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Point of View Mobii ION mini is more than a netbook

by on26 October 2009

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Review: Copes with Call of Duty 4


Point of View isn't the first company that will come across your mind if you are looking for a netbook. These guys had their share in making Nvidia graphics cards and are still Nvidia exclusive partners, something that is quite rare these days.

As of last year, Point of View has decided to join in on the netbook fun, and although we haven’t seen a lot of these, POV’s Mobii has always been around and has been selling in Europe for awhile now.

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As of recently, Point of View has released a new Mobii netbook that features Nvidia’s ION chip under its hood, and as far as we could tell, Mobii ION was one of the first ION netbooks that has showed up in European retail/e-tail shops. As a matter of fact, the only other ION netbook that can be found in Europe is the Samsung’s 11.6-inch N510 AnyNet.

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Due to Microsoft’s limitations, this one has pretty much the same specs as any other netbook on the market. It features Intel’s Atom 230 CPU working at 1.6GHz, Nvidia’s ION MCP7A chipset with Nvidia ION LE graphics, 1GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive. The ION LE is basically the same thing as the ION except for the fact that it only supports DirectX 9.

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The rest of the features include Gigabit LAN, 802.11b/g WiFi, 1.3M web cam, two USB ports, card reader, Realtek’s HD audio, integrated two 1.5W speakers, and an HDMI output.  The spec is more than adequate for Windows XP Home Edition, the preinstalled OS.

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Unlike other manufacturers, Point of View decided to keep the 10.2-inch 1024 x 600 screen, the same one that was used on the older Mobii. We are also glad that POV decided to use a non-glossy screen as those glossy screens might look good, but in the words of our mobo reviewer Eliot, they only make sense if you are living on the dark side of the moon. (I can't even say what I think of them - kids read this, too, you know. sub.ed.)

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The screen has impressively high brightness and the colours are quite decent too, something that we didn’t expect from a cheap netbook. The 1.3M web cam is also pretty good, and works quite well even in low light conditions.

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With 255x185x33mm dimensions, the Mobii ION mini basically has the same size as any other 10.2-inch netbook on the market, something that you simply can’t change because of the size of the screen and the general component layout. It weighs around 1.4kg with the 6-cell battery so it is quite light as well.

The Point of View Mobii ION mini ships with either 3-cell 2200mAh or the 6-cell 4400mAh battery. The down side of the 6-cell battery is that you get a hump on the back of the netbook. It acts as a stand, as it angles the keyboard, but it doesn’t bode well for the overall design of the netbook.

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The design is simple and minimalistic but the colour options made it a bit more cheerful and the glossy finish on the lid is also a nice touch and adds some to overall quality of the product. The Mobii ION mini is available in four colours, plain black and white as well as a bit cheerful green and red. As you could see from previous pictures, we decided to go for the green, especially because this netbook is all about Nvidia and its ION graphics.

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The chassis feels quite sturdy and we were quite surprised, especially due to the fact that Point of View isn’t a big manufacturer and honestly can’t compete with the likes of Samsung, MSI or Asus, but still they managed to produce a decent quality netbook. It does look a lot like Lenovo’s Ideapad S10, although it is less serious and not as dull as the Lenovo.

We are glad that Point of View decided to use the glossy finish only on the lid of the netbook, while the rest of it is sports a matte finish, especially the palm rest. Because of this, there will be few unwanted fingerprints and smudges on the palm rest, and the lid is rarely touched anyway.

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The hinges feel sturdy and the only thing that we didn’t like there is that red/chrome circle detail which really doesn’t do anything and it is purely decorative. The power button and the status LEDs are pretty simple.

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The position of the power button is a bit odd, and prone to accidental pressing, but we guess that POV had no choice here as they wanted to keep the keyboard and the touchpad as big as it is possible on a 10.2-inch netbook.


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Last modified on 20 June 2010
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