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)

11.6-inch Acer Aspire One This Year?

We’ll treat it as a rumor for now, but macles* has had good information in the past. As macles* points out, up until now, most “new” Acer Aspire Ones were just a slightly larger version of the original 8.9″ AAO, including the 10.1″ Acer Aspire One D150, but there was the mysterious slim Acer Aspire One ZG8 / A0530 that recently popped up at the FCC.

If you’ll recall, about a month ago, there was a report that Acer and Asustek would be launching 11.6-inch netbooks sometime this year.

macles* is now reporting that the resolution of the 11.6″ Aspire One is 1366×768, which meatches the earlier report that Acer would be launching an 11.6-inch model. From the photos at macles, it looks like the keyboard is “chiclet-style” or “scrabble-style”, similar to the Asus Eee PC 1000HE (or 13.3″ MacBook).

Mentioned is the Atom Z530 CPU, as well as the Intel SCH USW15S (aka Poulsbo), with an Intel GMA 500 graphics chipset (aka PowerVR SGX 535), with improved hardware decoding of certain codecs (H.264, etc.). macles* mentions a Thermal Design Power (TDP) rating of 4.3W, which more than cuts in half the TDP of the Intel chipset, allowing for up to 4 hours with a standard (3-cell?) battery and up to 8 hours with a high capacity battery (6-cell?). The Z530 matches earlier reports of the slim/slimmer Acer Aspire One (since that CPU plus the Poulsbo chipset would allow for reduced cooling requirements as well as size).

Read: macles*

MSI Wind U110 ECO Announced

MSI has announced a refresh or addition to the MSI Wind U110 line, calling it the MSI Wind U110 ECO.

It’s based on the Intel Menlow Platform, powered by an Intel Atom CPU. MSI is claiming up to 9 hours of battery life, saying that the “U110 ECO is the world’s power saving No.1 Netbook!” (as jkOnTheRun mentions, that’s probably under the most ideal situation. The chipset is the Intel Poulsbo US15W. The original U110 featured an Intel N270, and the new U110 ECO is using a Z530 Atom CPU. The change in chipset and CPU can boost the battery life quite a bit, but 9 hours is pushing it.

It features a redesigned keyboard, with a pitch of 17.5mm between the keys, along with a redesigned spacebar and touchpad. There’s also the option for a 2.0MP Webcam, a rarity among netbooks (even 1.3MP can be a rarity among current netbooks).

Specifications:
- Intel Menlow Platform/Atom CPU
- 802.11b/g/n
- Bluetooth
- 3-cell or 6-cell battery
- 1.3MP or 2.0MP webcam
- Up to 2.5″ Serial ATA (SATA) HDD - 80GB, 120GB, or 160GB.

Note: The U110 ECO does not feature an ATI graphics chipset.

Read:
- MSI Press Release
via jkOnTheRun

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 - More Information?

Engadget has a link to a slide from what looks to be presentation about the upcoming 10″ Dell Inspiron Mini 10. We’ve already had a false start or two about the Mini 10. While it was announced and discussed at CES last month, very little is known. The slide has quite a bit of information.

Their target customers are (and I quote):
- Youth social networking/entertainment
- Vacation/coffee shop companion

The primary usage they see from the Mini 10 (again, I’m quoting):
- Mobile web & communication
- Video entertainment
- Social networking

Specifications:
- Display: 10.1″ 16:9 (1024×576) or 1366×768 (close to 720p)
- CPU: Z520 1.3GHz, Z530 1.6GHz Intel Atom Silverthorn
- Weight: 2.2 pounds
- Battery: 3-cell (3-4 hours) or 6-cell (6-8 hours)
- OS: Linux (Probably Ubuntu) or Windows XP Home
- Colors: black, white, red, pink, blue, green, “Picasso”
- HDD: 2.5″ 120GB or 160GB - (unsure if SATA or IDE)
- RAM: 1GB or 2GB DDR2
- I/O: 3x USB 2.0, 2 headphones(?), HDMI
- Wireless: 802.11g/n + WWAN options
- Internal Options: GPS, TV Tuner
- Multi-touch Touchpad
Read more

MSI Wind U110, U115, Paulsbo Chipsets

Hot on the heels of the recently announced 10.2″ Intel Atom-powered MSI Wind U120 and U120H netbooks comes news of more models in the MSI Wind lineup.

The models announced at the MSI press conference in France are the U110, U115, as well as the previously mentioned U120H.

The additions to their Wind netbooks include the following:
- Integrated 3G in certain models (U120H)
- Hybrid hard drives for some models (using both mechanical and flash-based storage)
- A move to Intel’s Paulsbo platform (Intel SCH US15W)
- 6-cell batteries look to become standard
- 250GB HDD options added
- Easyface software (facial recognition)

The move to Paulsbo increases the video capabilities (decoding, etc.), while dropping the power requirements (and adding to the battery life).
Read more