HP adds trio of Minis with HD, new OS choices
updated 07:30 am EDT, Wed May 27, 2009
HP Mini 110 and 1101
HP on Wednesday updated its Mini netbooks with three new core models. The Mini 110 XP Edition, 110 Mi Edition and 1101 are aesthetically close to the 10-inch Mini 1000 but bring newer features: the 110 XP adds a new Broadcom accelerator chipset that decodes HD video up to 1080p without burdening the processor; it and the other models can also use the 1.66GHz Atom N280 instead of just the older 1.6GHz Atom N270.
The 110 Mi remains the lowest-cost, simplest version and uses a custom Linux interface with quick access to Internet and media features; the 1101 is meant for business and gives both the common choice of Windows XP Home as the operating system as well as XP Pro or Vista. It also gets the choice of a 6-cell battery and internal 3G for wide-area access.
The 1101 is due to ship first, arriving June 1st for $329. The 110 Mini XP and Mi versions appear on June 10th in black at respective prices of $329 and $279, while special pink and white versions of the XP version will be ready on July 8th. These special colors are likely to command a premium but haven't been priced.
