Mobile Computing News

Computer manufacturer HP is going to take a serious bid in the netbook market by introducing its HP Mini 1000 series. Not one, but three new models are released in a late fall netbook offensive. Dubbed as the HP Mini 1000, Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition and MIE the array of netbooks targets ‘internet-centric’ consumers, mobile professionals, fashion forward people and social media enthusiasts. With the hat-trick HP tries to take on Asus, which is very agile in the netbook market having just another new Eee PC model announced. Hence, HP offers the Mini 1000 in a bunch of different styles and configurations.

HP put some effort on the design and made its new netbook range sleek and light-weighted. They are less than 1-inch thick and users need to carry little more than 1000g in their bags. The design highlight, however, is the Vivienne Tam Edition, which was first shown at the Tam’s Fall 2009 fashion week. It rather looked like a ‘purse’ than a HP netbook.

HP Mini 1000 netbook features and configurations

All three models run on an Intel Atom N270 1.6 GHz processor. The HP Mini 1000 netbook has pre-installed Window XP and features an Ethernet jack, two USB ports, WI-Fi and Bluetooth. Customers can choose between a 8.9-inch or 10.2-inch BrightView screen version. Additionally, the HP netbook comes either with a solid state or mechanical hard drive. Availability is expected in December. Prices start from $399 (£250).

HP Mini 1000 Vivienne Tam Edition. This netbook is ideal for fashion-forwarded women with an affectation for vibrant red colours and peony-flower motifs. The features of the 10.2-inch netbook are similar to the standard version. The Tam edition will hit the stores right before Christmas for $699 (£435). Both netbooks come with a free six-month subscription to HP Upline, an online storage portal for multimedia content.

HP Mini 1000 with Mobile Internet Experience (MIE). For people who just wish to access the internet on the go. This version comes with an HP interface making it easy to enjoy digital content and multimedia applications. MIE is ready to go with preloaded email, Skype, messenger and video chat. All applications are conveniently controlled via the dashboard. It has the same configurations but backs on the Linux operating system. This netbook model goes on sale in January 2009 for $379 (£235).