Dell Mini 12 Netbook Release Imminent?

Let’s play name the unreleased/unannounced Dell: is it the Dell Mini 12? Dell Inspiron 1210? Dell E-Slim 12? Dell E-Slim 1210? Some combination of all of them? None of them? Well, it looks like the first two are the winners according to documents that were discovered on Dell’s site last week. If that’s all you’re interested in, there’ll be links at the end, but since this isn’t breaking news, bear with me.Now I know it was last week that this information came out, but I wanted to take some time to think about their latest netbook offering before I said anything about it. I’m in the market for a new notebook (or netbook), but was a bit disappointed with Apple’s new stuff.

As I said last week, there was no Apple tablet computer announcement, which would have excited me, and with the price point of the aluminum MacBooks and the lack of real updates to the plastic one, I’m just not sure I want one. It’s not that they’re incapable machines — far from it, but I want something that’ll primarily be used for writing (i.e. I don’t need or want another MacBook Pro).

I sold my 12″ iBook earlier this year, and while it was a little old and outdated, it was also a fantastic machine for writing. Granted, its age showed in the weight and bulk and LCD that had lost brightness, but I’ve been trying to find something similar to that form factor ever since I got rid of it.

I’ve thought of buying a MacBook Air, and while I really like them, they’re cost prohibitive. I understand that a super thin notebook can command extra cash, but I have a problem with spending $1800 on a machine that is only half as capable (if that) of my MacBook Pro. Even a used one goes for around $1200, and used means you’ll get a crappy battery that will need to be replaced…by Apple because you can’t access the stupid thing (without breaking your warranty, or so I imagine). So, what other options are there?

I still have my Acer Aspire One netbook and use that pretty much every day, but honestly, I want a normal keyboard. It’s not just the layout (the Acer Aspire One netbook’s layout is good, actually), but the size. I’ve been looking at an MSI Wind netbook, but again, there’s something about that slightly smaller than full-size keyboard that bothers me, even if it’s only 7%.

Enter the Dell Mini 12 netbook: it looks like it has a full-size keyboard (a first for a netbook, I think; my handy tape measure says you need a little under 11″ to get a full-size keyboard) and it’s the same form factor as my old iBook. Now I’ve also considered getting an old 12″ PowerBook, but this may be better.

The specs are looking ok, too, with the new dual core Atom in there and then the standard array of memory and storage. If this comes out at around $500 (give or take $50) and it runs OS X, Dell has a sale. (Actually, it needs to be able to run OS X because I’m getting really attached to it and want to be able to use MobileMe to ease document syncing. And yes, I know MobileMe works in Windows, but I also want to use Pages and that’s OS X only.)

It’s difficult to put into exact words just how important it is to me to have a normal keyboard on a portable, but as a writer, you tend to have more muscle memory than others where finding keys is concerned. Though it may seem negligible, that 7% or 13% difference in keyboard size (never mind stupid layouts) can make a huge difference.

Something worth discussing, but for another time, is whether it’s still considered a netbook at 12″. Every other netbook to this point has been in the 10″ or less category, so Dell is, perhaps, expanding on the idea.

Regardless, the rumors last week indicated it’d be announced last week or this coming week (week of the 21st), so let’s see what happens. I have my fingers crossed for the Dell Mini 12 netbook, do you?

Engadget has information on the Dell Mini 12 netbook (Dell Inspiron 1210 netbook?) here and (presumably) a picture of it here and CMS Report has the original story.