Since netbooks are becoming increasingly popular nowadays, the most important names in the industry are rushing in to take advantage of this trend. And for this reason, back in early September 2008, the Dell company launched its Inspiron Mini model, which combines a very attractive external design with advanced processing and connectivity features.



The Dell Inspiron Mini is available in three different versions, but there are relatively few differences between them, related to the available memory (both RAM and storage) and the pre-installed OS. Thus, the base model features a 4 GB SSD, 512 MB of DDR2 memory running at 533MHz and comes pre-installed with Ubuntu 8.04 with a custom Dell interface. The next two models both come pre-installed with Windows XP, but there's a slight increase in storage memory (8 GB and 16 GB SSDs, respectively) and in the RAM memory (1 GB of DDR2 for the most expensive model).



Dell has chosen the already famous Intel Atom N270 processor (1.6GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB) to provide the computing power of the Inspiron mini. The CPU is accompanied by an Intel 945PM / GM Express Chipset, while the graphics side is taken care of by the Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 950.



Like most of its competitors, the Dell Mini sports an 8.9-inch display, which delivers an 1024x600 pixels resolution. Additionally, users can choose from the optional 0.3MP or 1.3MP webcams.



The connectivity options offered by the Inspiron Mini are rather standard, namely 3 USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 LAN (RJ45) connector, 15-pin VGA video connector, audio connectors (1-line out and 1 mic-in) and a 3-in-1 media card reader. It's also interesting to note that, while the 802.11g wi-fi mini-card is standard for all Mini versions, adding a Bluetooth module is entirely optional.



The Dell Inspiron Mini is available in the $350 - $450 price range, which is actually pretty OK, compared to other similar products currently available on the market.