Dell Mini 12 Netbook (Inspiron 1210 Netbook) Officially Official

This looks to be pretty breaking news, but if you remember when we last spoke about the Dell Mini 12 netbook, we were speculating about possible cool things like a dual core Atom and an almost-full size (if not full-size) keyboard among other things. Well, while some things are definitely looking good with this machine, I’m pretty sure I won’t be regretting my MacBook Air purchase when it arrives.

While you could probably guess most of the specs (hard drive, RAM, wireless, etc.), here’s a couple of specs that are worth looking at. First, it’s going to be saddled with a 3 cell battery that Dell claims will be good for 3 hours, but there’ll be a 6 cell option that they hope is going to be good for around 6 hours.

How? Well, that’s part of the disappointing (to me, anyway) news. In order to get more life out of a machine with a larger display, they’re going to be using the updated Atoms, not the beefier dual core Atoms. According to Intel’s documents, the Z520 and Z530 use even less power than the already-thrifty Atom N270. The Z530, for instance, is rated at a TDP of 2 watts. 2 watts? Holy crap! And that’s without sacrificing any power.

But, speaking of that bigger display, you can look forward to a 1280×800 resolution which should be a relief to, well, anyone who’s used a 9″ or smaller display. That means you can have a netbook that doesn’t require much scrolling when looking at web pages. Nice!

And of course, there’s the keyboard: the Dell Mini 12 is going to feature a 91.9% size keyboard. Really? You couldn’t slap a bigger keyboard in this netbook? Pictures going around now show a lot of wasted space on the sides, but I’m guessing they didn’t want to pay for another part and used some existing crappy keyboard already out there. If I’m correct, this keyboard size is basically the same as you see on 10″ netbooks, namely the MSI Wind netbook.

So let’s round it out with one last positive: .92″ thick. Yikes! That’s not much thicker than a MacBook Air, but that’s also a fraction of the cost if they’re starting around $600. These are going to sell like gangbusters once people see this, netbook or otherwise.

So, let’s do the math: cheap, good-sized screen, efficient processor, thin, small keyboard (boo!).

Dell has a winner on their hands. Too bad Japan gets it first and everyone else has to wait. Look for the Dell Mini 12 netbook next month.

Laptop mag has all sorts of groovy information and pics on the Dell Mini 12 netbook to check out. Look here and here and here. Hey, I wasn’t kidding.