Philip Wen's //

The new Dell Inspiron Mini 12

I have been waiting patiently for the 12″ Netbooks to show up in the channels, and today Dell finally released the slightly upgraded cousin to the Inspiron Mini 9.

Personally, I find the 9″ netbooks to be a little too small for everyday use.  The 12″ models should alleviate the usability problem yet still provide for the ultraportable experience that netbooks set out to provide.

Price wise, these are much cheaper than the higher-end 12″ ultraports based on the Core 2 Duo chips.  And since it’s unlikely that anyone will get a 12″ form factor laptop to do any gaming or graphic work, performance shouldn’t be the top concern at this size to begin with.

Starting at $550, it’s not a bad price.  I would however, want mine config’d with a 6 cell and the slightly speedier CPU.  For $600, it’s a great deal compared to the high end 12″ers, but still priced out of the impulse-buy category.

If Dell runs their usual promotional discounts, this may just become a hot item this holiday season.  I sure won’t mind finding one of these under my tree!

For more info or to grab one for yourself, go to Dell’s site here.

Thoughts?  Please leave a comment below or at the forums here.