Dell's Mini 12 netbook is ready for US orders, ships in December
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted November 13th 2008 12:29PM
posted November 13th 2008 12:29PM
It was bound to happen sooner or later. We received the birth announcement, we read the reviews, and it looks like Dell is finally set to unleash the Mini 12 upon us lowly North Americans. The 12-inch netbook is pretty much what we expected specs-wise, starting at $549 for a 1.33GHz Atom processor, 1GB of memory, 40GB hard drive and standard 3 cell battery. Perhaps $758 is a little steep for a netbook, but if you're game the top-end machine sports a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 80GB hard drive and a 6 cell battery. All configurations should be shipping with Windows Vista Home Basic starting sometime in early December.
[Via Electronista]
[Via Electronista]
This is way too expensive. I just recently bought my sister a inspiron 13 for school. it has 3 times the ram and hard drive space, way better processor, 12 cell battery, and a dvd-rw drive for only 699
and its like twice the weight!
Twice the weight because of the 12 cell yes, but she gets a decent 6 hours on it. But if we were to compare both of them with a 6 cell, there would be what a 1 pound difference between the two it would still be over priced.
MSI Wind FTW
You can DELLete this if you want . . . . OMG sasuke LOL
DELLete.....yeah, I see what you did there. Very clever!
for that kinda money get an asus n10j if you really want a netbook, with GPU accelerated decoding it can do 1080p via the HDMI out :)
If this has the title of a netbook then you might as well consider the X200 one as well. For me, the limits of the term 'netbook' are:
- 10.4 or smaller screen
- no optical drive
- comes STANDARD with WiFi
- should run Win xp or some form of linux
- well under 3 lbs, preferable under 2.5
- etc.
I really worry whether Michael has completely lost it!
Too expensivive, too big, too low spec, too heavy for a Netbook.
Memory and battery are low end.
If you want a full spec small Laptop they are available near $1K
In summary this is a product nobody should buy.
Complete waste of time by Dell.
If you are loyal to Dell, I see no reason to spend that kind of money on a 12" Netbook. Spend the minimal (if any) extra coin and spring for a Vostro 1310. Larger screen, better specs, and hardly any heavier or thicker.
How should we define netbooks? 10.2" screen or smaller? Well, the current generation of 10.2's generally have a thick bezel around the screen, which I assume some future netbooks will shrink given the usual trends. In which case I suspect that an 11.1" display like the one in Sony's Vaio VGN series would fit in a laptop about the same size as many current 10.2 inchers...
I'd say the screen has to be SMALLER than 12". A 12" screen is just a regular laptop.
What about price? I'd love to say under $400 since that's what I think they should be, and where the bulk of this market is given how well the Acer Aspire One is selling. But we've got the Samsung and Lenovo (in Red, or with the 160GB drive) and some of the Eees and the real configurations of the HP mini 1000 now going for up to $499.
I'd say under $500. The lower the better though.
Could there be a "premium" netbook segment that would justify a higher price? If the case were made of carbon fiber, or it was ultra-thin, or it had a slot mount DVD drive, or a custom paint job, or dedicated graphics, or ... Maybe. I guess we'll see if Apple (and maybe Sony?) ever deign to do something in this space. I'd still say they have to be under $700 even then, but I guess we'll see.
Obviously its got to have WiFi.
No optical drive? If they can fit one in at the same price and without making the thing bigger, I'd be happy to take one.
OS's will vary. Doesn't define the category for me. If ARM builds a netbook running Linux using a non-Intel compatible processor is that a netbook? I'd say it is if it can run a standard browser--i.e. access the "real" internet, as Apple would say.
for the most part i agree with you
but however before the netbook came around
laptops were 13.6 inches and up..
now adays you caint find a laptop below 15inches
thair is a diffriance between laptop and ultraportable
the insparan 13 is a great example of an ultraportable..
but on you price opion i agree that the STANDERD should be 550 or less
but thair is another faction and that is the poppulartaty factor...
witch drives some companys like dell to charge 700+
bow my actuial opion on the insparan 12
its got an good size yah a little on the heafty side
but deffanitly manageable
the midmodle with the 1.6 atom we are used to
i think is priced resanioble..i mean dell is trying to cash in on
the netbook afterall..
pluss thair ARE xp drivers for the grafix card the gma 500..
so that means it is linuxable...
but i agree with you an everyone elce..this is really pushing it...
the only oither netbook like the ins 12 is the giggabyte 912
that one has an express card slot so that brings it into the ultraportable catagory
but then agian card slots are prety usless given you can do more with usb
so that still makes it a netbook
and hell if DELL can set off a trend for 1200x768 or 800 for netbooks natively
then ide be happy
bc anything less then 1024x768 is just bull shet
I'm one of those rare people who actually really likes Vista.
However....
Vista Home Basic = Epic Fail
For 100 more than a 758, you can get a ThinkPad x61s. Check bensbargains or similar for codes to get a price that low. An x61s would blow this thing out of the water in terms of performance and build quality. They also still ship with XP!
I actually think a 12" device with netbook internals is a very good idea, IF it is cheap enough, light enough and has great battery life.
This is way too expensive, and the OS choice is just stupid given the hardware.
thair is XP drivers for that chipset
so you can just format it xp xD
heres the link to it on intels site
btw you just need the embeded grafix driver bc the chipset and grafix chip are one unit
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=3036&lang=eng
do they really think this thing will run well on vista? those specs for this price? is this a joke?
This ain't netbook. It is a clunky cheapbook!
If the $700+ price for the 6 cell didn't kill it for me the freaking "Vista" OS sure did..
Thumbs down here..
Why carry around a brand new underpowered 12" netbook when you can buy a used IBM T-22 / T-23 for $200 & not have to worry about
having it stolen by the Airline porters.. I have a T-22 that I've used for years to access routers / switches (has a serial port) & with the magnesium case, 12" screen, upgraded memory & hDD makes it's better than any netbook.. Food For Thought..
$758 for a dell netbook? O RLY?
I got a Acer inspire one for the train with: 1GB Ram, 160GB Hard Drive, Atom 1.6ghz proc, and XP, plus 6 cell battery in black for $399.95 through Amazon. hmmmm...
Vista was not a smart choice for that.
I want a Dell Mini 9 with a hard drive and Linux. However, thats still going to cost me a pretty penny.
Guess Ill get a MSI Wind instead....
My $350 Acer Aspire One with 1.6Ghz Atom, 8.9" screen, 1GB RAM and 120GB HDD laughs at Dell.
with all the negative feedback here, i think i will go for the Samsung NC10 160 gb