Dell Mini 12 quietly discontinued
By Laura June 
posted August 7th 2009 12:42PM
posted August 7th 2009 12:42PM
[Thanks, Drew]
posted August 7th 2009 12:42PM
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What the heck is going on? I love my Mini9. And the 12 looked just as nice. They better be planning some ION-based replacements...
Ion this Ion that...Why would you want an Atom Cpu w/ the 9400m when you could get a $650 Studio 14z w/ a real core2duo cpu and 9400m.
@dankone
There is portability and convenience that you fail to factor in. Not a very good comparison IMO. I could also spend $650 and get a desktop 3 times as powerful as a Studio 14z. I realize that this isn't a primary computer, but this gets the job done. I personally love my Mini 9. Wasn't too happy with the 10 or 12 as the RAM was soldered on and not upgradeable. Otherwise they would both be great options with a SSD if they had not bottle necked them.
@thedankone
Battery life.
ion 12" netbook is worthless... at least for the purported prices i've heard knocked around.
you can get an acer 13.3" timeline with 320 gig HD, 2 gigs ram (support to 4), running a 1.3 GHz core ULV chip (which is far faster than atom) for 499$. 8+ hours of battery life is good too. dimensions wise, the acer is thinner and only 0.8" wider with a 13.3" screen.
now, compared to a mini 9 or 10, that's different. but a 12" netbook is kind of silly.
get the 10v it is basically the same as mini 9
*Pours some water on a non-static cloth and drops it in the grave*
Don't let...your screen....get too dirty.....*walks away crying.....*
That was... Beautiful :(
I do not understand, these things are wildly popular and selling like hot cakes, why do they continue discontinuing them?
cause they are NOT wildly popular and NOT selling like hot cakes.
Because the 12 wasn't wildly popular, it had a smaller keyboard and lower resolution than the 10 and was running Vista with an Atom
You can get them by the dozen on craigslist. The netbook industry has reached a plateau, they need to up their game and lose the same-old specs. The last netbook challenge was including a 6 cell battery that could last for 9 hours. Next challenge better HD performance with long battery life and maybe better cpu?
I think that with the mini9, it has something to do with the manufacturer. The mini12 only time will tell why. BTW, I love my mini9. I was never a touch typist and strangely I type faster on my min9 than i do on a normal keyboard.
Because Dell hardly makes any profit on them. In fact, I've heard somewhere they take a loss on each unit.
I'm sure there will be a good replacement. Dell doesn't just give up money.
But why is it done "quietly"?
its obamas fault.
That is an interesting question.
Maybe it's just a small upgrade, and they are only temporarily unavailable.
Considering that Microsoft made Windows 7 licensing agreements say that 10.2" was the largest screen size that could get cheap "netbook" licensing, this really isn't much of a surprise.
My Mini 12 that was purchased few months ago was came with XP. This could be the reason however if Dell didn't get a waiver permanently for this model.
When Windows 7 launched we are going to see Win7 Home Premium on a lot of netbooks ... not too many with starter edition
@darthgault
Netbook manufacturers that continue to aim for the lower price points will have little choice but to go with Starter Edition.
Yeah, I love the FCC for calling out hypocrites.
I really liked the 12 inch with the higher screen resolution - hopefully this means they'll become cheap on dell outlet.
The Mini 12 was by far the best Netbook. It was the thinnest laptop they had (except for the Adamo) and only weighed 2.75lbs. I really hope they replace it with something comparable. No way am I buying a fat chode like the Mini 9/10 or heavy 14z, 13, etc.
I absolutely agree. Mini 12 was the cheapest 12 inch in town.
Yes...I've enjoyed my Mini 12 with Ubuntu linux. It doesn't get the attention when it once used to get, but it's the perfect size and weight when traveling. It's been a great wide since the Mini 12 first became available. http://www.engadget.com/2008/10/15/inspiron-mini-12-pops-up-on-dells-website-its-a-done-deal-al/
I already got my hackintosh ready 10v. They can discontinue anything they want now.
Please don't sniffle Laura. I'd hug you but Josh would ban me.
Thanks goodness.
Now maybe the (New) Inspiron 13 will finally manifest itself stateside.
The 11.6" CULV model is coming.
I will miss the Mini 12, it was my favorite netbook and I have tried several others. It was the perfect mix of size, portability and battery life.
