HP Mini 311: Netbooks get ION

HP Mini 311 — Graphics and Gaming

Normally, we wouldn't even worry much about gaming/graphics performance, but with the ION LE we figured it would be worthwhile to run some gaming tests. We'll start with the ubiquitous 3DMark runs. Note that we tested 3DMark06 at 1280x768 instead of 1280x1024 because of the native LCD resolution. We couldn't run 3DMark Vantage because ION LE lacks DX10 support (unlike the full ION).

The picture with 3DMark already sets the stage: yes, the ION LE (i.e. GeForce 9400M for Atom) platform is going to beat the pants off of GMA 950 solutions, but as we shift to newer versions of 3DMark we see the more powerful CPU on the NV52 (with slower graphics based on performance of the Dell Studio 14z) move past the Mini 311. Shift to real games and the 3DMark results become meaningless.

We ran a few games at 800x600 and minimum detail. Half-Life 2: Episode 2 averaged 17 FPS (and 16 FPS at 1366x768), which is hardly playable. Batman Arkham Asylum (without PhysX) averaged 17 FPS as well, with lows of 1 FPS. Even Unreal Tournament 3 couldn't surpass 18 FPS (which is odd since we managed to get 30 FPS on the N10JC last year — perhaps it's a driver update issue, or maybe the shared system RAM is a bottleneck). About the best showing for the Mini 311 was in Plants vs. Zombies, which averaged 26 FPS during an intense survival level; the GMA 950 falls into the low teens and even single digits in similar testing.

Are there games where the ION LE provides acceptable performance? Absolutely. From the 3D gaming genre, though, you'll want to stick to very undemanding games in terms of CPU requirements — mostly stuff from 5+ years back. Deus Ex or Doom 3 should work fine if you have a copy floating around…. (Note: If you have a particular game request you'd like to have me test, leave a note in the comments and I'll see what I can do.)