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

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 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)