Netbook Reviews

The Dell Mini 12, also known as the Dell Inspiron Mini 12, is one of the biggest netbooks available (if not the biggest), featuring a 12-inch LCD screen. Most netbooks range from an 7-10-inch display, so many wouldn’t class the Dell Mini 12 as a netbook at first glance, but it truly is.

Dell have managed to simply enlarge the standard dimensions of a netbook, and add a larger screen, without dramatically increasing it’s weight, keeping it much lighter than standard laptops, and maintaining it’s high portability. The 12-inch Dell Mini 12 has a high 1280 x 800 pixel resolution LCD, and the new 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU and 1GB DDR2 RAM.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 12 is initially available with Windows Vista OS but Windows XP and Linux will also be available at a later date. Making use of the more powerful Atom Z530 processor, the Mini 12 is one of the few netbooks to be powerful enough to run Vista.

Weighing just 2.72 pounds, and measuring just 0.92-inches thick, the Dell Mini 12 is simply a netbook with a larger screen (and keyboard), allowing easier use, but also feating a light weight and size footprint. With a HDD of upto 80GB, and 802.11b/g WiFi and Bluetooth and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. Laptopmag reviewed the Inspiron Mini 12, and said, it breaks new ground by offering a bigger screen than any other netbook without adding much weight, and you’ll get very good endurance with the six-cell battery. I can think of plenty of mainstream users – typically the family, friends and workmates of many APC readers – for whom Dell Mini 12 netbook will really hit the sweet spot.