Dell's "Mini" Inspiron 910 gets specs, pics, and potential release date leaked

The cats over at Gizmodo have gotten their eyes on some succulent and salacious photos of the oft-rumored, much-discussed, openly-desired Dell "Mini Inspiron" (or as it's now being called, the Inspiron 910) -- and they've shared with the world. In the pics you get to see that familiar pencil-pose along with a slew of insides and outs, including an up-close look at ports, keyboard, and guts. The specs look like they're right in line with those leaked materials we had back in June, and the word is this little baby will be hitting shelves come August 22nd. Time to swing by the Coinstar machine.

[thebear8me @ Aug 18th 2008 1:42PM]

Sweet! Priced right and we may have a leader in the netbook world.

[LongshotX @ Aug 18th 2008 1:52PM]

What is the price? Under $400


And why am I blocked from posting at home? What did I do?

[Priper @ Aug 19th 2008 12:43PM]

Don't hold your breath for the right price. Usually Dell, (my experience) under equips their laptops and charges a bunch for what other bring standard. But how much you can mark up for a Netbook battery, $100.... o wait.

[phanbouy @ Aug 18th 2008 2:13PM]

"And why am I blocked from posting at home? What did I do?"

replied to first post too many times.

[Hush @ Aug 18th 2008 3:12PM]

NOT COINSTAR!

[Techie @ Aug 19th 2008 12:58AM]

I wonder if their going to make the 9 cell battery standard on these.

[bartoron @ Aug 18th 2008 1:45PM]

This may finally be the netbook that revolutionizes thet netbook industry. Most people are unwilling to purchase from a lesser known brand such as Asus or MSI, and HP's Mini-Note isn't exactly well advertised. People have heard of Dell and have used Dells for a long time, and this would be the one netbook that they would want to buy.

[Brian @ Aug 18th 2008 2:10PM]

"This may finally be the netbook that revolutionizes thet netbook
industry."
Really bartoron? Do the specs of the dell mini seem revolutionary to
you?

"Most people are unwilling to purchase from a lesser known brand such
as Asus or MSI, and HP's Mini-Note isn't exactly well advertised."
Again, really? As far as I'm concerned, Asus and HP all share a
bigger in the computer market globally. Open your mind.

[Kamokazi @ Aug 18th 2008 2:26PM]

I think you may need to open your mind, Brian. Remember, most people are not computer geeks and are generally unaware of these things. And if they are, most would just assume a netbook is a small laptop, and not realize what it is really designed for (and how cheap it is).

Yes, Asus has much more name recognition in Asia, and HP is also widely accepted globally. But Dell is probably the largest presence in Asia overall (some manufacturers obviously have more pull in their home turf and whatnot). And in Europe I would guess #2 behind HP. In the US, Dell is probably number one as well. HP has not marketed the Mini-note very widely, and has not gotten the unwashed. Dell has the potential to make the netbook known to the general consumer on a global scale. HP would probably have the ability to accomplish this as well if they did the marketing right. But Asus does not have name recognition with most of the US consumer base and I would guess a large portion of the European one, too.

[d00b @ Aug 18th 2008 2:31PM]

Hopefully people aren't such lemmings that branding is all that matters. Anyway, the Dell brand has been, shall we say, less than stellar as of late.

In any case, going from available specs and rumors, points against the Dell Bitty:

Rumorz sez it'll be for $300 base. For that, you get a unit w/ 512M RAM and 4G SSD (EEE 701 redux). It's a well-nigh unusable config unless you never go beyond the kiddie Linux install. The "optional" 8G SSD will likely be a $50 upsell.

[Frankly, I doubt the $300 tag, as there's no point lowballing by that much when everyone else's base is pushing $400. More likely, it'll be $350, with $400 for a usable 8G unit, which brings it into the same line with MSI, Lenovo, Acer, etc.]

Keyboard is seriously crippled, with no Fn keys--but at least they saved the ultra-important Windows keys! Typing on this will be like typing on a Blackberry.

Cut-down bundled battery. From the specs, the bundled 4-cell will have 20% less capacity than the "regular" 4-cell sold separately.

If you pony up for XP, you'll get an outdated SP2 version.

It's fat like a pregnant cow. Look at the cross section.

