Digital Home Thoughts: HP Mini-Note 1000 Pops Up: Starts at $399

"HP's update to their popular MiniNote netbook has shown up on their consumer website, HPShopping.com. Called the Mini 1000, it appears to share a similar design to the older MiniNote, though it is now in a black colour. This likely means that in the move to the consumer side, HP has ditched the aluminum build for glossy black plastic like on the competing Aspire One, Dell Mini, and EEE <insert arcane model number here>. Based on the model number, it would be safe to assume it has a 10" screen, as reported by James and Kevin at jkontherun last month. While the MiniNote used a very high resolution (full WXGA, 1280x768) 8.9" screen, I would assume that the Mini 1000 (too many Minis....) has the same 10.2" 1024x600 (WSVGA) LED backlit screen as the Wind, S10, the EEEs, and whatever else. A starting price of $399 puts it a full $100 cheaper than it used to be, and at the exact price point of the Wind, S10, and EEE 1000H."

If you recall my review of the HP 2133 Mini-Note, you'll know that while I was impressed with the build quality, I was less impressed with the choice of the underpowered VIA CPU, the limited battery life, and the generally poor performance of Vista on the hardware. Speculation abounds on the exact specifications, but I agree with the above assessment: it will have a 10 inch screen, run the same 1280 x 768 resolution as the 2133 Mini-Note but be more viewable due to the bigger screen size, and will likely be using an Intel Atom CPU running at 1.6 Ghz. I just hope they can bump up that battery life, or offer a 6-cell battery that isn't too big. It's great to see HP re-vamping the Mini-Note so quickly - it's going to be a great Christmas season for netbook buyers!