HP Mini Note slaps on Intel badge

PC BEHEMOTH HP has finally joined the Netbook fray after being stood up at the altar by Via and its Nano processor.

Officially ranked as a Netbook, the Mini-note comes under the 1000-series moniker, just so there’s no confusion about which product you’re buying. This would be another banal Atom launch if not for the attempt to give the 1000 some different looks (and possibly a different feel, as it weighs under two pounds and has a 92 per cent-sized keyboard). The Mini-note comes in two extra flavours: the fad ‘Vivienne Tam Edition’ and the Linuxy ‘1000 with MIE’... Chic and Geek all rolled up in a single product line.

As you can see from the piccies, they’re all about the design.

The Mini-note 1000 uses Intel’s Atom 1.6GHz with a 10.2-inch or 8.9-inch screen and includes 512MB/1GB of DDR2 RAM as well as 8GB SSD/16GB SSD/60GB HDD as options. It’s also got an integrated webcam. Interestingly the 60GB HDD costs $10 more than the 16GB SSD. HP will update the line-up with HSDPA versions later in the year, so you might want to hold on to your hard-earned money for Christmas.

US pricing starts at $399, but that’s pretty high considering the base configuration is very limited compared to other Netbooks out there. For $399 you get the smaller 8.9-inch screen, 512MB of RAM and an 8GB SSD.

Right now you can only buy the standard edition, with Windows XP SP3. In December her Royal Highness Ms.Tam will flog the flash red lappie for the modicum of *cough* $699 and the Linux version of the netbook will be available by January at $379 (but you won’t pay extra for Bluetooth).

Once this is out on the street, we can’t see anyone buying the HP Mini-note 2133, the giant’s VIA C7-M-based lappie.

It’s only a matter of time until it is driven into extinction... talk about lost opportunities. µ