[bartoron @ Aug 18th 2008 2:38PM]

Brian, I was talking from the standpoint of the average consumer. As Kamokazi pointed out, most people buy computers only from companies which they have heard a lot about. Regardless of how good a computer from a lesser-known brand may be, most people won't buy it. I have an ASUS motherboard in my desktop and it's been great, so I've had personal experience with ASUS products. However, most people (at least in the US) have never even heard of ASUS, and for that reason would shy away from buying an EEE.

[OddManOut @ Aug 18th 2008 4:02PM]

Re:d00b

Interesting points...

"...you get a unit w/ 512M RAM and 4G SSD (EEE 701 redux). It's a well-nigh unusable config unless you never go beyond the kiddie Linux install. The "optional" 8G SSD will likely be a $50 upsell."

I don't know about that. 512MB RAM will run XP ok...or pretty much any other linux distro you might be wanting to put on a system like this. True enough that will pretty much kill (as in completely use up) a 4GB SSD when you factor in program files and swap space. But it's got an 8-in-1 card reader that I'm going to guess includes a CF slot. That $50 upsell to an 8GB SSD will easily buy you a reasonably fast 16GB CF card that you can plug in permanently (or you could get a 32GB card for a little more money and a much better value) and use ALL of it for data. Sure it's not SSD quality flash, but so long as you're not using it for the swap file it's perfectly adequate. And most sneaker net transfers people make these days are on USB sticks, Sony Memory stick, SD, or maybe even XD cards (the most popular digital camera formats). CF is out of style (for most people) so the slot would likely go to waste anyway.

"Keyboard is seriously crippled, with no Fn keys--but at least they saved the ultra-important Windows keys! Typing on this will be like typing on a Blackberry."

Well, aside from IBM's old 'Butterfly' design that's just an inevitable consequence of having a tiny system. Personal experience, and a lot of anecdotal evidence, tells me that people adjust to a small keyboard fairly quickly. A reasonable argument to be sure, but it's gonna be pretty variable from person to person.

"Cut-down bundled battery. From the specs, the bundled 4-cell will have 20% less capacity than the "regular" 4-cell sold separately."

That DOES seem a little whack. This is definitely where simple capitalism moves to simple greed. If they're going to make you shell out for another battery how about at least a 6-cell with 1.5x - 2x the capacity...

"If you pony up for XP, you'll get an outdated SP2 version."

But, last I checked SP3 was a free download. Did they ever actually sell a pressed SP3 version of XP ? Either way you should only ever have to download it every time you do a complete system restore or re-install windows. An annoyance perhaps, but kind of a corner case...

"It's fat like a pregnant cow. Look at the cross section."

Well...there's always the MacBook Air...(I'm kidding now...I know they are in totally different leagues...)

[rock99rock @ Aug 18th 2008 3:56PM]

DISCLAIMER:

Brian gives all Brians a bad name.

[Mike MacCana @ Aug 18th 2008 9:38PM]

@doob

For that, you get a unit w/ 512M RAM and 4G SSD (EEE 701 redux). It's a well-nigh unusable config unless you never go beyond the kiddie Linux install.

It's not kiddie Linux - that's one of the things that attracts people to it, over the random distro's of the EEEPC and AspireOne.

It's Ubuntu 8.04 netbook remix, which can run all of the normal apps of Ubuntu 8.04.

[Gunn @ Aug 18th 2008 9:56PM]

Isn't Ubuntu mid remix still in dev?

A 4G SSD can hardly hold Ubuntu 8.04. Everyone needs at least 8G for the hard drive.
But I know that eee users have managed to move the home folder to SD and solved this problem.

[Brian @ Aug 19th 2008 3:29AM]

"But Dell is probably the largest presence in Asia overall (some manufacturers obviously have more pull in their home turf and whatnot)."

Actually, Dell has very little presence in Asia. Like you said, manufacturers have more pull in their home turf, and that's the same situation with Dell. Dell is well represented in the U.S.; Lenovo is well represented in China; Sony is well represented in Japan; Asus and Acer are well represented in Taiwan and so on.

"However, most people (at least in the US) have never even heard of ASUS, and for that reason would shy away from buying an EEE."

Yes, most people in the US haven't heard of Asus. Likewise, most people in Asia haven't heard of Dell. It's very difficult to order a foreign manufacturer in countries that have their own manufacturers.

