HP‘s the latest computer maker to jump on the netbook bandwagon. (Netbooks, of course, are those super small laptops only good for things like surfing the Web and checking e-mail. They’ll be big in the cash-strapped education market.) Its Mini-Note, which should go on sale later this month, is powered by one of those Via processors we’ve been hearing a little about lately.
If this mini-computer sounds like the Eee PC, that’s because they’ll be competing for the hearts and minds of the same people. Yup, they’re direct competitors.
The Mini-Note, which has an 8.9-inch screen and weighs something like 3 pounds (or less!), can be configured either with Linux, which you may be familiar with, and Vista. I guess if you want to torture your students you’d get the Vista model.
In looking at that artsy photo, I automatically get the sense that the Mini-Note (and others like it, I suppose) would do quite well in a college setting. Taking notes, browsing the Web, etc. I don’t need a MacBook Pro to do that, no sir.