We knew more Inspiron Minis were
in the works, and Dell's just officially announced the next member of the family, the Inspiron Mini 12. Yep, the
same machine we
first spotted all the way
back in June, and nothing much has changed in the meantime -- you're looking at either a 1.3GHz Atom Z520 or 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor (a step up from the usual 1.6GHz Atom N270), up to an 80GB drive, 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth / WiFi, and that 12-inch, 1280 x 800 display, all in a 2.72-pound package less than one inch thick. The bad news? It's Japan-only for now, but it'll hit the States late next month with a starting price under $600. That's a pretty hot price / performance ratio on paper -- if this thing performs like it should, it could potentially take away sales from more full-featured ultraportables like the Envy 133 and the MacBook Air. We'll see how it goes -- the netbook market suddenly got
interesting again, eh?
Update: It's worth pointing out that this netbook runs Vista Home Edition, albeit sluggishly according to APC (XP and Ubuntu variants by end of year). It also ships standard with a 3-hour 3 cell battery or optional $79 6-cell battery for up to 6-hours of power.
Read - Dell announcement
Read - Laptop hands-on
Read - APC hands-on
Read - Dell Q+A
posted October 26th 2008 9:22PM
JeffEd, so you are saying a single atom is comparable to a G4, or even better?
Somhow i cant believe that (apart from the youtube thing, flash on ppc sucks).
But it would be cool if it where true. Netbooks are a replacement for my ibook?
Money saved?
Could you give furhter informatio how your netbook and ibook compare?
qwert
I hate how they went from tiny, lower power usage, low spec to slightly larger, more power usage, more spec, higher price.
Defeats the purpose, IMO
On the plus side, previous gen units should be cheap.
Definitely sexy. If this drops to under $500 (it could theoretically be there immediately with the Ubuntu option and one of Dell's many come-and-go sales), I might have to spend my Xmas cash on one of these.
Oh, and sorry for the double post, but just because it has an Atom doesn't immediately make it a netbook. This is definitely pushing the edge of the definition.
How does the pen work with it?
Shows size...something to compare to.
All this time, and since it was out, I've never ever seen a single place containing the words "MacBook Air" and "full-featured ultraportable" in one sentence, ever.
The Inspiron Mini 12 destroys the MacBook Air in every field. even if a couple of numbers are higher on the Air. Think real portability, battery, keyboard and ports.
It would be nice if netbooks came with back lit keyboards. With the small form factor and light weight it seems that more people will be using these in dark places, like on a plane, in bed, or taking notes in a dark lecture hall. Both Dell and Apple offer back lit on 17" laptops which I am willing to guess is not used much in dark places.
Does this one have actual function keys?
Unfortunately, yes.
What's up with the pictures for the Dell Mini's always have some sort of writing utensil with the laptop?
To give us a sense of size.
The $600 price point is a deal breaker for me. My current laptop does everything the Mini 12 would do, and I paid $500 for something better.
Dell screwed themselves by making the Mini 9 expensive compared to what's in it. They almost had to make this a couple hundred higher to make it a "premium" option of the Mini.
For $600 you can get so much better, with only small bump up in screen size. 12" isn't really netbook anymore.
What? $500 New will get you a celeron processor and 1GB of RAM. Not a good computer at all.
Where are you shopping to only find a Celeron processor and 1GB RAM for $500?
My laptop I'm using to write this was $469.96, and it's got a 1.9gHz AMD Dual Core processor and 2GB of RAM... If for $500 you can only get a Celeron and 1GB RAM, you aren't looking hard enough....
hmm, for some reason it doesn't seem to be on the Dell Japan website. Can someone tell me the difference between the Z530 and the N270; according to Intel's spec sheets they are identical other than the Z530's voltage range is from 0.75 - 1.1V while the N270's is 0.9 - 1.1V; also the Thermal Design Power is 2W for the Z instead of 2.5W
peter...this chip is meant for umpc and mid platforms (its already used widely in those circles...this is the first time (AFAIK) its been used in a 'full' laptop...
the ship itself isn't much different (apart from the thermal and power specs) but the matching poulsbo chipset is interesting
alledgedly providing hd video acceleration (and dx 10 support if they write the drivers) as well as a lower power draw than the chipset used in current netbooks...
I was hoping for a 10 inch Mini, but if this thing has a 6 cell or better battery, count me in!
Did any of you actually read the review at APC?
Maximum of 1 GB of RAM.........
Thats bad. My current notebook has 2Gigs of RAM. So the next notebook I'll buy should have more than 2Gigs of RAM....
Anyways, its definitely not this one... I'd prefer a EeePC....
