Dell’s Future Plans for its Inspiron Mini 10 and 11

NetbookNews.de has gotten their hands on what could be the roadmap for Dell’s future plans in regards to the 10-inch Dell Inspiron Mini 10 netbook/ultraportable, as well as a new offering that will be slightly bigger and some changes to the Mini 10 and Inspiron Mini 12.

There are some exciting/interesting new things in store, including some options that we really haven’t seen offered from other manufacturers. Keep in mind that while some of these probably will happen, not all are guaranteed to. One option being mentioned is up to a 250GB hard drive, along with options for a 1.86GHz Intel Atom, and Microsoft Windows Vista. Vista doesn’t make that much sense, especially since Windows 7 is not too far off, but it will appeal to some business users (just as new Ubuntu Linux options will appeal to others). The 1.86GHz Atom doesn’t make much sense either, since the slide implies that it comes at a substantial cost for not much of boost in performance.

Last week, Dell started offering HD displays (1366×768) for the Mini 10, and in a few weeks, it looks like they will finally be offering options to upgrade the Mini 10s to 2GB of RAM. This was holding quite a few people back from taking a serious look at the Mini 10. The Internal TV Tuner, 250GB HDD, Ubuntu, and 6-cell battery options look to be offered around that time as well.

It looks like sometime in May there will be new Mini 10 models as well, with what looks to be a code-name of “Bear” aka Mini 1011, and offering an Intel Atom Diamondville N270 (currently the Mini 10s are running Atom Z520 and Z530 Silverthorne CPUs). It would be based on the Intel 945GSE platform instead of the Poulsbo. This is a curious change, but it could be a cost-cutting feature, perhaps offering the Mini 10 at a lower price, especially since the roadmap mentions “Best Value”. Many of the current Atom-based devices are running on the Intel 945 platform.

The current Mini 10, what’s called “Tiger” aka Mini 1010 is being referred to as “Media Centric”.

As we move towards and into the third quarter of this year, it looks like there will be a Dell Inspiron Mini 11, with an 11.6-inch display and a high definition display. It’s being called the Mini 1110, “Argos”, and is listed as “Very Thin and Light” and “Small Screen Ultramobile”, and will be offering a 250GB HDD, along with Windows Vista, with a suggested price of $499.

Going into the fourth quarter of 2009, there will be new Mini 10s that might be based upon the upcoming Intel “Pine Trail” or “Pinetrail” platform.

Read: NetbookNews.de (German)

AT&T to Offer Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and 12, and LG Xenia with Mobile Data Plans

Looks like the reports from the middle of February concerning AT&T offering multiple netbooks/sub-notebooks, or “mini laptops” as the AT&T press release calls them, are indeed true.

AT&T will be offering the Acer Aspire One, Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, and LG Xenia (aka X110) in prices ranging from $49.99 USD to $249.99 when purchasing an appropriate mobile broadband package (along with the contract). If you want something more powerful, such as the 12-inch Lenovo ThinkPad X200, you are looking at $750 to $850 depending on the plan.

AT&T has put together what it’s calling an “Internet at Home and On the Go” plan that covers several situations (mixing mobile data and DSL), and included with that is access to AT&T Wi-Fi hotspots. The standard 5GB a month for $60 plan is still available for those who don’t need DSL.

In the reports from February, the HP Mini 1000 was mentioned in that mix of devices, but it’s been left out for now.

There is a catch to all of this (besides the standard contract) - for now, it’s only being offered in select stores in the Atlanta and Philadelphia areas, but it looks like it will be nationwide later this year.

Read:
- Press Release (AT&T)
via GigaOm

Dell Studio XPS 13 Unboxing (Engadget)

Engadget managed to get their hands on Dell’s Studio XPS 13, their soon-to-be latest 13-inch laptop.

From the gallery and release information back in December of last year, it looks like there have been a few slight changes.

Engadget notes that the display has a lot of glare, as well as the touchpad is slightly off to the left of center, which is very odd. While it’s very sleek and thin, it’s still sporting a full-size keyboard (chiclet-style) and a 13.3-inch display.

The model they received came with the NVIDIA GeForce 9500M graphics chipset, but they didn’t mention whether it came with the slot-loading Blu-Ray drive that was previously mentioned last year. Unless it’s changed, it should have a Hybrid SLI graphics, similar to the 15″ Apple MacBook Pros.

You can see from the photos that it does come with an HDMI port. It may have a Mini DisplayPort as well, which wouldn’t be surprising. Dell does support the DisplayPort standard on some of their LCD displays.

Read: Engadget (Gallery)

Dell Adds HD (1366×768) Displays to Inspiron Mini 10

It looks like the 10.1-inch Intel Atom powered Dell Inspiron Mini 10 will be the first of the mainstream Atom-powered netbooks/ultraportables to have a High Definition (HD) display. For $35 over the normal price, you can add the 1366×768 display to your build-to-order Inspiron Mini 10.

I thought the upcoming HD display version of the HP Mini 2140 might beat it, but the preliminary shipping date for the high resolution Inspiron Mini 10 shows April 15, 2009.

$434 USD will get you the following:
- 10.1-inch Anti-Glare 1366×768 Display
- Intel Atom Z520 (1.33GHz)
- 1GB RAM (maybe a limit of 1GB of RAM)
- Obsidian Black or Alpine White
- Windows XP Home SP3
- 160GB 2.5″ SATA HDD
- 802.11g
- 1.3MP Webcam
- 3-Cell Battery
- Intel GMA 500

For $50 more, you can upgrade the CPU to an Intel Atom Z530 (1.6Ghz).

