compaq Mini 110c is essentially a scaled back version of the HP Mini netbooks that uses some less expensive materials for the casing. While it does have as nice of a feel as the HP models, it does still feel quite well built. The keyboard is still the same 92-percent sized keyboard with its excellent layout and feel. It also retains the 10.1-inch screen that comes equipped with an anti-glare coating that makes it much more useful to use outdoors compared to the more common glossy coating.

The big feature of the Compaq Mini 110c is the addition of the Qualcomm Gobi cellular chip that allows the Mini to be used with CDMA and GSM wireless networks. This allows the Compaq Mini to be enabled for wireless wide area networking with activation on the AT&T, Sprint or Verizon wireless networks. Of course, this feature does incur the cost of the wireless contracts but allows the netbook to be used in a wider range of locations than standard Wi-Fi networks.

Rather than using a 160GB laptop hard drive, the Mini 110c tested used a 16GB solid state drive. While this improved durability and performance slightly, it greatly reduces the amount of available storage space on the netbook. After all the operating system and applications are installed, only 4GB of storage space is available for the user to store additional applications and data.

The biggest drawback to the Mini 110c is the battery life. The 3-cell battery provides very little running time compared to 6-cell equipped netbooks today. In a video playback test, the unit was barely able to reach a two and a half hour run time before shutting down. Those needed longer run time will want to look for a 6-cell version or purchase additional batteries.