New Dell Inspiron Mini 10 debuts, features Atom N450
By Nilay Patel 
posted December 21st 2009 10:04AM
posted December 21st 2009 10:04AM
DELL MAKES INSPIRON MINI 10 EVEN BETTER WITH NEW DESIGN AND LONG BATTERY LIFE
ROUND ROCK, Texas, Dec. 21, 2009 - Dell's hot-selling Inspiron Mini 10 netbook is getting better with a fresh new look and longer battery life to go along with technology enhancements and easy connectivity capabilities that make it a fashionable and functional must-have for on-the-go people. Updates to the Mini 10 include optional high definition entertainment bundles that deliver rich, smooth playback of streaming HD video in addition to Web surfing, email, listening to music and sharing user-generated content in real time. Dell expects the redesigned Inspiron Mini 10 to be available the first part of January 2010.
The new design with 10.1-inch display includes a textured, smudge-resistant palm rest, sculpted keys and, for the Inspiron Mini 10 mobility bundle, extended-life battery offering up to 9.5 hours of operation. The Mini 10 can be personalized with a broad range of optional colors or hundreds of optional custom artwork designs available in the Dell Design Studio.
The Inspiron Mini 10 will be offered in the coming weeks in a selection of bundles with distinct features like an HD display, Broadcom Crystal HD media accelerator, surround sound capability, built in HDTV tuner for over-the-air local HD broadcasts, or built-in Wi-Fi location enabled GPS that provides people with real time information to nearby restaurants, landmarks, maps and entertainment.
Built-in wireless connectivity Connectivity: Where wireless access is available. Additional access charges apply in some locations. provides easy, quick access to the Internet and e-mail. Some models feature Bluetooth and Mobile Broadband communications Mobile Broadband: Subject to wireless provider's broadband subscription and coverage area; additional charges apply., too.
Highlights:
- Entertainment Netbook Offers Go-Anywhere Fun for Everyone
- Great Battery Life Keeps People Online for Hours
- Optional High Definition Display, Surround Sound Enrich Media Experience
ROUND ROCK, Texas, Dec. 21, 2009 - Dell's hot-selling Inspiron Mini 10 netbook is getting better with a fresh new look and longer battery life to go along with technology enhancements and easy connectivity capabilities that make it a fashionable and functional must-have for on-the-go people. Updates to the Mini 10 include optional high definition entertainment bundles that deliver rich, smooth playback of streaming HD video in addition to Web surfing, email, listening to music and sharing user-generated content in real time. Dell expects the redesigned Inspiron Mini 10 to be available the first part of January 2010.
The new design with 10.1-inch display includes a textured, smudge-resistant palm rest, sculpted keys and, for the Inspiron Mini 10 mobility bundle, extended-life battery offering up to 9.5 hours of operation. The Mini 10 can be personalized with a broad range of optional colors or hundreds of optional custom artwork designs available in the Dell Design Studio.
The Inspiron Mini 10 will be offered in the coming weeks in a selection of bundles with distinct features like an HD display, Broadcom Crystal HD media accelerator, surround sound capability, built in HDTV tuner for over-the-air local HD broadcasts, or built-in Wi-Fi location enabled GPS that provides people with real time information to nearby restaurants, landmarks, maps and entertainment.
Built-in wireless connectivity Connectivity: Where wireless access is available. Additional access charges apply in some locations. provides easy, quick access to the Internet and e-mail. Some models feature Bluetooth and Mobile Broadband communications Mobile Broadband: Subject to wireless provider's broadband subscription and coverage area; additional charges apply., too.
Highlights:
- New Intel Atom N450 processor at 1.66 GHz
- 10.1-inch display with standard (1024x600) or High Definition (1366x768) display available in coming weeks
- Built-in speakers with available SRS Surround sound
- HDTV tuner and location-aware GPS configurations available in coming weeks
- Bundles with Broadcom Crystal HD for smooth HD playback coming in Q1
- Built-in 802.11 b/g wireless with available Bluetooth and Mobile Broadband
- 1GB Memory: Significant system memory may be used to support graphics, depending on system memory size and other factors. DDR2 memory at 800MHz
- 160GB Hard Drive: GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating environment and will be less. or 250GB hard disk drive storage
- Choice of 3 or 6-cell integrated battery with up to 9.5 hours of battery life (Inspiron Mini 10 mobility bundle only).
- Choice of Windows 7 Starter or Windows XP Home, Ubuntu operating system option available in the coming weeks
- Lightweight: Starting at about 2.75 – 3.1 pounds Starting at Weight: Weights vary depending on configuration and manufacturing variability. with a 3-cell battery Battery Life: Based on preliminary lab testing. Varies by configuration, operating conditions and other factors. Maximum battery capacity decreases with time and use. Battery life of 9 hours and 34 minutes for the Mini 10 Mobility bundle is achieved using Mobilemark2007 battery life testing benchmark with a system configuration that includes 60WHr 6 cell battery, Windows 7 Starter Operating system and 250GB Hard Drive.
