Dell unveils Mini Inspiron's big brother

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 27 Oct 2008 at 08:50

Dell has bulked up the Mini Inspiron family with a 12in version of its netbook.

Though Dell has been fairly tight-lipped regarding the Mini 9's big brother, the new netbook has been far from inconspicuous, popping up on Dell's own support pages, as well as the Tesco website.

Beneath that 1280 x 800 12in screen, the device weighs an impressive 1.2Kg and customers will be offered either a 1.3GHz Atom Z520 or 1.6GHz Atom Z530 processor, 1GB RAM, a solid state drive up to 80GB and the usual array of connection options including Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. Customers can also expect to choose from either Ubuntu or XP preloaded,

Quite whether the Mini Inspiron 12 will follow in the footsteps of its sibling and be offered through Vodafone with a 3G option remains unclear, as the netbook is currently only being offered in Japan, with no word yet on when it's likely to hit these shores.

Though there's no official UK pricing, Tesco listed the 12in netbook at £299, which seems pretty competitive given that the Ubuntu version of the Mini 9 is priced at £269.

Read our review of the Mini 9 here.