Dell's new Inspiron Mini 12 is something of an oddity in that it doesn't seem to quite know what it wants to be: it's the size of a notebook, designed like an ultra-portable and specced like a netbook.
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The slim form factor makes it look very appealing, and it will slip easily into a normal briefcase or large handbag. Weighing just 1.25kg means that it shouldn't be a burden to carry around.
Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Specs:
- Dimensions: 11.8 x 9.0 x 1.1 inches
- Weight: 3.2 pounds
- Processor: Intel Atom Z530 clocked at 1.6 GHz
- RAM: 1 GB DDR2 RAM
- Hard Drive: 60 GB HDD, 4200 RPM
- Display: 12 inch LCD, 1280 x 800 pixels
- Integrated Graphics: Intel GMA 500, 64 MB VRAM
- Wireless: Wi-Fi 802.11 a/g
- Operating System: MS Windows Vista Basic SP 1
- Ports: 3 USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, VGA out, Headphone, Microphone, 3 in 1 card reader
Interestingly, the trackpad is matt, unlike the glossy finish on the rest of the Mini 12, which makes it much easier to slide your finger over it. The keyboard, which was already fine on the 10'' version, is largely unchanged. In the photo above, though, you'll notice a good inch wasted on each side of the keyboard, which would have allowed some keys to be a little larger, including the four arrow keys at the bottom right. It's also worth noting that the keys and the trackpad buttons are soft, and perhaps a little too soft for some people's liking.
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The image from the webcam struggles with movements, and it's best to stay right in front of the camera and remain as still as possible if you don't want to suffer from too much jerkiness. The white balancing is also problematic, creating a purple tinge to the picture by default. Sound captured by the microphone is a little muffled, and the recordings we made had noticeable crackle.
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Around the outside of the netbook are three USB ports, an Ethernet port, a pair of mini jacks, a three-in-one memory card reader: the bare minimum is there. Underneath, the only part you can access is the Dell Mini 12 battery, meaning you can't upgrade the RAM or change the hard drive yourself.
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The glossy lid looks impressive but does pick up fingerprints and smudges very easily. The power adaptor weighs a respectable 150g, but the plug is built into the transformer which can make it tricky when trying to charge from a power strip or recessed socket.
The 12in screen is large by netbook standards, but under the hood the Mini 12 packs a pretty standard set of specifications including a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor, 1Gb of DDR2 RAM and a 40GB hard drive, which would be OK if it was solid state, but is somewhat on the small side for a traditional drive.
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The hardware components of a netbook should be very frugal overall. It should require very little energy and produce the least possible heat, but nevertheless provide enough power for basic applications, and above all be affordable. The price is one of the weightiest arguments for a netbook. With the current lineup of dual core CPUs from Intel, or even from AMD or the most popular graphics solutions, this is hard to achieve.
Happily, netbooks frequently fall back on, let's say "chip specialties," like for example VIA. Intel, however, recognized the netbook potential extremely quickly and conceived with the Atom CPU of a chip that was specially designed for this device class. The demand was initially so high that Intel had to build whole chip factories from the ground up before they could satisfy it. In the mean time, the market has been brought back under control so that nearly all netbooks now rely on the Intel Atom CPU.
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Our present test sample of the Inspiron Mini 12 battery can also optionally be equipped with an Intel Atom Z520 CPU (1.33 GHz, 512Kb L2-cache and 533 Mhz FSB) or even with the somewhat faster Atom Z530 CPU with 1.6 GHz. The Atom processors were developed brand new because of the emergence and the success of the netbooks. In contrast to the other current CPUs, the chips work on the "in order" code, that is, all upcoming assignments are carried out successively. Current core CPUs from Intel, however, work on the "out of order" principle, whereby upcoming tasks are reordered for the purpose of optimizing performance.
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So here's the rub: While I love the Dell design, the hardware/software combination has slowed the Mini 12 to barely usable levels. The model I tested was the $550 base system with a 1.33GHz Atom, 1GB of RAM and 40GB hard drive. That system should be alright for XP (though we'd love to see a 2GB RAM upgrade option), but it's just not enough to power Vista. And you can only buy the system with Vista. The system crawls with constant multi-second stalls, and effective multitasking is pretty much impossible. Sadly, there's not much more to say on the topic. Simple mental math tells us that this system shouldn't be running Vista as it skirts the minimum requirements of Home Basic, and our real world testing shows us the same thing. Of course, Vista alone doesn't mean you should pass over the Mini 12. Just expect to reinstall the OS with the purchase and come to terms with the fact that your paying licensing rights for an OS that you won't use.
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The 12-inch, 1280 x 800-pixel resolution glossy screen makes all the difference to the netbook experience. Compared with 10-inch displays such as those found on the MSI Wind or Asus Eee PC 1000H Battery, the extra two inches allowed us to keep two Web pages open side by side and read them comfortably. We also didn’t find ourselves reaching for our larger notebook to accomplish certain tasks such as editing a batch of pictures. The screen has just the right amount of gloss, and horizontal viewing angles were good: a friend sitting next to us was able to watch a YouTube clip, and tilting the screen back caused minimal glare.
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The battery life of the Mini 12 is good with the 6 cell battery clocking in more than 5 hours, much higher than the category average. The 6 cell Dell Inspiron Mini 12 battery however protrudes from beneath the laptop. The 3 cell battery isn’t very powerful, offering just about 2.5 hours. The Wi-Fi reception of the Dell Mini 12 is nice and offers good speeds.
Above the display is a 1.3-megapixel webcam, which worked nicely in Dell‘s Video Chat powered by Sightspeed; our caller saw us clearly but complained of a slight green hue to the picture.
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While the Mini 12 doesn’t bury its speakers below the chassis like many netbooks do—instead placing them across the top of the keyboard—they were weak. Even when cranked up to full volume it was still hard to hear from the other side of a small apartment.
present by : http://luxurynotebook.blogspot.com/
source : http://notebookpc-review.over-blog.com
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