[phanbouy @ Aug 18th 2008 1:46PM]

engadget linked to gizmodo? guess Free Love is back in style...

[Jakob Henner @ Aug 18th 2008 1:52PM]

I was shocked as well. It's a BRAAND new behaviour. This changed my life, or at least my day :D

[d @ Aug 18th 2008 1:57PM]

to bad none of us en readers will click through

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Aug 18th 2008 2:20PM]

This insanity actually proves that the Cubs could actually win.

[The Dude @ Aug 18th 2008 4:32PM]

@CUBSWILLWIN:
Hahaha, even Jesus is laughing. The underachieving Cubs can clinch their division but the NL Pennant and WS is still out of their grasp. It's been 100 years already, surely Cubs fans can wait 100 more.

@phanbouy:
Jizzmodo has actually linked back to Engadget and TUAW in the not so distant past. But they're not respectable, anymore (if they ever had a semblance of it.) They'll ban you for calling them out on their bull shit. Lots of sore asses and thin skins on the staff over there about being (justifiably) labeled fanboys/rim-jobers/lap-dogs. Diaz in particular about the whole Jobs health debacle, banned quite a few commenters. It really was an awful article anyway. Hackneyed, frantic, naive, and loaded with man-crush adoration. It really has more of a feel of a personal blog with that kind of high school shit. Kind of makes you wish for a blog with an impersonal staff. Engadget manages to be acceptable without that impersonality, despite a few qualms I still have with slamming gadgets for the sake of being "witty." Which fail and just make me think lowly of a few writers here. But all-around, B- quality here and about as good as it gets compared to other all-encompassing gadget blogs. I still frequent specialty blogs where phones, and digital audio is their focus and strength.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Aug 18th 2008 7:42PM]

I don't believe in Jesus. I believe in Google :P

[Eddie @ Aug 18th 2008 1:49PM]

8-22, purrrrfect.
I totally want one*


*assuming price isnt ridiculous like the Eee's have seemingly gotten.

[reuvypoo @ Aug 18th 2008 1:50PM]

I forget if we had any speculation on price on this yet? If it's under $400 base, it might be worth considering.

[thebear8me @ Aug 18th 2008 1:55PM]

the original rumor had the price at $299. WOuld be great if that was true. However, There seems to be several options available to provide some flexibility in configuration. If this holds true i would guess that we would see the price climb.

[samir @ Aug 18th 2008 2:01PM]

super sweet

[Wolfticket @ Aug 18th 2008 2:04PM]

The fact that most netbooks are built on the same atom boards, and very similar screens mean that, barring minor chassis differences, they are all pretty much exactly the same.
Compare the ports on the side of the dell to an Eee.

[Juxtah @ Aug 18th 2008 2:08PM]

true, but the major difference is price, Dell have the resources to make this a very cheap netbook and hopefully they'll do it as since netbooks began they seem to be rising in price rather then dropping.

[Flit @ Aug 18th 2008 2:22PM]

Give me $249 for the base config, and I'll buy one launch day, maybe 2. I just hope dell realizes that netbooks should be cheap and basic, not basic and $599 (AhEeem).

[iofthestorm @ Aug 18th 2008 6:32PM]

Yeah, too bad Asus totally lost sight of their original $200 goal (I think that was marketing BS in hindsight) and has gone off the deep end in prices. If these are around $300 or less they would be a great alternative to EeePC and might even be a good alternative to the OLPC program for those that want to hook up a small 3rd world community with laptops but can't get OLPCs.

[Justin @ Aug 18th 2008 2:22PM]

Pretty sexy. I just wish they would integrate some better video. Is it too much to ask for a Mobile GeForce2 Go or Ati Radeon 9700-esque derivative?

I mean, they should be able to shrink those dies so far down now that they'd produce little heat for a mobile chipset, and even if they are only Dx8 or so, that's still a hell of big improvement over 8mb. of shared i945 nonsense.

[bidur @ Aug 18th 2008 2:28PM]

i think lenovo s10 will be better then this..

dell's laptop are strong ... but always it misses something .. .

[bugbot42 @ Aug 18th 2008 2:29PM]

As long as it has a cheap base price and a decent (i.e. 4-6 hours) battery life, even if I have to upgrade the battery, I'd go for it. Another thing I'd like would be multi-touch, like on Lenovo's S10 (which I'm also watching), but it doesn't seem like that'll happen with Dell's netbook. Even if its trackpad seems large enough for it...

