Possibly in response to Acer’s recent price-lowering extravaganza, HP has cut prices on its flagship netbook, the Mini-Note. While HP’s lowest price of $499 is still a long way from Acer’s $329, with any luck we might be witnessing the beginning of an industry-wide price war should ASUS, MSI, and other netbook manufacturers start to feel the heat from Acer. HP’s price cuts are good until the end of August, while Acer’s are permanent. It’ll be interesting to see if HP pops prices all the way back up to previous levels or perhaps meets somewhere in the middle.

HP 2133 Mini-Note Models [HP.com via Infoworld]