HP Mini 1000 on sale with Atom CPU

After many contradicting rumors, now it is official: the new HP Mini netbooks, on sale starting from December 2009, will be equipped with the Intel Atom CPU N270 1.6GHz and not the Via Nano/Isaiah CPU, and a choice of 8.9 and 10 inch display. According to the HP press release also Bluetooth and webcam are included, not clear whether or not in the base configuration. Option of SDD or "normal" mechanical hard disk.
Something not sooo nice is that the HP Mini has only 2 USB interfaces. However it is possible to live with.
Starting price about $380, max $600.

Other HP Mini and HP Mininote 2133 News

HP Mininote PC 2133 for sale below $300

Major price drop for the HP Mininote: it is currently on sale at Amazon for $299. Ok, it isn't the top featured anyway the HP Mininote PC 2133 is very well built and I especially like the keyboard, one of the best you can find in the netbook segnment. Also not common are an ExpressCard/54 slot and a Gigabit Ethernet interface.
Weak points are the low performance processor (VIA C7-M) and just 4GB SDD storage.
You can order it at Amazon with 512MB SDRAM for $299 with Linux operating system.
Don't worry about the little memory, it is possible to expant the SDRAM up to 2GB (as in the MSI Wind).
According to voices, the next HP Mininote PC will have the new, more powerful VIA Nano processor. According to first benchmarks the VIA Nano CPU should beat the Intel Atom.

HP Mininote with Intel Atom for sale

The HP Vivienne Tam edition is going to be marketed in December 2008, the 10-inch class netbook is equipped with Intel Atom processor. This is a big news since the HP Vivienne Tam can be considered the first model of the new generation HP Mininote netbook. As you remember the current generation of HP Mininote 2133 is equipped with a not soooo fast VIA C7-M processor. According to some voices HP placed significant orders for the new VIA Nano (Isaiah) processor, the major concurrent for the Intel Atom CPU.
With the announcement of the HP Vivienne Tam it is clear that HP built a netbook using Intel Atom technology and it is very unlikely that (for such a low margin market) HP is going to built netbooks based on two different platforms.
Another possibility, not very likely though, is that the HP Vivienne Tan is not built by HP, it'is just HP branded and that the next generation HP Mininote PC will be based on VIA platform.

Posts on HP Mininote
Posts on VIA Nano / Isaiah processor

Next Intel Atom CPU, single and dual core

NEW posts about dual core Atom processor and Intel Atom processor

According to Fudzilla, Intel isn't bringing any new Atom CPU on the market before late 2009.
In the meantime we'll see the first netbooks equipped with dual core Atom CPU, I guess latest on January/February 2009.

Two main reasons for not introducing new Atom CPUs:

1. Intel doesn't have real competition for the Atom CPU, neither from AMD nor from VIA. The Atom CPU fits very well (especially) the netbook market: why should Intel hurry to introduce a new Atom generation? The introduction of a new chip costs millions ...
2. Intel was surpriced from the big Atom success, for this reason now Intel concentrate in improving production bandwidth rather than introducing something new.

NEW posts about dual core Atom processor and Intel Atom processor

See also other posts on
Atom CPU for Netbooks
Netbook Performance Analysis
Netbook Technology News and Analysis

Medion Akoya E1211 vs E1210 vs MSI Wind netbooks

The scene around the 10-inch netbooks is always more busy, the netbooks are getting very similar and all at about the same price level, the models equipped with Windows XP are all about 400 Euros.
Medion announced availability for the Akoya E1211 for October for 400 Euros. This is very interesting: after all, the Akoya E1210 was basically a MSI Wind without Bluetooth.
Now the Akoya E1211 will include Bluetooth, draft n wireless LAN (wifi) and even 160GByte hard disk!
Conclusion: the Akoya E1211 seem to be even better than the MSI Wind U100!

• MSI Wind U100 vs Akoya E1210: MSI Wind wins for the additional Bluetooth support.
• MSI Wind U100 vs Akoya E1211: Akoya wins, thank to the bigger hard disk (160GByts vs 80GBytes) and draft n wireless lan (MSI Wind got simple 11g wireless)
  
• Akoya E1210 vs E1211: E1211 wins. Bigger hard disk, better wireless and additional Bluetooth!
  

Table with the Akoya E1211 features (from the german magazine Chip)

Other posts about MSI Wind and Medion Akoya

Is an Apple Netbook coming?

Apple recently announced cheaper MacBook laptops, priced at USD 999. At the product presentation Steve Job was asked if Apple would ever consider a Netbook, Job ansvered "a nascent market that's just getting started".
What does it mean? Jobs' answer is not clear, is Apple waiting a few months? Are they already developing a Netbook or they'll never do it?
Actually it mustn't be that Apple, the iPhone is prices at about the price level of a netbook, maybe this is a possible problem.

More news on Apple Netbook

EEE PC with dual core Atom and Touchscreen Display

Samson Hu, Asus general manager for the EEE PC line, confirmed that in 2009 EEE PC will be equipped with a dual core Atom and (at least some models) will get a touchscreen display.

NEW posts on dual core CPU for netbooks and performance
More EEE PC news

Gigabyte M912 for sale: touchscreen netbook

The Gigabyte M912 finally reached the market, for 515 Euros you get in Germany the Windows XP configuration with 1GB RAM, 8.9-inch display, Webcam, 160GB hard disk, 3xUSB, cardreader, WLAN, Bluetooth and a 4-cells battery. The CPU is (of course) an Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz.
To be noted that the Gigabyte netbook is also available with Windows Vista!
The most interesting feature is the display, letting the Gigabyte M912 turn into a tablet pc or better, a tablet netbook!

See also a picture of the Gigabyte M912

More news on EEE PC Competition