[clearThumbtack @ Aug 18th 2008 2:31PM]

I'm a little concerned with the ammount of space on the sides of the keyboard. I these things you'd think those keys would be hugging the edges a bit more than that. I'm looking at a pic of the Aspire one now and it seems have the keyboard stretch to the edges...

I'd like to see this in person.

[Odell @ Aug 18th 2008 2:38PM]

From everything I've read ASUS is well down the global market share list from Dell. I would think that by revolutionary, bartoron was not referring to the specs but to the fact that a big name like Dell could bring more attention to the netbook industry.

I would submit that your average computer user has never heard of MSI and even if they have, if given a choice between a Dell and an MSI unit, would choose a Dell.

[Jnetty @ Aug 18th 2008 3:09PM]

We got one of these laptops at work from Dell. Its running Ubuntu on it.

[bioadam @ Aug 18th 2008 3:14PM]

W00t for Ubuntu pre-installs!

[Jnetty @ Aug 18th 2008 3:24PM]

Also forgot to say $299 for Linux version and $3 more for the XP version. That's what I heard.

[Jason @ Aug 18th 2008 6:06PM]

Ubuntu? Why get Ubuntu when you can have Linux?

[L.Rawlins @ Aug 18th 2008 3:11PM]

I still think they should have called it the Minspiron.

[Mike MacCana @ Aug 18th 2008 9:42PM]

Sounds too much like 'minger inspiron' to me. Might affect UK and AU sales.

[Chris M @ Aug 18th 2008 3:12PM]

Does it have wireless N? It doesn't appear to say in the leaked specs. I guess there is always wireless N via mini card if it doesn't have it built in.

[Michael @ Aug 18th 2008 3:25PM]

It doesn't look that great compared to the Lenovo S10. But I guess if it's $100 less then one can't complain too much.

[momoney @ Aug 18th 2008 3:31PM]

Choices, choices, what to choose?

The four main netbooks I would now seriously consider are:

1) Dell's EEE (now Inspiron 910)
2) Lenovo's S10
3) Fujtisu Amilio
4) Acer's Aspire

Hmm...Better get to work to compare pros and cons...Btw is there still a release date on either the Amilio or the S10 in the USA?

[bale @ Aug 18th 2008 3:38PM]

I have been using the Aspire One for a week, (WinXP, hdd version), and I think it is the best netbook deal so far. Dell would have to include a lot to make me regret my purchase.

[GeorgeB @ Aug 18th 2008 3:42PM]

Bad News guys... looks like the SSD drives are the SLOW intel MLC-type...

hmmm... which one to buy... Asus 901 has 6-cell battery, Wireless N, bluetooth, MULTITOUCH keypad (Very useful and given that this machine primary use would be web-browsing then very big feature...

basic machine spec wise is meant to start at $299... but by the time you spec it with XP, bluetooth, 1.3MP camera, up the battery (4 cell max) probably come around at $450-$500.. and that is with the slower SSD drive...

good thing is that it will be cheap... and that will appeal to the masses...

[Paul @ Aug 18th 2008 7:23PM]

GeorgeB - my choice focus has been on the eee because of multitouch. Not because I know I need it, but I am curious to see how multitouch helps in common tasks. We have all seen the "photo manipulation" style application of multitouch, but that isn't an every day use.

I'd be interested to hear how multi touch helps with something as common as surfing - I am guessing it is easier to switch between clicking / selecting to scrolling / panning with it? How does it work?

[Ray Von Sixx @ Aug 18th 2008 3:59PM]

Even though im a hardcore Apple fanboy, I'd snatch this up if it has a $300 price tag.

[ilh @ Aug 18th 2008 4:03PM]

8Mb shared graphics? A little bit more sharing space wouldn't hurt too much.
All that space above the keyboard could've been used to give it a dedicated row of F# keys instead off putting them on the number keys.

Sides of it are exactly swapped compared to the eee with the exception of the kensington lock lol.

[iffy701832 @ Aug 18th 2008 4:10PM]

where did you read this ? it doesnt make sense because unlike Aspire one, there is no HDD configuration, that means Dell has to use the SSDs for winxp too, which would be too slow if these ARE the slow versions...