HP Mini 5103 with dual-core Atom N550 performance review

We realize keeping up with HP's model numbers can be as hard as keeping tabs on say, Lindsay Lohan's run-ins with the law, but the 5103 is notable in one major way -- it's one of the first netbooks to ship with Intel's dual-core Atom N550 processor. Like the 5102, the 5103 is still primarily aimed at business professionals. In fact, HP hardly messed with the look and feel of the aluminum dressed laptop -- the chassis and features are pretty much the exact same, although HP did ditch the black lid for an "Espresso" color and preload some new "Day Starter" instant-on OS. Obviously, the big deal here is the new processor and seeing as how we've been waiting on Intel to release a dual-core Atom CPU for netbooks since well, the first netbook we were eager to see how much power that extra core adds and if it impacts battery life. Hit the break to see some of the results.

Overall performance

 

The Mini 5103 HP sent us packs the new 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 processor, 2GB of RAM, Broadcom's Crystal HD accelerator, and runs Windows 7 Professional. Now we'd like to say we felt the performance improvements over single-core netbooks almost instantaneously, but that's not the case thanks to an abundant amount of software preloaded up on the 5103. In fact, just like the 5102, the whole system was rather sluggish until we went and disabled two of the three McAfee security applications. When all is said and done, the 5103 definitely felt snappy for a netbook. 

The anecdotal performance and multitasking prowess is slightly better, as are the benchmark results. Just as we heard, there's about a 20 percent improvement -- most other single-core Atom N450 netbooks score around 1,200 on PCMark05, while the Mini 5103 notched a 1,866. That's a nice increase, but it's not quite as fast as AMD's single- and dual-core Nile "netbook" or ultra-thin platform.

Graphics (or lack thereof)

 

Intel's still relying on its GMA 3150 graphics so there isn't much of a change on the graphics front, though we've been told the processor alone should handle 720p content without a problem now as well as full screen flash video. The dual-core CPU also speeds up video encoding. Converting a 27MB .mov file to .mp4 took two minutes and 56 seconds on the Mini 5103, while it took 3:24 on the single core Toshiba Mini NB305. That's an improvement, but not as fast as the Eee PC 1215N's 2:03. Same goes for gaming -- it can handle World of Warcraft at 13 frames per second, but the new CPU doesn't change Atom's terrible gaming reputation.

Battery life

 

Intel promised that the extra core wouldn't impact battery life and the 5103's battery life is still impressive for a netbook. On our video rundown test, which loops the same standard definition video at 65 percent brightness with WiFi on, the 66Wh battery lasted for six hours and 16 minutes. That's decent for a netbook, but not as long as the 5102's eight hours. However, it's important to note that the Broadcom chip and the higher-resolution 1366 x 768 display on the 5103 could be affecting the endurance. The plus six hours of battery life is much better than the runtime we've seen on AMD's Nile systems, but very in line with the ASUS Eee PC 1215N.