Reviewed and Modded: HP Mini 5101
I waited and waited and waited. It’s finally paid off. Last week I received my HP Mini 5101 in the mail after a nice 12% code from HP. Shipping, Tax and all - total $518
This is exactly the netbook I was waiting for. The biggest feature and most important to me after owning several previous netbooks - HD Screen (1366 x 768) + 2GB of RAM
Now this doesn’t have a solid state drive, but it’s still fast and doesn’t run hot. Plus when the solid state drives come down in price, Ill upgrade then.
One last thing before I start. If you’re expecting the battery life to exceed 8 hours, forget it. While the 6 cell battery doesn’t stick out much and feel more ergonomic the best battery life I have got at max efficiency was 5.5 hours.
Now here goes the fun part. When I was shopping I was debating between the Mini 110 XP and Mini 5101. The adult in me loves the 5101's professional and sleek styling. The kid in me wanted the Broadcom Crystal HD Card in the 110. And just like that it came to me - why not do both?
So I found the Broadcom BCM970012 Crystal HD Decoder Mini PCI-e Card on EBay - http://cgi.ebay.com/BroadCom-BCM970012-Mini-PCI-e-HD-Decoder-Chipset-4-UMPC_W0QQitemZ390069263974QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item5ad1f09e66&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
After reviewing the service manual for the 5101 - http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?contentType=SupportManual&lang=en&cc=us&docIndexId=64179&taskId=101&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3973865
I embarked on my journey to try and upgrade the 5101 with the crystal HD card.
At the time I started this, my 5101 was loaded with Windows 7 RTM. It runs beautifully and uses all the Vista drivers from the HP site. (The only one it didn’t detect was the WLAN card)
You will also need the drivers for the Broadcom HD decoder from the HP site - but grab them from the HP Mini 110 model Vista drivers. http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-71961-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&product=3996346&os=2093&lang=en
Grab the ArcSoft Media Player from the XP drivers from the same machine (HP Mini 110) - http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-71067-1&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&lang=en&os=228&product=3996346
Basically follow the service manual to remove the top cover and keyboard. I put the Broadcom HD card in the WWAN slot considering I won’t ever use that port. After installing it, put the Mini 5101 back together, installed the driver, installed the software to play the movies and I was watching an MKV 720p file without skipping a beat.
WARNING: The right palm rest will get very warm. So far it doesn’t seem to have impacted anything, but like any mod - USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. :)
