Oops, it looks like a Dell middle manager somewhere got a little too excited and let a full set of netbook roadmap slides leak out. The biggest news is a planned Mini 11 due sometime between now and the end of Q3, but the
Mini 10 is where most of the action is in the short term -- the current model will get options for Vista, a 3G modem, and potentially a 1.86GHz Atom on April 17th, a new 1.6GHz Atom N270 SKU will arrive in May and everything will be updated again in the second half of the year with Intel's Pine Trail processors. Interesting, but we're wondering when Dell will realize that the Mini 10's HDMI output and 720p screen are useless unless it can handle true HD video --
Ion, anyone?
posted Apr 4th 2009 8:54PM
I wonder when the craze for netbboks will burn out?
Or will they just reach a stage where people realise that a, say, 12" screen small laptop with a decent battery life and processor is all they really need and then the rest of the notebook industry is kind of shafted.
that argos is an 11 incher with 2gb ram and a 250 gb hdd. i think these kinds of specs are exactly what's going to shaft the rest of the industry
If these trends continue, when can we expect the Mini 16?
My guess would be late Q4 of 2009 or early Q1 of 2010. Call it E8 or E1.
Sweet rifle.
i rally like that argos
More ION and Windows 7 Multi-Touch goodness please!
So, is the Mini 11.5 next?
do you also notice that :
1. 2GB RAM coming in April on the 10.
2. The Argos is gonna have Win 7 - probably as an upgrade option from Vista. (past the July 2nd date)
This is irrelevant! Where is the Dell DittyPhone???
HDMI is not useless without HD playback. Most TVs now are HDTVs (at least for me), and HDMI allows for very easy and seamless playback of regular SD vids.
One more reason to not buy a Mini 10
I really have to say that 11" is the best size for an ultra portable laptop
you get to have a near full size keyboard as well as big screen with high resolutions (no more 576 or 600...), not to mention that the edges around the screen get to be smaller at the same time
meaning, it's got the biggest screen size you can possibly get when you have a full size keyboard without any useless space around the screen or keyboard which might make the machine look cheap and ugly
11.6" FTW!
And after that mini 12, mini 13, mini 14
I can't wait for a Dell Mini 17 with 1920 x 1200 resolution, 4 GB of RAM, >200 GB SSD.
"when Dell will realize that the Mini 10's HDMI output and 720p screen are useless unless it can handle true HD video"
not really, the 720P screen is very helpful, the current WSVGA screens are just not enough, a 720P resolution is what most people are used to from a laptop, and the HDMI output is very helpful if you want to use it as a main PC which, considering how old some people's laptops are, shouldn't be an issue but when you get home you might want to hook it up to a bigger screen and an external keyboard
Sort of back to the future. For more than a year I have used a Dell D430, 12.1 screen at 3.3lbs.
My wife loves her Latitude X1. 12.1 inch screen, 2.5lbs. In fact, it's pretty much the same specs as most of the laptops avilable today (1.2GB RAM, 1.4MHz processor, etc.). In fact, since it was designed by Samsung, it looks a lot like their current offering. Of course, that drastic price difference is there, too (but considering the 5 year swing, easy to understand).
i'm still holding back for some sort of dual core processor for a netbook, be it intel or AMD. are any of you with me on that?
Yeah! That and either Windows 7 or a Mac one.
I say use the GPU for _everything_ and drop that CPU speed as low as you can.
Playing music? Use the gpu. Scrolling down a web page? Use the gpu. Decoding video? Use the gpu. Moving lots of data around? Get an SSD. Javascript performance killing ya? JIT compile it.
Our CPUs are total overkill.
..I'd be all for EFI firmware and hardware supported by stock OS X. Choice is good.
you know what, i actually read an article in pop. sci. discussing the use of GPUs to do the work load of CPUs, but i doubt that will happen any time soon
:(
i have a Dell Latitude E4200...It's 2.2lbs and has a dual core proc with upto 5gb of RAM and 12inch screen. JUST AWESOME! oh...but it was nearly $3k...lol...i did get a substantial discount, hit me up if you want details....http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop_latitude_e4200?c=us&cs=04&l=en&s=bsd
so price cut for the basic model on april 17th when the higher spec model arrives?
wishful thinking
:P
it's dell we're talking about here
Interesting, but I think I'm gonna hold out for the Mini 25.
I'm pretty sure the Mini 26 is where it's at.
Dell want be next Apple, but they don't learn anything from them. You need to build a good computer that everyone want, less is more.
Dell hardware design seems to be improving, but it still has a ways to go to catch up with Apple. Me, the only reason I bought mine was 'cause it came with Ubuntu.
I hope Apple rapidly gains as much market share as it takes to scare PC vendors into offering (K)Ubuntu preinstalled in a timely manner.
