Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Review

Well, Dell. What can you do? If you are one of the largest suppliers of PC laptops out there, I suppose you don’t have to offer the best products, as you have a built-in market share and name recognition. I’ve never been a huge Dell fan for this reason, and the new Dell Inspiron Mini 12 laptop does little to regain my faith in the mega-company.

And while Laptop Magazine gave the Mini 12 a decent review, most the buzz on the net is pretty tame.


Not to start out too negative, the Mini 12 has some redeeming qualities; a 12″ display, a super slim frame and a nearly full keyboard. The slim design and lack of an optical drive make it a prime competitor for the MacBook Air. And with a standard Dell low price of around $650, it’s hard to complain. But that’s where the fun ends and reality kicks in.

You can see it clearly in the specs, the thin frame is where the comparison to the MacBook Air ends. The 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor makes for pretty sluggish performance with the pre-loaded Vista. And with only 1 GB of RAM, don’t think you will be doing anything more than simple computing and a bit of Internet browsing, because you aren’t going to get gaming or high-end video/photo editing performance out of the Mini 12.

The folks over at Gadget Review and Mobile Mag tend to agree with the Laptop Magazine reviewers, too. So the Internet consensus says avoid the Mini 12 unless it’s small size and price are enough to sell you on lame specs.

And, the limited specs:

* Operating System: Microsoft Windows Vista Basic
* Processor: Intel Atom Z530
* Processor Speed: 1.6 GHz
* RAM: 1 GB
* Weight: 3.2 lb
* Screen Size: 12 inches
* Graphics: Intel GMA 500
* Storage Capacity: 60 GB
* Networking Options: 802.11 a/g
* Primary Optical Drive: n/a
via laptoppimp