The HP Mini 5103, like its predecessor the mini 5102, is targeted at mobile professionals and students. It offers many customization options starting with the 10.1" diagonal LED-backlit screen that is also available as a capacitive multitouch screen, 3 different CPUs: a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N455, a 1.5 GHz N550, or a 1.83 N475 processor, 4 or 6-cell batteries, and hard disk drives ranging from 160 to 320GB, or solid state drives from 80 up to 128GB.

All customized Mini 5103 netbooks come with a 95% full-sized spill-resistant keyboard with HP DuraKeys, a touchpad with scroll zone and two soft-touch buttons, an integrated 2 MP webcam, SD card slot, 3 USB 2.0 ports as well as ports for an external VGA monitor, stereo microphone in, headphone/line-out, AC power, and RJ-45.

Besides proprietary Windows systems, the Mini 5103 can be ordered with either FreeDOS or SUSE Linux Enterprise 11. The start price for the most basic hardware options and a free operating systems currently is US $449.