Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook

Dell has taken the wraps off a new mini-notebook PC squarely aimed at U.S. consumers. Called the Inspiron Mini 9, the PC maker's first offering in the so-called netbook category sports an 8.9-inch LED screen with a resolution of 1024x600 pixels. To whittle the product's minimum-weight requirements down to just 2.28 lbs, the netbook is equipped with a solid-state drive instead of a standard laptop hard drive. According to Dell, the device is capable of operating for up to four hours off a single battery charge. Under the Hood The stripped-down version of the Inspiron Mini sports a 1.6-GHz Intel Atom processor and an Intel 950 media graphics accelerator, 512MB of DDR2 SDRAM, and a 4GB solid-state drive. An externally accessible 3-in-1 memory card reader is also on tap, together with external USB 2.0, VGA and Ethernet ports. Dell has teamed up with Box.net to offer purchasers an additional 2GB of free online storage, which can be incrementally expanded to as much as 25GB for a fee. Buyers also have the option of expanding the capacity of the device's internal solid-state drive to a maximum of 16GB as well as upgrading to 1GB of DDR2 SDRAM. Available this autumn at a starting price of $349, the Inspiron Mini will ship with an integrated Wi-Fi (802.11g) radio to enable users to wirelessly connect to the Internet. Though the entry-level device will feature the Linux-based Ubuntu operating system, buyers have the option of switching to Windows XP Home Edition for an extra $50. Other customization options include the addition of a Bluetooth chip for enabling the device to link up with nearby wireless printers and other Bluetooth-enabled accessories. Growing The Market Making the Inspiron Mini hugely popular in the U.S. will be a challenge for Dell in the short term. Though several mini-notebook PCs were introduced in the U.S. market during this year's second quarter, the market is still emerging and did not significantly contribute to overall shipment growth, said Mika Kitagawa, a principal analyst at Gartner Client Computing. "Preliminary data shows the mini-notebook segment accounted for less than three percent of U.S. mobile-PC shipments," noted Kitagawa earlier this summer. According to Dell spokesperson Anne Camden, Dell's Inspiron Mini is also slated to launch overseas, where it will be competing with products from rivals such as Acer, Asus and HP. Through its sales efforts around the world, Dell should gain customer feedback that will likely prove valuable down the road. Gartner expects to see increased product innovation in the PC market during the next few years, according to Annette Jump, one of the firm's research directors. "Mini-notebooks will create opportunities to reach many buyers across all regions, both in mature markets as additional devices and in emerging markets as PCs," Jump predicted. But for mini-notebooks to become widely accepted, Jump said, they must be "positioned not as a computing device but as a window into the Internet and a way for people to work, play, learn, record, report and communicate in any way they choose." Dell appears to have taken the first step in this direction by giving its new mini-notebook a custom interface that includes a home screen with intuitive icons that link users directly to groups of similar apps, such as games, online entertainment, and favorite Web links. "The custom interface is on Ubuntu systems only," Camden said.