Today HP announced the HP Mini 1000, the successor to their HP MiniNote 2133 netbook. The new specs are similar to the old ones (512MB, 1GB, or 2GB memory, hard drive or SSD, which is new, fairly large keyboard, etc.), but the look is much improved. It looks great! And that matters when people are going to be carrying it around all over the place.

Plus, they finally did the art model right. The entire machine is colored to match the artwork on the front, which just looks much better that previous laptops with art.

Not everything is great, though. One of the best things about the previous MiniNote 2133 was the screen. Alongside all the super low-res screens, the MiniNote had more pixels per inch of screen than most desktop monitors do. Unfortunately, HP cut back on the number of pixels this time.

However the hardware turns out, the most interesting piece of news is the custom Ubuntu-based Linux distro being offered as an option. We have already seen the Inspiron Mini’s software well recieved, so I am guessing that this will be just as well received, if not better.

If you are interested in one of these, you can buy it right now from HP with WIndows, starting at $400, or you can wait, as I assume you will want to, until January to buy the Linux version, wich starts at $380, just $20 cheaper than the Windows version. I can’t wait to see the real reviews of the Linux version.

Don’t Forget! Live review of Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex on Saturday November 1st at 1:00 PM Eastern US time.

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