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Computerworld reports that HP and Acer are engaging in a price war, with the US school opening season upcoming this fall.

Acer slashed prices on its Aspire One netbooks on Friday to as low as $329 for one version, while HP revealed new prices for Mini-Notes on its Web site.

The price of the HP Mini-Note 2133 KR948UT has been slashed to $789 from $949, according to HP. The device has an 8.9-in. screen, uses a 1.2-GHz Via C7-M microprocessor, and has 2GB of DRAM and a 160GB hard disk drive (HDD) for data storage.

The lowest-priced Mini-Note running Windows Vista Home Basic is the KX868AT, which costs $599, down from $786, according to HP.

The lowest-priced Mini-Note is the HP 2133 KR922UT at $499 on Amazon.com and elsewhere, but a better version of that netbook, the Mini-Note 2133 KX869AT, offers a lot more for $549.

The education sector is being targeted by the netbook manufacturers, with portable, lightweight and small devices that cost less than full-sized notebooks being viewed as ideal for students of all ages. For me I would say that the big issue here would be battery life, given that schools and libraries may not always have wall outlets available for charging. Asus’ concept of whole-day computing comes into mind here.

Liliputing reports that Asus has announced two new upcoming models in its EeePC line: the 1000HD and the 904HD.

The Eee PC 1000HD is pretty much just like the Eee PC 1000H, but instead of an Intel Atom CPU, it features an Intel Pentium M Dothan CPU running at 900MHz … you get a 10 inch screen, 80GB hard drive, 1.3MB camera, 6 cell battery, and Pentium processor.

But then Asus goes and names another new model the Eee PC 904HD. And while that model has a 9 inch display and a hard drive, as you’d expect from the name, it features a 900MHz Intel Celeron CPU. I’m so confused!

I am with Liliputing that the “HD” suffix likely means “hard drive” and “Dothan,” which the Pentium-M and Celeron-M. What I’m wondering about is why Asus chose to use The Pentium-M and the Celery (err, celeron) on these models rather than the new Diamondville “Atom” chipsets? Perhaps due to shortage in Atom chip supplies?

Still, with 5-hour marketed battery life, the 904HD and 1000HD seem to be able to use the P-M and Cel-M chipsets quite efficiently.

koobten.com is all about Netbooks. You may notice the name koobten = netbook in reverse.

Now what exactly is a “netbook”? These are small networked devices that are used for various tasks that may not necessarily require large amounts of computing power, but rather portability and accessibility at a low price.

The term Netbook was introduced by Intel in February 2008 to describe a category of low-cost and scaled-down subnotebooks used primarily for surfing the Internet and performing other basic functions like word processing. These may be carried out using applications installed on a solid state drive or by the use of cloud computing services.

I’ve always had a fondness for gadgets. And since the day I got my first ever netbook–the Asus EeePC 701–I have always been fascinated by how quickly this industry has grown. Today you see a ton of netbooks from various manufacturers and brands. Here at koobten.com we will explore all of these.