Yes, that's one of poulsbo shortcomings, along with the PATA-only thing, but you get much better battery life and better video, although;
"The graphics engine only allows a 1366 x 768 output resolution, so while it can decode a full 1080p HD stream, it can only output it at a lower resolution. " (http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/intel/showdoc.aspx?i=3276&p=17)
In the end i think it's worth it, but we'll have to wait and see how this performs in real life escenarios.
Macdelaney--seems as though the battery life we expect from Poulsbo and the battery life that people are actually observing with it don't jive. Any insight into this? Is this going to get addressed in future with a driver/BIOS upgrade, or is what we are seeing all that Poulsbo is going to deliver? Perhaps Dell went with a 3-cell here rather than the 4-cell on the mini-9 because they expected it to work better based on what Intel had been telling them?
Also, that 1.2" hard drive? Hey, when did that happen. The iPods all use 1.8 inchers, which is what I assume is used in the Macbook Air, no? Where'd this 1.2" hard drive come from?
Looks like the 1.2" drive quoted in the Laptop Magazine Q&A is incorrect, at least based on reading the APC review...
@Peter: The different is not between the processor. They are the same. The difference is between the video chipset.
ATOM Z use Poulsbo = 2.3 Watt
ATON N use 945GSE + ICH7M = 22 Watt
No no your are not dreaming the difference is AMAZING O_o.
The ATOM N is very bad and people will be see that very soon with the ATOM Z (witch is use for the MID).
Imagine that an ATOM Z at 1.6Ghz with poulso it's 5-6watts. With ATOM N it's 24-26watts.
---------> NO COMMENT !!
They already tested the battery life at APC. It's the same as other netbooks. It looks like the bigger screen took away any benefits the better chipset brought.
Ah, but keep in mind that it comes equipped with a 3-cell, 24 Watt-hour battery - not very big at all.
I'll wait until the 6-cell optional battery (as the APC article says is coming) becomes real, then I'll consider it.
Right now, the Eee 901 is the best looking thing for me, because I'd pass on lots of horsepower if I could just squeeze an extra hour from the battery.
not sure where you get those power numbers from...
the 945 chipset only takes about 7 watts according to the intel spec (note the netbook chipset is much lower power variant than the standard 945)
in fact total power draw for an N series + 945 is quoted as 8-11W
i'd say the savings from moving to poulsbo are only 5W or so are getting eaten up by the 3G and larger display and hard drive... possibly?
At less than a quater of the price... this could replace my Latitude E4200
Damn you dell! Why the half size punctuation keys on a 12" netbook? I would take the Lenovo S10 keyboard over that!
I'm also disappointed in the battery life. I was hoping poulsbo would be more impressive on the battery savings (and the battery a bit more powerful with more chassis room horizontally.
I'm just going to wait for the ARM netbooks coming out soon (and maybe some Tegra netbooks?). It's all about the battery life for me; I can run everything I needf on a light linux distro.
Well Dell still needs to obey the laws of physics. Moving to Poulsbo means they'll conserve power, while using a larger screen means they'll use more power as well. To add insult to injury, the Mini 12 uses a 3 cell battery, which is smaller than the 4 cell battery used in the Mini 9.
Dell can't beat physics. A smaller battery and larger screen means that the benefits of using Poulsbo is negated.
You are getting similar battery life and a bigger screen, just wait until 4 or 6 cell batteries are available.
I realize that it uses a more power hungry screen (actually I just found out it CCFL. That sucks) but it is also using a less power hungry 4200rpm hard drive and a significantly lower power chipset. Throw in more room for a battery and I'm surprised we aren't seeing something a little bit better than that...
Specs from the Japanese Site (using Babelfish...so some issues in translation)
CPU
The Intel ® Atom TM processor Z520 (1.33GHz and 512KB L2 cash, 533MHz FSB)
The Intel ® Atom TM processor Z530 (1.6GHz and 512KB L2 cash, 533MHz FSB)
OS
Windows Vista® Home Basic SP 132 bit proper edition (Japanese edition)
Memory
1GB DDR2-SDRAM memory
Chip set
The Intel ® system controller Hub US15W
Graphics
The Intel ® GMA500
Liquid crystal display
12.1 inch TFT TrueLife TM WXGA glossy liquid crystal display (1280x800)
Audio & speaker
HD audio conformity, monaural speaker (1W x1)
Built-in microphone x1 (analog)
Hard disk
60GB/80GB HDD (4200 revolutions)
Optical drive
It is not
* As for this product the recovery media is attached, but because optical drive is not loaded onto the system, when constituting it is necessary selection to receive external drive, or to prepare optical drive with customer himself. With the drive where the customer is prepared concerning OS recovery when it cannot support, because it is, please acknowledge.
