Hewlett Packard have announced the release of the new HP Mini 311, a brand new netbook, small on the outside, but oh so powerful on the inside.

While there is some contention as to whether or not this deserves to be classed as a netbook, it is a small, capable laptop computer with enough juice to run Call of Duty 4 with only the occasional stutter.

Netbooks first arrived on the scene as cheap, portable, laptop computers capable of accessing the internet, doing basic word processing, and at a push, even running solitaire.  These were perfect for those of us who work on the move, they give the benefits of a laptop, but don’t weigh us down, and do not cost too much if one gets stolen.

It did not take long for other companies to join, and the inevitable it seems has happened, the netbook name has been used on an expensive device, which is high powered, and high utility.  While this is not a bad thing as such, I think it does go against some of the fundamental principles of the netbook.

Whatever they call this however, the HP Mini 311 is a fine piece of kit.  Its small size and high power make it a very versatile tool.  The HP Mini 311 manages to pull off a lot of its graphical prowess with the Nvidia Ion GPU, one of the most powerful portable GPUs on the market.  Most of it’s other specifications remain fairly basic, including a meagre 1GB of ram.  for this reason they have managed to keep the price at a fairly reasonable $399. It does however remain up to the users whether they spend this money on a portable netbook, or a laptop with twice the power.