The Dell Mini 12 is more comparable to an ultraportable such as the Voodoo Envy or the Lenovo x300, rather than the standard 8.9 or 10 inch netbook. Its black, glossy finish and slim design especially accentuate its likeness to an ultraportable. The Mini 12 is less than an inch thick and is even thinner than a Toshiba R500, but a little bit longer. It weighs less than three pounds with a three-cell battery and exactly three pounds with a six-cell battery. The slimness of this model is most definitely proven by its weight – which is very light even for a netbook.
The new Mini 12 has a noticeably similar design to its fellow Dell, the Mini 9. Both the Mini 12 and Mini 9 have silver-coated, glossy covers on both the touch pad and palm rest, and also have a matte keyboard. In addition to the generous display size, the Dell Mini 12 offers a 91 percent full size keyboard, which will satisfy the needs of touch typists. The general layout of the keyboard is also a lot better than the Mini 9. The keyboard maintains the traditional row of Function keys and the size and location of the Shift Key is very ideal – to the left of the up arrow. However, I would like to suggest that it would be even nicer to see Dell extend the keyboard all the way out to the edges. The Mini 12’s touch pad is equally enjoyable. It has a nice, textured feel and the left and right mouse buttons can be found underneath the pad.
Display
The Dell Mini 12 boasts a whopping 1,280 x 800 resolution on a 12-inch display, truly a one of a kind in the netbook market. The large display provides more workspace – there is enough to put two windows side by side. The colors are bright and vivid, and the screen is very glossy. However, the LCD wasn’t bright enough, even at its full potential.
The hardware of the Dell Mini 12 is also slightly different from the netbook norm. Instead of the typical 1.6 GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, it runs on the 1.6GHz Atom Z530 Silverthorne-class CPU. In addition to the Z530, the Mini 12 is supported by 1GB of RAM (cannot be upgraded), and Microsoft’s Windows Vista. Additional storage calls for the 1.8 inch 60GB hard drive, which performs at a slow rate of 4,200 rpm on a PATA interface. We have to admit, this netbook is not as lively as the others. The Windows Vista desktop took more than 2 minutes to load and other preinstalled programs such as the Dell Dock took over 4 minutes to load. If you would like to lessen that time, there are ways around it by deleting or altering parts of the software. For example, such programs as the Google Desktop Application and McAfee can help. You can also try to change the Vista settings, but in the end, it would be wise to download anti-virus software and other additional applications. Also, it would be good to keep in mind that all the preinstalled applications that come with the Dell Mini 12 are necessary and useful.
Tech Specs (varies with customization):
Dimensions & Weight
Width: 11.77″ (299mm)
Height: 0.92″ (23.31mm) front / 1.09″ (27.61mm) back
Depth: 9.02″ (229mm)
Weight: Starting weight of 2.72 lbs. (1.236 kg)1(12.1″ display, 3 cell battery). Weights will vary depending on configurations and manufacturing variability.
Processors
Intel AtomTM Z520 Processor (1.33GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Intel AtomTM Z530 Processor (1.60GHz, 512KB L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
Operating System
Genuine Windows Vista® Home Basic
Ubuntu Linux 8.04 with custom Dell interface
Memory
1GB 533MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
Chipset
Intel US15W chipset
Graphics
Intel Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator 500
LCD Display
Glossy 12.1 inch WXGA display (1280X800)
Hard Drives
Up to 80GB 4200RPM Hard Drive.
Optical Drives
No optical drive available.
Ports
USB 2.0 (3)
Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45)
15-pin VGA video connector
Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 mic-in)
3-in-1 Media Card Reader
AC adapter connector
Power
3-cell 24WHr Li-Ion Battery
Camera
Standard 1.3MP webcam
Wireless
Wi-Fi: 802.11g mini-card
Bluetooth
Bluetooth Internal (2.0) mini-card
Ports and Slots
Externally Accessible
(3) USB 2.0
Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45)
15-pin VGA video connector
Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 Mic-in)
3-in-1 Media Card Reader
AC adapter connector