Point of View Mobii ION mini is more than a netbook

Point of View isn’t the first company that will come across your mind if you are looking for a netbook. These guys had their share in making Nvidia graphics cards and are still Nvidia exclusive partners, something that is quite rare these days.
As of recently, Point of View has released a new Mobii netbook that features Nvidia’s ION chip under its hood, and as far as we could tell, Mobii ION was one of the first ION netbooks that has showed up in European retail/e-tail shops. As a matter of fact, the only other ION netbook that can be found in Europe is the Samsung’s 11.6-inch N510 AnyNet.

Due to Microsoft’s limitations, this one has pretty much the same specs as any other netbook on the market. It features Intel’s Atom 230 CPU working at 1.6GHz, Nvidia’s ION MCP7A chipset with Nvidia ION LE graphics, 1GB of memory and a 160GB hard drive. The ION LE is basically the same thing as the ION except for the fact that it only supports DirectX 9.
The rest of the features include Gigabit LAN, 802.11b/g WiFi, 1.3M web cam, two USB ports, card reader, Realtek’s HD audio, integrated two 1.5W speakers, and an HDMI output.  The spec is more than adequate for Windows XP Home Edition, the preinstalled OS.
The screen has impressively high brightness and the colours are quite decent too, something that we didn’t expect from a cheap netbook. The 1.3M web cam is also pretty good, and works quite well even in low light conditions.
With 255x185x33mm dimensions, the Mobii ION mini basically has the same size as any other 10.2-inch netbook on the market, something that you simply can’t change because of the size of the screen and the general component layout. It weighs around 1.4kg with the 6-cell battery so it is quite light as well.
The design is simple and minimalistic but the colour options made it a bit more cheerful and the glossy finish on the lid is also a nice touch and adds some to overall quality of the product. The Mobii ION mini is available in four colours, plain black and white as well as a bit cheerful green and red. As you could see from previous pictures, we decided to go for the green, especially because this netbook is all about Nvidia and its ION graphics.
We can easily recommend the Mobii, as it has a decent, €339 price tag, looks good and surprising build quality. It silently took everything that we’ve thrown at it and made it possible, and it certainly will turn a head or two with its colour. If you happen to get a comment that it is actually just a calculator with a fancy screen, make sure that you have Call of Duty 4 installed as it would raise an eyebrow or two as well.