Ah, soon they are gonna go with the "Mini 1x" "Mini 2G" "Mini234234GXT"
As much as I love my Mini 9, I think it was my last dance with Dell.
I LIKE the 8.9 inch form factor.
The road for overpriced larger the-computer-formerly-known-as-netbooks continues. So Dell already have Mini 9, 10, and 12. Then 11. What's next? 13-16? Or maybe they would start doing 9.5, 10.5, 11.5, etc. This is just getting ridiculous.
Anything under 12" is just uncomfortable to use. Mini 12 FTW.
In all honesty, my next machine is probably going to be either a refurbished Unibody MacBook or a Gazelle Ultra..
I think Dell needs some more time to figure things out..
Hint: nobody cares about what some random stranger on the internets wants to get, especially if he mentions it in a completely unrelated post...
What I'm saying is that even though Dell's design gets less ugly by the day, their huge range of machines remains confusing and their slim choice of operating systems on most of them is still pathetic.
So they're making more laptops. ....good for them?
Slim choice of OS? They offer both Windows and Ubuntu. What vast choice of OS is there on the Macbook or any apple machine; oh yeah OSX that's it. Stop pretending you use Linux when you are in fact an apple troll.
If you are too dumb to figure out how to install Linux on any PC then you shouldn't be using Linux, troll somewhere else b*tch.
Just because they offer Ubuntu as an option on like two more ultraportables doesn't mean that, by and large, they give people a lot of OS choice-- and the version they offer is so old I had to install a more recent one over it on my 1420n first thing anyways.
I don't want a lot of choices so much as I want one good one. From Apple, I expect OS X, I'm fine with that, best default GUI. (although I prefer my gnome-do and gnome-globalmenu myself, with window title bars tricked out via gconf-editor.)
From Dell I expect Ubuntu. Any machine where the only option is Windows is a machine I'm not going to recommend to anyone not up to installing their own OS or having someone else do it for them, seven clicks though it be.
..so instead of focusing on their complete Ubuntu rollout, which I see no material obstacles to right now, Dell is giving people more hardware to choose from ....with Windows. I was ecstatic when they first offered Ubuntu, but they are really dragging their feet at this point and I'm frustrated by that.
At what point does a computer stop being a "netbook" and start being a "laptop" again?
I would buy a 9ich HP or Dell netbook for $200. Thats my price point when i will buy one. :)
They've been selling the Dell Mini 9 at that price on many specials over the last several months.
So the Argos/Mini 1110 with 11.6" HD and 2GB options will cost, what? $699?
I was seriously close to buying the new samsung n110 then this comes out. It took me a while to even decide the N110 over EEE 1000HE and now with these specs I'm not sure....should I wait? The looks and the bulk/size of the ASUS killed it and I went with the style, size, and battery life of the N110. But the dell mini 10 is also very stylish and small and wwith a new battery and screen it could rival the N110. WHAT SHOULD I DO???
@RBK
The waiting game always sucks. It will most likely be months or perhaps a year before these products are released. The price may not be where it is. The initial price for most products is usually high, which gives Dell a chance to offer heavy discounts on special discount days.
The waiting game sucks and never ends. If you need one, then buy one. If you don't really need it, then you can wait. I'm personally due for a portable laptop upgrade in a year when grad school starts. I don't really care too much about waiting until the minute before my first class starts just to get the best possible. Future-proofing is overrated and doesn't really ever work IMO. You think you have the best rig around but come 3 months later, either
1. Your parts are already obsolete
or
2. Your parts are being sold for at most 2/3 their original price.
As I can see the 2GB memory for the current Mini 10 is coming on the 20th of May. As I can't wait for it to happen already I made a countdown: http://www.bored.com/makecountdowns/show.php?id=165195
it's shaped like a square...does that come off as unique to anyone here?
Actually this might be a good move for Dell. I happen to live across the street from a lady who works at our local NC based DELL plant and with all the lay-offs and cutbacks due to the economy, this "new" product if priced right and aimed at a perfect audience (e.g. students, teens, whoever else may need more portability and connectivity than the larger bulkier and more powerhouse models) then maybe this will possibly help the economic crisis and not to get too personal but maybe even save several hundred jobs around here since yesterday they just let 80 more people go...
Cheap SSD, mainly so no more fear about HDD crashes, is when I will bite. Add in good discrete graphics, and a few of the other goodies mentioned by others (all of this is very doable), and I will be very ready to swipe the plastic.
We've been a Dell fan for sometime now and with up and coming products its another reason to stick with an olde but goody.
http://www.247webpros.com
>> a new 1.6GHz Atom N270 SKU will arrive in May
What does this mean, exactly? A new Atom before Pineview? Will it be just on the mini10?
Well... Where is the 6-cell battery and stuff that were marked on April 17?