Dell Mini 10 10-inch netbook review

The Dell Mini 10 seems to offer the perfect size between their 12-inch and 9-inch model, offering both easy mobility with it’s light and small size, but also enough screen size to be used comfortable.

The 10-inch netbook market competition has been growing rapidly, but the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 competes very well, by being the thinnest and lightest in it’s size class. The Mini 10 is also more customizable than others, offering component upgrades and multiple color options.

Like the Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12, the Mini 10 is a compact, easy-to-carry Internet companion featuring wireless and entertainment capabilities to help keep kids, tweens, teens, travelers and “Tweeters” chatting, blogging, streaming content, sharing photos, watching videos and more.

Dell Mini 10 specifications

* Processor: Intel Atom Z530 processor 1.60GHz
* Storage: 160GB HD
* Memory: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
* Graphics: Intel GMA 500
* Colors: 6 options - Blue, Green, Pink, Red, White, Black
* Weight: 2.6lbs
* Screen: 10.1-inch display, 1024 x 576 resolution (SVGA), LED backlit
* Wireless: 802.11g
* Web Camera: 1.3MP built-in
* Ports: 3 USB 2.0, HDMI, Ethernet, 3-in-1 media card reader
* Warranty: 1-year
* Audio: SRS sound enhancement software included
* OS: Windows XP Home Edition
* Price: $559
* Ship date: March 20



In design, the Minis look much the same as their larger cousins, Dell has merely scaled down their traditional laptop shape, offering the same style of keyboard and chassis, but with a more reinforced hinge and a more polished finish and glossy display that gives it a touch of elegance.



The 10.1” “edge-to-edge” display offers a 16:9 ratio and a maximum resolution of 1024x576, but without a built-in disc drive, you’ll need to rely on downloaded video clips to make proper use of it instead of DVDs.

Since Dell kept the scale of their regular laptops, the keyboard is quite comfortable although the keys themselves are quite flat and could have used a bit of a raised surface to help distinguish them. Dell says that they keyboard is 92% the size of one of their regular keyboards and that feels right.



The touch pad is a single unit, with the left and right buttons built in. The gesture-based controls allow you to use two finger tips with a spreading action to zoom into pictures and scroll through documents. The results are just as mixed as most touchpads which can often be activated by a casual swipe of your hand. I expect most users will switch to a USB mouse like myself, so it’s not a major plus.


The Mini 10 uses Windows XP Home Edition with Intel’s Atom Processor. Dell of course, offers the option to customize the Mini 10 with a wide range of component upgrades, but comes standard with 1GB RAM and a 160 GB Hard drive, much larger than what most netbooks offer.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is powered by a 3 cell battery which can power the netbook for just about 3 hrs. This is pretty low compared to other endurance ehavyweights like the Samsung NC10 but Dell is planning to include a 6 cell battery option soon. The Wi-Fi reception is pretty nice and offers good speeds.

Pros:

* Nice Design
* Good Display
* Spacious Keyboard

Cons:

* Low Battery Life

Where to buy:

Posted by Rocky on 11:32 AM. Filed under Dell, Netbook - Notebook . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Feel free to leave a response