You can pick up the Inspiron Mini 10 with the HD display here:
- Dell Home and Home Office Store

Dell Latitude 2100 Netbook Leaked?

Gizmodo has been sent a slide and some information about a possible new netbook from Dell that would be geared towards the education market. It’s being called the Dell Latitude 2100 or the Latitude 2100 ‘Welch’. The 10-inch Intel Atom-powered netbook/ultraportable does look different, both in styling and in battery, from the existing 10-inch Dell Inspiron Mini 10.

It could be a similar situation to HP’s, where they have a consumer-oriented netbook, the HP Mini 1000, along with the HP Mini 2140 which is geared towards professional/business buyers, as well as the education market. This would mirror Dell’s existing lineups, where they have Inspirons for consumers and Latitudes for business users.

From the slide Gizmodo has posted, the colors are School Bus Orange, Blue Ribbon, Red Apple, and ? Black (Classroom Black or Chalkboard Black?) which certainly lends credence to these being designed for the education market.

Specifications:
- Intel Atom 1.6GHz
- Under $600
- Up to 2GB RAM
- Optional Solid State Drive (SSD)
- Under 3 pounds
- 3 USB 2.0 ports
- Secure Digital (SD) or MultiMedia Card (MMC) slot
- 802.11a/g/n + Gigabit Ethernet
- Bluetooth 2.0
- 3-cell or 6-cell battery option

The most interesting aspect, besides the fact that it looks like Dell would be launching a new netbook line, is the mention of a touchscreen option. That would shake up the market, since Gigabyte and Asustech seem to be the only ones currently interested in a touchscreen netbook outside of Asia.

A launch date of around May 2009 with a price of under $600 USD is being claimed by Gizmodo’s source.

Read: Gizmodo

Dell Inspiron Mini 9n for $199 (1-day only)

Dell is running another one of their one-day only specials for the Inspiron Mini 9 (Mini 9n in this case). It’s $50 off the base model, with a starting price of $199.

$199 gets you a Dell Inspiron Mini 9n with:
- Intel Atom N270 (1.6GHz)
- 512MB DDR2 RAM
- 8GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
- 4-Cell Battery
- Ubuntu Linux 8.04.1
- 8.9″ 1024×600 Display
- Alpine White or Obsidian Black

It started this morning at 6am CDT (US) and ends tomorrow morning at 5:59am CDT or while supplies are available.

Full Details/Purchase:
Dell Home and Home Office - Inspiron Mini 9 only $199 after $50 off.

Dell Adamo - Users Can’t Replace Battery

Pocket-lint is reporting that the new 13.4-inch Dell Adamo does not have a user-replaceable battery. At this time, Dell hasn’t mentioned any costs associated with a new or replacement battery.

This mirrors the 13.3-inch Apple MacBook Air as well as Apple’s high-end 17-inch MacBook Pro.

As Pocket-lint points out, this means people won’t be able to hot-swap batteries, and will have to send them in to Dell to have the battery serviced/replaced.

When you look at the MacBook Air, Dell’s decision does makes sense, when you take into account just how thin the Adamo is. The Adamo is only 0.65 inches (16.51mm) thick, while the MacBook Air is 0.16 - 0.76 inches (4 - 19.4 mm). When you are designing something this thin and light and ultraportable, certain sacrifices have to be made in order to fit a battery that has an acceptable amount of battery life, and removing the mechanism(s) involved in user-replaceable batteries does help.

Read: Pocket-lint

Dell Adamo Available Online

Update - Official Site: Adamo by Dell

The new Dell Adamo is now available online through Dell. It’s in direct competition with the 13.3-inch Apple MacBook Air, and features a 13.4-inch 16:9 HD Display with “edge-to-edge” glass.

Color choices are either silver aluminum with etching and a pearl finish, or onyx aluminum with brushed finished. It is an aluminum chassis, and it’s been “torsion-tested” according to Dell. With the aluminum build, it’s only 0.65 inches thick.

With the lithium polymer battery, Dell claims up to 5 hours of battery life.

Specifications:
- 1.4GHz or 1.2GHz Ultra Low Voltage (ULV) Core 2 Duo/Centrino Platform
- 128GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
- 2GB - 4GB 800MHz DDR3 RAM
- 802.11n Wireless, plus Ethernet
- Bluetooth 2.1 EDR+
- Mobile Broadband options
- 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium
- 1.3MP Webcam

There are two models/options to start with:
- ADMIRE - $1,999: This is the baseline model, with a 1.2GHz CPU and 2GB of RAM.
- DESIRE - $2,699: This is the high-end model, with a 1.4GHz CPU and 4GB of RAM. It has optional mobile broadband connectivity.

From there, you can select two additional packages (as well as customizing):
- ENTREPRENEUR PACKAGE $2,447 (discounted to $2,348): Adds a 250GB external/USB drive.
- JET-SETTER PACKAGE $2,512 (discounted to $2,398): Adds a Tumi laptop sleeve, and external DVD-RW.

Additional options:
- Various Tumi sleeves
- External USB optical drive (DVD or Blu-Ray)
- External HDD (250GB or 500GB)

Available: http://www.adamobydell.com/commit

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