It didn't take long for more details to surface about HP's new Mini 1000, and it looks like the rumor mill was spot on this time, as it's indeed powered by an Intel Atom processor rather than a VIA Nano, as some were hoping after HP teamed up with VIA on the Mini-Note 2133.

HP has come up with a good looking design for the Mini 1000 and the keyboard looks set to be one of the best of any of the Atom-powered netbooks. We also like some of the design quirks, but the touch pad with side-mounted buttons is not one of them. HP is also going to release a red version with a design by Vivienne Tam, which is targeting the ladies.

Feature-wise, the Mini 1000 doesn't really stand out from the crowd, as it has the standard Atom N270 processor paired up with the 945GMS chipset, an option of 512MB, 1GB or 2GB of memory (although if you want XP you're limited to 1GB), the option of a 60GB hard drive or an 8 or 16GB SSD drive. For the SSD models HP will also offer the "HP Mini Mobile Drive," which is a specially designed USB drive which slots into a special USB port in the Mini 1000 and it will be available in 2, 4 or 8GB sizes.

The 10.2-inch display isn't as good as the one on the Mini-Note 2133, as it has a native resolution of 1,024x600, as with just about every other netbook, compared to 1,280x768 for the Mini-Note. An 8.9-inch option is also available for the most basic versions, although we presume in this case you just get some extra bezel which will look really ugly.

Other features include two USB 2.0 ports (plus that special one for the USB drive), an SD card slot, a proprietary connector, a 3.5mm headphone jack, built in 10/100Mbit Ethernet, a VGA resolution Webcam, 802.11b/g WiFi and optional Bluetooth. HP will offer the Mini 1000 with either Windows XP or an Ubuntu-derived Linux version that HP calls MIE.

Price-wise, you're looking at starting prices of US$379 for the most basic model, all the way up to US$699 for the red designer model wthl all the extra features. The first models are set to appear in the middle of December, with the budget models coming out somewhat later in January.

You can find loads of pictures and some more details over at Engadget