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As faithful readers will be well aware, Intel's Atom processors are typically combined with the company's own northbridge and southbridge chips, which weren't designed with HD video playback in mind. Last December, Nvidia responded by announcing its Ion platform, which uses an Atom CPU, but jettisons the rest of Intel's chipset in favor of a single northbridge/southbridge companion chip (pictured at right) that includes a GeForce 9400 GPU.The Ion has already made it into a few 11.6-inch netbooks, including Samsung's N510 and Lenovo's Ideapad S12. Meanwhile, Nvidia quietly rolled out its Ion LE in August, a lower-cost version that includes most of the goodness listed above but supports only DirectX 9. It's the Ion LE that HP has adopted for its new Mini 311, sacrificing theoretical gaming potential but still offering HD video acceleration and an HDMI video output.
According to HP, the Mini 311 has an 11.6-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution, plus a "92 percent of full size keyboard." The netbook comes with a 160GB, 5400rpm hard disk drive, 1GB of RAM, and -- thanks to the Ion LE -- is expandable to 3GB rather than the 2GB that's normal for netbooks.
The Mini 311 is also said to include Bluetooth, 802.11b/g wireless networking, and a 10/100 Ethernet port. Other interfaces include three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA output, and a "combo jack" that allows connecting either headphones or a microphone, HP says.
HP also lists a webcam and a SD/MMC/MS/Memory Stick/Memory Stick Pro as part of the netbook's standard equipment. The Mini 311's six-cell battery is said to power the device for 5.5 to 6 hours.
Features and specifications listed for the Mini 311 by HP include the following:
HP also unveiled a new version of its previously released Mini 110, featuring no new technology but offering a case decorated via "HP Imprint 3D," touted as "the industry's first 3D PC surface technology." The HP Mini 110 by Studio Tord Boontje (below) offers a top color whose decorations are molded in multiple layers, plus Boontje-designed wallpapers, screen savers, and desktop themes, according to the company.
According to HP, pricing for the Mini 311 starts at approximately $400. The system will be available next week with Windows XP, and on Oct. 18 with Windows 7 Premium, according to the company.
The HP Mini 110 by Studio Tord Boontje will cost approximately $400, and will be available Oct. 18 with Windows 7 Starter edition, HP says.
For information on other new laptops introduced by HP, see the coverage on our sister site eWEEK.com, here.
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