Dell Inspiron Mini 12

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At the moment this netbook (if you can call it that with a 12" screen) is just a rumour, but it's a rather concrete rumour.

There have been lots of documentation for it on the Dell support section on the US site (though this may have been taken down as it may have been an accident).

From what people have read in the above documentation the specs are as follows:

- Intel Atom Z520 or Z530
- 1GB DDR2 RAM
- 10/100 Ethernet, Bluetooth, WLAN, optional WWAN
- 12.1 inch display with 1280 x 800 resolution
- two full size Mini Card slots with stand-offs premounted for half size support
- 3-cell or 6-cell battery options
- Total Weight: 1.24 kg with 3-cell battery and 1.39 kg with 6-cell battery

Some might complain that the size of the screen verges into traditional notebook territory and it is not a real netbook, but personally I think this mostly depends on the price.

I want to replace my current (heavy) 12.1" laptop with some a lot more portable and you may have seen in other threads that I was considering the Samsung NC10, however I think I might hold off for this because as it is the same size and has the same resolution as my current laptop, I could use it as I do now (e.g. MSN on the left side and Firefox on the right) whilst having something very portable and that only weighs 60g more than the Samsung.

With that in mind I think that this will be a very good addition to the netbook line of products due to the good resolution and also what I assume will be a full-size keyboard.

Thoughts?
 
Like you said, verging onto a normal laptop with the screen size and weight. I would personally, for what a netbook is designed for, not go above the 10.2" screen that the Samsung has. Otherwise it will just be like every other small laptop on the market, without as much power.
 
To be fair I think the weight is ok for a notebook, - it's at the top end of the scale, but it's only 60g more than the Samsung.

For me the price will be the determining factor and the larger screen/resolution is a plus point as you get a lot more screen real estate - which may be useful for a lot of people.

Given that the Mini 9 is £299 (XP version) I'm worried that this may be ~£400 which in my opinion is too expensive for such a device.
 
The MSI 10inch laptops are very good also. Where I am have just ordered three hundred for teachers and students. Imaging them was a nightmare but they're pretty good little machines - hardly way a thing too.
 
Given that the Mini 9 is £299 for the XP version, I think it probably is a mistake. The US version will have a starting price of under $600 and the Aussie version is $999.

This leads me to think the Mini 12 will be ~£400 in the UK. Which might be a bit much for most, but I think I will get it anyway - I'm one of the ones in the market that this offering caters for.

For a proper review (I missed this yesterday) check out the site below:
http://apcmag.com/scoop_we_review_t..._supersized_yet_superslim_12_inch_netbook.htm

Apparently the Poulsbo chipset, which the Mini 12 is using will only be able to handle 1Gb RAM max - given it was originally designed for mobile internet devices and not notebooks - which is quite a decent limitation of this netbook. Otherwise it looks very good (aside from their awful decision to sell it with Vista)
 
TBH these days I generally leave all my data on a encrypted 2.5 external drives. But I can't imagine the internal drive would be that hard to access.
 
On my laptop, I'd say 50% I'm just using the web. So that what a netbook is useful for. I guess if you are using massive amounts of data you won't be using a netbook. On my laptop which is a desktop replacement, i use externals mainly because it means I have all my data available no matter PC/Laptop I'm using. If I was using a lot of data I'd use a 3.5 external and if I was really hitting it hard I'd get a FW800 or SATA card and external drive.

Of course its neat just to have everything in one box. But at what cost.
 
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Well, indeed.

I use my current lappy a little like a netbook anyway nowadays. I rarely even play music off it any more, which rather means I don't need a good 40gig of what's currently jamming up the HDD. Or films, which is most of the rest.

I can get this Mini 12 with a 40gig drive for about £250 and my finger's hesitating over the 'buy' button
 
The only thing that holds me back from a netbook is I like using a large screen. My laptop has a 17" 1920x1200 and I much prefer that to a 13" 1280x800 lappy that we also have.
 
Ah well see, I'm fairly happy with the 1024*768 12.1" lappy screen I currently have - so bumping the res of that up to 1280 is pretty good for me!

Hmmm. Hmm-hmm-hmm.
 
Dell have discontinued it. They still have the mini 10 and in the US they now have the 11z (an 11" CULV). I expect we will get the 11z shortly
 
it was average at best. just checked the dells site and the 11z has now been released.

As much as I like Dell none of their netbooks hit the spot which is why I am looking at getting the hp mini 311c (ion, 6hrs batt life, decent screen etc etc).

All the dells suffer from -
Poor trackpad
Rubbish battery life or extended battery that ruins the looks of the netbook
average build quality
poor speakers (havent heard the 11z's speakers so cant comment on them)
 
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