Ethiopian Review

Filling out some of HP’s multiple portable launches today are two important updates to its Mini netbooks. At the head of the updates, the Mini 311 is HP’s first crossover and centers on NVIDIA’s Ion chipset. The graphics and system core gives the netbook 1080p video decoding (outside of Flash) and much faster 3D than Intel’s solution but also helps smoothly drive the significantly larger 11.6-inch, 1366×768 display.

Outside of video performance, the Mini 311 is a conventional netbook with 1GB of memory, a 1.6GHz Atom processor and a 160GB hard drive. Despite Ion, though, it runs Windows XP and won’t wait for Windows 7’s October 22nd release. The computer’s larger than usual size gives it a 3.2-pound weight but also makes room for a six-cell battery.

The Mini 110 Studio Tord Boontje takes HP’s familiar 10-inch netbook and, like the Vivienne Tam edition, adds a unique custom look; the namesake design house has a special 3D floral pattern on the outer lid and a coordinating design on the palm rest. Where the earlier special model was otherwise the same as in the past, though, the new model has a “clean” Windows desktop and a completely customized Stardock interface, icons, screen saver and background. Full specs aren’t available but should be identical on the inside to the Mini 311 except for the use of an Intel chipset and graphics.

– Electronista