The netbook era was just started in 2007,but fast growth in 2008.A lot of PC giants were joined in the war and released quite many series of products,such as Asus Eee PC and Acer Aspire One,both of which are very successful on sales in a declining market.As one of the top PC manufacturers,Dell will never give up any game and so ‘Inspiron Mini’ is the product line to compete with others.Two months ago,I found the shade of Inspiron Mini 9 which was introduced by Maxis,selling as a package with its 3G broadband package.Now Dell has open the door for the retail market of ‘Inspiron Mini’ Series and the first product is Inspiron Mini 12.
Most of netbooks are having a 10 inch screen at most.However,Inspiron Mini 12 has a 12.1 inch TrueLife TFT Display.Surely it could provide a sharp view and a wider display area.
Though it is leveled as a netbook,I think it has been listed as a high-end product in the current category.Thus,through the above picture, we could figure out that Inspiron Mini 12 has a very slim and light body-less than 1.1" thick and under 1.236 kg;besides,a next-to-full-size keyboard provides a more comfortable typing experience;the standard 3 cell battery is able to run the netbook for approx. 3 hours under a normal use(Eg. online chat,word processing etc). Additionally,except the internal 80G PATA 4200RPM hard disk,Dell also gives their customers 2GB online storage on Box.net which may enhance your online share experience too.
Some disappointments are:
- Intel Atom Processor,1G 533Mhz DDR2 SDRAM,a 80G 4200RPM PATA Hard Drive work on Windows Vista Home Basic with an Intel integrated graphic card.I could imagine the congestions happening while startup,watching HD clips or editing photos.Of course,it won’t bother you if you’re only use it surfing Internet.
- Less Customizations.Only the option for hardware maintenance is available currently.That means temporarily potential customers are only able to get the same color(Alpine White) units.It seems to be no DIY things on this item.
- None of 6-cell extended long-life battery could be picked up.Well,I did see the introduction for the performance of the 6-cell battery.but it’s so weird that it hasn’t been an option.
Dell Inspiron Mini 12 is tagged at RM2199(USD638) with the standard options(with one year hardware warranty).If the price could drop another RM100 or even more,Dell will probably gain a bigger part of the cake because the same level product-Asus Eee PC 1000(10 inch screen) is officially tagged at RM2099(USD609) in these days.
So I’m now just waiting for Dell to do some improvements to erase my disappointments.