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is expected to be available in early January from Dell and select configurations will be available in retail outlets worldwide in the coming weeks. Prices start at $299.
Quote:
"The Inspiron Mini 10 continues to offer some of the best mobile entertainment options available in a great-looking, compact and lightweight design," said Brian Pitstick, general manager of Dell's mobile products. "With an even better look and great battery life, we think Mini 10 is the perfect companion PC for anyone who wants to be entertained and connected wherever they go."
Quote:
"The Inspiron Mini 10 continues to offer some of the best mobile entertainment options available in a great-looking, compact and lightweight design," said Brian Pitstick, general manager of Dell's mobile products. "With an even better look and great battery life, we think Mini 10 is the perfect companion PC for anyone who wants to be entertained and connected wherever they go."
Pretty sweet looking... but 1GB ram AGAIN dell?? Windows 7 is gonna chug like your mom at a beer drinking competition.
@technogecko6
Are you sure you arent talking about your own mother?
@technogecko6
Windows 7 x86 runs quite smoothly on 1GB. Very smoothly actually, with ION, you can play some games on medium graphics, other games (like COD4) at low.
Windows 7 x64 even runs well on 1GB, although I am unsure of the Atom's compatibility with 64 bit.
1GB is all you really need, especially on a netbook. Windows 7 x86 is even quite usable in a 512MB environment, just no heavy applications (Which one really shouldn't be doing on a netbook at any rate).
@celebbbb Atom has always been 64bit compatible.
@technogecko6 Perhaps you haven't heard.... MS mandates that netbooks be shipped with no more than 1 gig of ram. At least the manufacturers are now making it easy to add more ram. you couldn't even do that on the 1st netbooks.
@Oli D: The N series (basically every netbook released) and the Z series is not 64 bit compatible.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=intel%20atom
I have an acer with an N series. Its not 64 bit compatible.
@CJ100570 Actually, plenty of netbooks make it easy. The Asus 701 4G required only removing a single screw to access the memory for replacement.
@CJ100570 The previous Mini 10 had the ram deep in the system, attached to the motherboard. It made upgrading only possible for very savvy users.
@technogecko6
But but I was told Windows 7 could easily run on a Pentium II with 64MB of RAM?? Surely 1 GB would be more than enough.
@SolidSnake
then are you trying to tell us that your mother can chug really fast? congrats? =/
@CJ100570 "Perhaps you haven't heard.... MS mandates that netbooks be shipped with no more than 1 gig of ram."
Not quite. Microsoft mandated that WINDOWS XP HOME machines only ship with 1GB of RAM, otherwise vendors could not ship XP. They definitely did not want to ship Vista on the netbooks, so they all went with the 1GB max.
If they ship with Windows 7 the 1GB RAM limit no longer applies (though they probably have to cut some corners in order to qualify for Windows 7 Starter).
@technogecko6 Also note that with the embedded GPU you will lose some of that 1GB of RAM to video, more if you upgrade to the 1366x768 display. I think shipping with 1GB is fine as long as there's an easy upgrade path. Don't know if there is though...
@Ruben
The N450 and the rest of the Pineview chips are 64-bit compatible if Wikipedia isn't lying.
@celebbbb Bullshittery!!!! (about the 1gb of ram running fast) I have 2 netbooks and when I got them with 1gb, it was terrible. Both had windows 7. I think it was as bad as having 128mb of memory in XP.
@technogecko6 - The rest of the specs are definitely not held back by the 1GB of RAM, but with Dell selling RAM at below market prices (8GB DDR2 RAM on the Dell Zino is only $160), it is unusual that they don't offer more standard.
@celebbbb There's thankfully little wasted space in the keyboard tray, with wide, flat keys going nearly edge-to-edge. Unlike Dell's earliest 9-inch Netbooks, there are no missing keys or major space compromises. At least this baby has something to touts a bit: http://bit.ly/dell-mini-inspiron-preview
"both a six-cell battery good for nine and half hours" and... what? A battery that gives you even more life? An optical drive? Delicious candy? Don't leave us hanging!
Now that I look at it, that whole sentence is totally f--ked. :( Sorry, man.
Dell from the land of crazy hinge design. :)
Actually I like, cool specs and that inward hinge could allow this to be left opened in cramped spaces.
@sibyy
The hinge design looks stupid to me. It reduces the depth, which brings the keyboard forward and leaves less space for the trackpad, which would make it smaller.