Port and slot
USB 2.0 x3
Ethernet port (10BASE-T/100BASE-TX and RJ-45)
VGA port (15pin)
Audio jack (Line-out x1 and Mic-in x1)
5-in-1 media card reader (SD/SDHC/MMC/MS/MS Pro)
AC adapter connector
Power source battery
30W AC adapter
3 cell lithium ion batteries (drive time: Maximum of 3 hour 32 minutes)
Web camera
1,300,000 pixel web camera
Wireless
802.11b/g built-in wireless LAN module built-in Bluetooth module (V2.1+EDR)
fwiw I can get a decent 15" machine with c2d and 2gb of ram for $450 pretty easily at the dell outlet. It all comes down to convenience I suppose
I have high hopes for this netbook. I am really excited about the resolution. I have an EEE PC 1000h right now and while I have gotten use to the 1024x600 screen resolution, it became clear after a few days use that you cannot surf the internet effectively at that resolution. Trying to stream video at abc.com becomes a real headache when their flash player is too big for the screen.
I am worried that RAM is limited to 1gig. That could become a real bottleneck, especially to those who like to push the limits of their notebook. 1gig of RAM is really the minimum amount we need these days, I would have liked the option to add another gig myself.
you guys should just go on ebay and buy a IMB Thinkpad x31
its about 250-300$
the best laptop ever, fast enough to do all internet browsing... some old games.. excel and anything else like that. Has long battery life, full size keyboard
its light
its small
its very quick and easy to use
and well... go pick one up
or if you got the 1200$ dough, get the new x200
But why would you do that when this thing is probably just as fast, and yet also new?
If this system didn't have a 1 GB RAM limit, and it had the 6-cell battery, this system would be pretty much what everyone wants in an ultraportable. That's the great part. I don't know why people are complaining about the price. This is the type of system Sony and Lenovo sold 2 years ago, and now it's $600. This is a brilliant machine, and yes, it's still a netbook. Its main purpose is as an email machine, with some other simple computing tasks on the side. Yes, it's bigger than the rest, but who ever said that netbooks had to be 7", 9", or 10"? Some people want a really portable machine, don't believe that you need a 9" system for it to be considered a portable, and don't want to compromise on screen resolution or keyboard.
I'd actually prefer the current HP Mini-Note with either a new VIA Nano or Intel Atom, but this still sounds like a wonderful machine.
I must say that I love my x200. It's a perfect size, is just as fast as my desktop, and with a 9cell battery I get a true 8 hours (or more!) of battery life. It also has a full size keyboard. I would have even purchased it had I been required to spend my own money instead of having my employer buy it.
WELL iF THAT UGLY THiNG iS A NETBOOK THEN MY OLD MACBOOK IS A POWERHOUSE AS iT DOSE EVERYTHiNG BETTER, AND NO WiNDOWS OR LiNUX
I'm impressed, yet disappointed.
I converted the 999AUD to GBP, it comes in at £340, and we all know how UK prices are always higher than the US market...
The screen resolution is brilliant (I'm considering an Aspire One, but 600px is scary), and the 6-cell sounds amazing, as I'm at school, I need those extra hours.
1GB RAM limit? WTF?
I hope these are affordable, else the Aspire will be mine (currently £170 for the basic one, and then £40 for a 6-cell batt).
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH
I knew it, its 900$ on dell.jp
they are crazy! you can get a Vostro 1200 (12inch) for 830 with better spec (ok more heavy)
how do these handle video/youtube
Poulsbo can even decode 1080p, so i guess it should manage
If not for the stupid price I'd get this over the samsung nc-10
Dell managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!
That keyboard kills the deal, sorry dell. Your power numbers are respectable, especially for a 12". But why, dear dell, couldn't you put a respectable keyboard on it? And don't even both with the 3 cell battery, 6 cell or bust!
Agreed, it looks great, but I'd really like to see that dual core atom come out for this. For the extra 4w, it is so worth it moving forward, and allows this thing to do so much more than just run a browser and pidgin.
By the time Dell delivers my Mini 9 they will have a quad core and a heads-up display.
Not bad, throw in a fingerprint reader, and better battery as standard and I'm sold.
I'm totally digging the look of this netty! So beautiful and professional looking, as all notebooks should be.
I'm pretty basic with laptops, and am happy with my Dell Inspiron E1505. But it's getting older, and I'm looking for something more travel-friendly.
I basically use my laptop to check my email and facebook, type up homework, and store pictures from my digital camera (no fancy photo stuff. I just upload pictures and then put them online). Will Microsoft Office be able to run fine on the Mini 12 with Vista?
Also, I play solitaire. But that's about the extent to which I would use this laptop.
I'm just trying to make sure that it can meet my basic needs before I order.