We always want what we can't have, and when Dell canned its Inspiron Mini 9, I beat myself up for not buying one earlier.
But lo and behold, Dell has brought back its itty-bitty Netbook for $199 until July 27. The price gives you bare necessities: the Ubuntu Linux OS, a 4G SSD, a Webcam, and other basic features.
There's also a $269 option that upgrades the Netbook to Windows XP and an 8GB SSD.
"That's it, this is your last chance. Really...I'm leaving this time. Or am I?"
(Credit: Dell)The Mini 9 had a few words to say regarding her retirement and limited-time return:
A few months ago Anne C. was kind enough to publish a post about my retirement. It was a bittersweet moment for me - being the "eldest" of the Dell Inspiron Mini portfolio, but my siblings the Mini 10 and the Mini 10v have been introduced, and frankly are capable of offering anything I can, plus more.
Imagine my surprise when I got the call to return for a limited engagement. I checked my 401(k) and saw that it really wasn't at the point I needed it to be to support a comfortable retirement, so I have agreed to return.
I am back, for a limited time, and for now can be found as part of a few key limited time promotional deals on dell.com. Both Ubuntu (starting at $199) and XP versions are available, as are a few color options (Obsidian Black and Alpine White are standard, Jade Green and Promise Pink add $40).
Not to sound immodest, but I do want to acknowledge and thank my fan club members who expanded my pre-retirement horizons with various mods and hacks. I hope to renew our acquaintance, even if for a short time and continue our adventures. I do want to assure that this will be my last appearance - I disdain those "final sales" campaigns that seem to go on perpetually. Next time I retire, it will be for good.
(Credit:
Dell)
The recently released Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is getting a face lift. Depending on your taste, that is. What I'm trying to say is that if you like hot pink, you're in for a treat.
On Thursday, Dell launched new colors and graphics designs for the Mini 9. OK, not just hot pink, but you'll have your choice of cherry red as well. If, however, you'd actually like to leave the house with your computer, Dell is also offering Mini 9s with art by "designer toy" designer Tristan Eaton.
I must say, a couple of the Tristan-designed cases are cool-looking, but personally I'd probably stick with plain, boring colors to match my plain and boring life. Now, if I was Paris Hilton or Seen it's possible that I'd be more excited.
Dell's new Mini 12. We assume the pen is there for scale.
(Credit: Dell)We first got a glimpse of Dell's 12-inch take on the Netbook behind closed doors a few months ago. After that, it kind of vanished from our radar screens, only to pop up Sunday, in an announcement that the system is making its debut in Japan.
It's an interesting hybrid of the ultraportable and Netbook formats, combining a 12-inch laptop chassis with the basic heart of a Netbook, namely the Intel Atom CPU. Most Netbooks have a 9- or 10-inch display, so the jump to 12 inches makes for a very different experience. Less portable, to be sure, but perhaps just big enough to win over those who say tiny Netbooks are too small and too hard to use, even for a quick trip to the coffee shop. Even with the bigger footprint, it still starts at 2.7 pounds and tapers from 0.92 to 1.09 inches.
We're already big fans of Dell's current Netbook, the Inspiron Mini 9--it's pretty much the same as almost every other Netbook out there, but Dell offers more configuration options than most. The new 12-inch version has a few notable differences--the hard drives are traditional 60GB and 80GB platter drives, not the SSD drives found in the Mini 9, and the OS choices have been expanded from XP and Ubuntu Linux to also include Windows Vista Basic (in fact, Vista Basic is the launch OS, XP and Linux are expected by the end of the year).
At first, the Mini 12 is only going to be available at select retail outlets in Japan, but it should show up stateside by late November, for less than $600.
We've known for some time that Dell was working on a Netbook-style laptop--the same kind of small, low-power, inexpensive system made popular by Asus and the Eee PC line. And even though there are not many surprises in the just-announced Inspiron Mini 9 (previous leaks revealed the system's design and features), it's still exciting to see a major player back the Netbook concept in a big way.
Component-wise, the Mini 9 is similar to other recent Netbooks, such as the Eee PC 901 and the Acer Aspire One, and includes Intel's Atom CPU. But in typical Dell fashion, there are more customization options than we've seen in a Netbook before.
Our test unit arrived with 1GB of RAM, a 16GB solid-state hard drive, and Windows XP. That config costs $514 and comes very close to hitting the benchmarks we set out in our "Building the Perfect Netbook" feature, which asked for similar components, but maybe a slightly bigger SSD hard drive and an impulse-purchase $499 price tag.
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