@chispito You don't know what you're talking about. I'm on my Mini 10 now and the hinge as it is is behind the battery where the new model has the hinge now...they just swapped them around so they could fit the bigger battery in...no change has been made to the keyboard or the track pad.
I find the TV tuner an interesting add on. I wonder what the N450 can as a PVR?
Nice, but I'll still be rockng my 311...
@Jonathan K
agreed, 311 is the perfect hackentosh....wont ever think of upgrading until i see something decent with ION insinde
@From My Cube: I'm curious to know what Nvidia is going to do with this new atom core since there are parts the ion no longer has to have. I presume Ion 2 will just be a graphics core and nothing more.
I'm VERY happy to hear they got rid of the "bulge" from the battery. That really annoys me quite a bit. Hopefully some other manufacturers realize this as well and fix it with their next gen Atom releases.
Hmm, that new hinge design is a little odd looking...
@MRCUR It looks like they just made the thing ridiculously thick. Hard to tell since they supply no dimensions and no shots of the thing from the side, but if that triangular shape is as bulky as it looks... look at that VGA connector on the side and how much room there is above it...
@Fanfoot - It does certainly look pretty thick. I'm not really impressed, but we'll see. I'll probably dump my Asus 1000HE at some point for an updated one.
i wont even dare to show my friend this netbook if i ever buy one ..
In case anybody is wondering, the colors do look better in person.
Is it a trick of the camera angle, or is that... dare I say it... a matte screen?
Looks quite nice imo.
Hackintoshable like the 10v?
That looks pretty sweet. I had a HP 311 for a little bit but found 11.6" to be slightly to large for a netbook. Great for very small general use, but at nearly 12" there wasn't enough of a noticeable size diff from my 15". Sweet res too @ 10", but 156 PPI is gonna be pretty darn tiny.
I thought Dell was killing the Mini 10 model? Anyway, if this comes with an HD accelerator option then this can't be an ION chipset.
Oooh, those look sweet. I'd buy one of those in a heartbeat.
The colors are fine.... there'll always be a crowd who are unwilling to buy anything unless it's in greyscale or a earthy shade of brown....
I picked up a dell 10v for about ~250 including tax/shipping and the 6-cell battery on black friday. I installed snow leopard and its great.
The only disappointing part of it is the trackpad. Probably the worst one I have ever used. It looks like its the same one on these new models.
Not much near here to make me regret my discounted purchase.
@Mackworth: I did the same here, even got %20 cashback from Bing. I have to agree on the trackpad.. it's go to be the worst thing I have ever used. Multitouch on the button makes it almost impossible to click anything.
I made mine into a hackintosh, which I'm fairly sure this new model will not support, as none of the other Mini 10s support it. It's all about the chipset
@orev Yeah, mine was with the Bing Cashback too. Tax hurt the deal for me since I am in MA at 6.5%, but the bing.com cashback helped. I think it ended up being actually around 244 including the bing cashback.
Are you using the latest netbook installer? I have found things improved in RC4+ but the trackpad is still bad. I feel like it was even worse in the brief time I used it with XP.
@Mackworth Yup, just used NBI RC5 and things went just fine. Biggest trouble I had was trying to dual boot with Windows 7. Different partition schemes caused problems there (MBR vs GPT), so I gave up and went pure OSX.
9,5h actually sounds good, but with the 14h asus 1005pe announced it sounds only like half the fun.
the uprades on the other hand, are really a great plus, especially the higher res screen
Hope Dell starts shipping replacement keys for the windows key. I think over 50% of these things are Macs in Dell clothing.
I wish they put an ION in it :( I still think the HP Mini 311 (Even though its more expensive) is the best netbook out ATM.
@Bash23 These comments are getting really old. If you want an Ion netbook go buy one. There are at least a couple out now. If your only contribution to any netbook posting is going to be "Where's Ion?" maybe you don't have to say that anymore. Using Ion means it will be more expensive and the battery life will be worse. We also don't know if Ion will even work with the N450 yet...
@Fanfoot
They should at least put it as an add on for those who want it...
@Fanfoot They should at least put it as an option for people who want the extra power.
@Bash23
Actually the Broadcom HD Accelerator is actually pretty good, so im not sure how ION would make that much of a difference. To be honest, the average person is probably more likely to just want to run HD content rather than game, so its plenty sufficient...
@Bash23 From reading the articles at anandtech, it looks like the Ion DOES NOT work with the N450. So it isn't currently possible to ship a Pineview system with an Ion. Which might explain why it isn't being offered...
@Fanfoot It turns out that ION out profroms the new Atom CPU so I guess I'll just get a ION netbook with a N80/N70