It looks like the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 has a big brother. Yesterday, Dell announced the new 12″ Intel Atom-powered Dell Inspiron Mini 12 netbook. Yes, a 12″ display is really pushing the definition of just what a netbook is (and this is the first 12″ netbook). It’s pushing it more than even the Asus N10 and its dedicated NVIDIA graphics chipset.
For the first time, faster Intel Atom CPUs are being offered: The Z520 (1.33GHz, 512KB L2) and Z530 (1.6GHz, 512KB L2), both of which may have some hardware virtualization capabilities (depending on whether they are enabled or not). Windows Vista Home Basic is the OS of choice for the initial launch model, but Ubuntu Linux and Windows XP Home will also be offered later on. Dell claims a battery life of three and a half hours.