Hannspree Hannsnote SN10e1

Hannspree is a name better known in the world of monitors than notebook computers. In the past it has come up with some rather strange designs for its screens, too, including ones in the shape of elephants and footballs (designed for children’s bedrooms, naturally) and a memorable model that came with wood veneer panelling.

So it was disappointing to find that the company’s first mini-notebook computer doesn’t do anything out of the ordinary. The model we looked at used a plain white casing and didn’t distinguish itself in any way from the pack.

In fact, the Hannspree Hannsnote SN10e1 is actually an MSI Wind with different logos and labels pasted on to its case. That’s not uncommon – other computer makers such as Medion and Advent have also used the MSI Wind as a template for their own mini-notebooks, and it is a good starting point in many ways.

So the SN10e1 has an Intel Atom N270 processor at its core, with 1GB of memory and Windows XP home loaded onto the 160GB hard disk. The processor and memory were powerful enough for standard tasks such as web browsing, email and word processing, without being able to deal with video editing or big-name games.

The hard disk has plenty of room for storage of documents, music and videos, though.

The Hannsnote’s keyboard stretches across the entire width of the notebook’s interior, which is good, but the keys still felt smaller when we were typing than they did on, say, the Samsung N310.

As with many such computers it’s a shallow keyboard so if you type hard it’s going to be uncomfortable after a while. The trackpad is also very small, as are the mouse buttons below it, making it hard to use.

In addition to being able to connect to wireless networks, the SN10e1 has a socket for wired networks on one side. There’s also a VGA socket for monitor connection, headphone and microphone sockets and three USB ports, as well as a memory card reader.

As is the case with all mini-notebook computers, it doesn’t have enough room for a CD or DVD drive, so you’ll need to add an external one if you want access to such discs (in this day and age that’s less of a problem, though).

One of the big gripes we and others had with the MSI Wind and almost all the computers based upon it was the computer’s battery life, which was less than three hours in most cases. That’s not quite enough for such a computer, which is after all designed for travellers, so it’s disappointing to see that Hannspree has not included a larger-capacity battery with the Hannsnote.

It’s the same one as in the original MSI Wind U100, which gave a battery life of approximately three hours, a slight but not substantial improvement.

The Hannspree Hannsnote SN10e1 is not a bad computer as mini-notebooks go – it worked well and does its job. But it’s a shame that Hannspree didn’t take the opportunity to improve upon the MSI Wind, rather than just replicating it.

At £260 it’s a decent deal at the moment, so if you’re looking for an entry-level mini-notebook the Hannsnote SN10e1 should be on the list.