I just went to Dell's web site, and it still shows it as available. Granted it wasn't listed on the read link, but if you do a search it shows up. Where does it say it has been discontinued?
the mini 9 is back on the site:
http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/notebooks/laptop-inspiron-9/pd.aspx?refid=laptop-inspiron-9&s=dhs&cs=19&~ck=mn
I submitted this last week, but apparently they don't care.
Wasn't this for just a limited time? I though I read something about this on the Dell Forum about bringing it back for a week or two. I know they did that about a month ago for about 4 days. Apparently people were complaining about it? Maybe not...
Lollipop, lollipop. Oh lolly-lolly--lolly-Lollipop!
CULV killed the netbook star?
In my mind and in my car, we can't rewind we've gone too far?
LOL!
But nah, I agree with dagamer43 above. Microsoft's decision to restrict Windows 7 Starter Edition to devices with screens 10.2" or below was probably a big factor in this.
HAHA! We still got them in Canada P The beaver blockade worked :D
Wow I'm so glad I bought my sister the eeE pc! I was gonna get her a dell mini but all the reviews I read about them discouraged me and we went with the eeE pc and were glad we did because its been a great little netbook its fast it looks great!
How is that related to the Dell being discontinued? If you'd have bought a Dell, you'd still have it, even if they discontinue it.
Well its not related to the subject I understand if I bought a dell I would still have it! But I'm implying that dells aren't that great from what experience I have with them! I have an apple macbook air and in my opinion it blows dell away and I'm not to surprised in the fact that they discontinued the mini12!
Are you capable of using punctuation marks other than exclamation points? I also don't think you can compare a MacBook Air to a netbook.
Netbooks have not been even close to following Moore's law due to Microsoft's and Intel's silly (maybe illegal?) handicaps, and lo and behold the market is drying up. Make them just a little more powerful with a screen capable of 720p and I would be a customer.
Or this is just a sign that everyone is waiting for Apple to drop their tablet...
Please, tell us oh great legal expert, what illegal actions have Intel and Microsoft done to constrict the market causing the removal of this product?
If we are making up unfounded conspiracy theories, I will offer mine: I think Apple is forcing Intel to stop making processors for netbooks because they don't want to get questions about why they do not have one in the market. If they can stop the manufacture of Atom processors, then companies cannot make netbooks, people will forget about them, and Apple wins!
Microsoft basically dictated that if they wanted to be able to sell XP on netbooks, they had to be equal to or less than a certain set of specifications they dictated. And Microsoft, by virtue of having an effective monopoly on operating systems, was able to force netbook makers to conform to their wishes.
Notice that MSI killed their netbook with a hybrid storage setup under pressure from Microsoft. No company should be in a position to pull that kind of shit. But I guess we're used to having innovation crushed and stalled by Microsoft to the point that we can't really see when they do it. Or we defend them when they do.
Your a fool, Windows 7 runs on every Notebook...
@microlith
So your complaint essentially boils down to you do not like the price of Windows XP being sold to OEMs. Microsoft sells XP to netbook vendors at a reduced price - $15 (and people cheer the OSX upgrade price of $29). They sell it at this price because they know that netbooks are lower powered compared to laptops, and therefore will not be using the full abilities of the OS. OEMs are perfectly able to build a laptop that runs at full strength, and if they are want to use all the abilities of the OS, then they can purchase Vista (and soon Win7) at a higher price.
This is not something that only Microsoft does, it is done in may products, from many companies. Intel used to sell the 486 processor at two price ranges, one price with the coprocessor enabled, one with the coprocessor disabled (it was a simple severing of a micro switch). Apple sells OSX at two price ranges, the desktop version and the server version at two price ranges with different functionality. They sell different versions of OSX Server at two price ranges, one with 10 CALs, one with unlimited CALs. Even companies like BMW do the same - the current 3 series, when first introduced, had the same engine for the 2.5L and 3.0L, but the 2.5L was detuned.
There is nothing illegal in saying I will sell you a product at a reduced price if you are not using the complete feature set of that product. The limitations such as screen size, processor speed, etc. are there simply to make sure that you are using only the features set at that price. Besides, were we not told by many here that Apple doing this very thing was Apple's right in the Phystar case? That it was Apple's right to restrict which hardware ther OS can run upon? But when Microsoft tries to limit what hardware you can run, then they are evil.
ohhhh new models are coming ...
I will be the first to pick up a itablet if they show