As I mentioned before, Acer dropped the price on the Acer Aspire One just in time for the back-to-school shopping season, and now Inforworld reports that HP is running a sale on all its Mini-Note PCs until the end of August. Right now, the lowest priced model is the HP 2133 Mini-Note PC at $499, which is the Linux version with a 4GB of storage, VIA C7-M ULV processor, webcam, 8.9-inch screen, and 512 MB DDR2 SDRAM.

I've been going back and forth between the Acer Aspire One ($349) and the HP Mini-Note ($599) since the price change because of the keyboard, but the specs on the HP Mini-Note don't justify the $250 difference. I'll deal with the slightly cramped keyboard if it means saving the extra cash. Besides, the Aspire One has a better processor, and a few more options that make it a great traveling companion.

If HP wants to compete with other netbook makers, it will have to lower the price on its mini-computers a lot more and that's exactly what may happen if the netbook price war continues through the holiday season. According to the New York Times, analysts believe netbooks could sell regularly for $299 in the future, and we might even see prices drop to $249 before the end of the year. Apparently netbook makers realized they had to be more aggressive on price in order to remain competitive, which always works to our advantage. I'm sure we'll hear more about the netbook pricing war, so stay tuned.