First stop: Dell’s PC emporium

Tuesday, January 20th, 2009

So my job this fortnight, as you may have discovered in Tim’s call to arms, is to spend £250 of his money on a brand new fully-built PC or laptop, using only the medium of this interweb thingy. All phones off the hook, face-to-face conversation on hold; this is just me, my surfing skills and his wallet. Heaven.

My first port of call was obvious: Dell. Where better to find a rock-bottom bargain PC to make this whole task as easy as a few quick clicks, feet up on the desk and a delivery in the post room? Well, as you ask, quite a lot of places actually.

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First look: Dell Inspiron Mini 12

Tuesday, December 9th, 2008

At a Dell event last night, I managed to get my hands on a Dell Inspiron Mini 12 for the first time. And I rapidly discovered that in some ways it’s excellent, and some ways… not so excellent.

The excellent bits include, thankfully, both the 12in screen and the keyboard. The screen is sharp and glossy, much like that of the Inspiron Mini 9, but on this occasion Dell can squeeze in 1,280 x 800 pixels. That makes a huge difference when browsing websites, compared to the more cramped 1,024 x 600 resolution of typical netbooks. (more…)