Dell Mini 12 emerges: netbook or notebook?

Dell12aDell first launched the Mini 9 netbook to much fanfare as the computer making giant was lending credence that the netbook category was not to be ignored.  The Mini 9 was a typical configuration for the netbook class with a 9-inch screen and Atom processor like the rest of the crowd.  Dell was rumored to be considering a 12-inch "netbook" to add to the line and details are emerging about the biggest netbook to date.  Laptop Magazine got a chance to see a pre-production model of the Mini 12 and were impressed with how light and thin the notebook is compared to other cheap alternatives.  They snapped some pictures alongside a MacBook Air, not a netbook for sure due to its high price.  They found the Mini 12 to be a decent choice in the "thin and light" category and the expected $600 price point to be quite reasonable.  The Mini 12 will run Vista Basic and be launched initially in Japan only with global release to follow later.

This leads us to the question that keeps flaring up, what makes a netbook?  A 12-inch model is certainly pushing the size limits for what we normally think of in netbook terms but the price point is good enough to qualify.  Maybe it’s the inclusion of the Atom processor that makes a netbook a netbook?  The Dell Mini 12 is to sport an Atom version that is a step up from the standard model being used in all the other netbooks.  So can netbooks keep growing in size and still be netbooks?

UPDATE: APC has a full hands-on review of the Mini 12 and overall were pretty impressed with the big netbook. They did have an opinion of how well the Atom-based Mini 12 handled Vista:

Yet we’re not convinced that shoehorning Vista into a netbook is thepath to true wisdom, especially when that netbook hits the memoryceiling at 1GB. That’s barely enough for the OS on its own, let aloneonce you run some security software in the background and a fire up anyhalfway decent application.

Using the Mini 12 proved our point:screens were slow to draw, the little spinning wheel was foreverpopping up to do its thing, and with more than a few windows openthings get downright skittish.

loading

Comments have been disabled for this post