HP Mini 110 Mi - 1.60 GHz, 512KB L2, 533Mhz FSB; 160GB HD; 2GB Memory;
Product Description
HP Mini 110 Mi with HP Swirl Imprint Finish with Intel(R) Atom(TM) Processor N270 (1.60GHz, 512KB L2, 533Mhz FSB); 160GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive; 2GB DDR2 System Memory (1 Dimm); HP Mobile internet (Mi) software built on Linux. Our Mini 110 Mi Edition is a cool netbook tailored for the Web and entertainment1. It runs on the HP-developed Mobile Internet (Mi) software, which is built on Linux.
As of this date, it's selling on Amazon for $404.00. No reviews on Amazon yet. But Distrowatch.com has a detailed review of an almost identical model (slightly different specs) by Ladislav Bodnar:
First look at HP Mini 110 Mi edition
[...] This particular model of HP Mini comes with Intel Atom N280 processor (1.66 GHz, 512 KB L2, 667 MHz FSB), a 250 GB (5400 RPM) SATA hard disk drive, 2 GB of DDR2 SDRAM, 10.1-inch monitor (maximum resolution 1024x576 pixels), Intel Mobile 945GME Express integrated graphics controller, Intel 82801G audio controller, Broadcom BCM4312 802.11b/g wireless network card, and Atheros AR8132 Ethernet adapter (kernel driver atl1c). It has three USB ports, a port for plugging in an external monitor, an audio port for headphones, a built-in HP webcam, and a 3-cell Lithium Ion battery. It weighs 1.2 kg and cost an equivalent of US$400 (NT$13,000).
The most interesting part of the netbook is, of course, its software. The HP Mi (Mobile Internet) interface is a customised and simplified built of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS ("Hardy Heron"), which was released in April 2008. As such, the software packages aren't particularly up-to-date, with Linux kernel 2.6.24, GNOME 2.24.3, Firefox 3.0.13 and OpenOffice.org 2.4.1 all somewhat older than the current latest versions of these applications. But unlike Windows netbooks, which all come with the same standard (i.e. uncustomisable) desktop interface, HP Mi's default desktop is a different story. It is divided into three columns - the left one shows your emails (once email settings are configured in Thunderbird), the middle column has thumbnails of web pages (similar to Opera's "Speed Dial") and the right column is separated into two parts, with the top one listing any recently played music files, while the bottom one showing recently viewed photos. [...]
The full review is quite thorough, and includes several screen shots. Ladislav has a few minor complaints, but ultimately gives it a rating of 8 out of 10 stars.
This unit looks very attractive to me, but I've seen cheaper netbooks with XP, that could be converted to Linux. Mind you, not a whole lot cheaper, so the price difference might not matter much in the end.
As tempting as it is, I have to admit I have no pressing NEED for a netbook. So I think I will just wait a bit for some more reviews, to see what happens with other people who buy if first. And perhaps an even better edition will come out in the meantime. But I would love to hear from anyone who bought this, if you would care to leave some comments here.
