NEED YOUR HELP: Building XMBC box Using Netbook

I'm looking to buy a new or used netbook to use as: (1) a XMBC box for my flat screen TV and (2) a cheap netbook that I can occasional take on business trips around the world (Mostly Access and Visual Studio stuff).

Here are my requirements

(1) can be new or used
(2) the cheaper the better (less than $200 or even $150)
(3) HDMI out port
(4) can play 1080p video
(5) run windows (MS Project, Access, and Visual Studio)

The only candidate I've looked at so far is a used HP Mini 311 w/ the Nvidia Ion GPU and a HDMI out port.

Can you guys suggest some other options?

Signal-11 said:

This post got me thinking and I ended up going wiping my crufty Linux and W7 installs on my HP Mini 311 in favor of clean installs known good configs.

With XBMC at on Crunchbang and Win7, running moderately low bitrate (10 average - 15Mbps peak) 1080p encodings doesn't drop any frames and runs smooth. I haven't tried any higher bitrate BD rips yet, but will let you know. So offhand, Mini 311 doesn't seem as poor a choice as I'd originally thought.

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good sign, thanks!

thanks all! this is good info