Dell’s New 12in Laptop: The Inspiron Mini 12

Dell Inspiron Mini12

Dell has just announced that the new Inspiron Mini 12 laptop will be available globally sometime in the month of November for around $600.

Dell refers to this product as being a laptop (not a netbook). This sounds rather unusual, as this product runs on an Intel Atom-type CPU which, so far, has been used only by UMPCs and netbooks. Morover, this specific model will run on a “Z” series Atom CPU which was developed for handheld internet tablets, not notebooks.

Here are some specifications:

• 12-inch display (1280×800)
• Atom CPU (1.3GHz Z520 or 1.6GHz Z530)
• 1GB RAM
• 40, 60, or 80GB hard drive
• Bluetooth and 802.11b/g
• Built-in webcam
• 3G wireless option available in 2009
• 3 or 6-cell battery (respectively 3h and 6h operating time)
• 3 USB ports and a 3-in-1 card reader
• Windows Vista Home Edition (Linux Ubuntu available later)
• Starting weight of 2.72 and 0.92in at its thinnest point

ZDNet

Do We Really Need Another Netbook?

NEC LaVie Light

By releasing their new LaVie Light Netbook, NEC seems to think so.

NEC’s new netbook will be available in Japan on November 6th. No dates or prices for America as of now, but I’m sure we can all continue living our lives without another netbook.

Here are the main specifications for this new product:

• Intel Atom N270 CPU
• 1GB of RAM
• 160GB hard drive
• XP Home
• weighs 2.6 pounds
• 8.9-inch screen (1024×600)
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
• SD card slot
• 1.3-megapixel camera

CNET

Asus EeePC: 1 Year and 4 Million Units Later

EeePC 901 3G+

It’s hard to believe, but it has only been one year that the netbook “trend” started, with the arrival of the first Asus EeePC in mid-October of 2007.

Since then, Asus has sold as much as 4 million units of the EeePC line. It wasn’t long before other companies hopped on the netbook train with their own sub-compact notebooks. Acer, Dell, Packard Bell, Lenovo, HP, MSI, and many more companies have all released variants of their own.

One can bet that with the financial crisis, these budget netbooks will be on the top of many Christmas shopping lists in the U.S. this year.

LAPTOP Magazine

Touchscreen EeePCs in 2009

Asus

Asus is planning to add touchscreen functionnalities (as seen on the HP Touchsmart all-in-one PC) to its popular line of EeePCs starting in 2009.

It hasn’t officially been announced as of now but we should see the first models appearting at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES).

DIGITIMES

New Slim Eee PC Requires Thick Wallet

Asus

Asus announced that they would be offering a new Slim version (model S101) of the Eee PC line starting at $699. The top of the line model will run you into the $799+ price range.

Closed down, this netbook will be only 1.8cm (or 0.7in) thick, making it one of the thinnest portable computers available. It will also be one of the lightest at only 1Kg or (or 2.2lbs).

The new models will come with WindowsXP and solid state hard drive capacity will range between 16GB and 64GB.

HardwareZone via TechSpot