World First Review of Dell's 12.1in Netbook

An anonymous reader points to what's claimed to be "the world's first look at Dell's 12.1" netbook," running at Australian Personal Computer Magazine. There's a bit of gushing at the beginning, but this is followed by some informative pictures, informal battery-life tests, and interesting background about the machine's components. Upshot: it's a well-made, decent-performing small laptop with a better keyboard than smaller netbooks and more wireless options than most. However, it's shorter on battery life (bigger screen, smaller battery) than Dell's smaller Mini 9, and less easily upgraded.

Comments

pricey

[Entropy98]

At $1000 I'm not sure who this is targeted at.
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Re:pricey

[Anonymous Coward]

Apple customers.

Re:pricey

[speeDDemon (nw)]

Whilst I understand its a limitation of the chipset, 1Gb of RAM and Vista.... ewww. Internal 3G card is a nice touch though.

Re:pricey

[somersault]

The chipset can only run Vista? Egads! What unholy portent is this? I cast thee OUT!

*throws netbook into the dark Abyss of Tortured Souls and Recycled Cardboard*

Re:pricey

[cayenne8]

" The chipset can only run Vista? Egads! What unholy portent is this? I cast thee OUT!

*throws netbook into the dark Abyss of Tortured Souls and Recycled Cardboard*

LOL...that's pretty good.

But it made me think...who is going to be buying any of these things? I know I'm a bit behind trends here of late, but, I'd not heard the term 'netbook' till a couple weeks or so ago. Why are they coming out with laptops with such small screens, and underpowered CPU-wise? It seems they are going backwards in terms of performance and viewing capability?

I'll grant you that these are nice and thin and lighter, but, seriously, it looks like we're regressing back to the days of early laptops that were light on processing power, and screens so small you needed a magnifying glass to use them.

Re:pricey

[Corporate Troll]

Why are they coming out with laptops with such small screens, and underpowered CPU-wise?

The answer is simple: people who value size and price more than performance. I don't want to fall in a 640K is enough for anybody stance here, but be honest with yourself: how often do you use the full power of your machine when not gaming or photo-editing (for which these machines are woefully inadequate)? My work laptop, is currently using 1% to 5% of it's power and it's over two years old (the time I've been working at this company, and I'm not sure if it was new). That's it.... At home, my wifes desktop is much older (bought autum 2003) and it rarely uses up more than 10% for our typical usage. I consider our usage to be rather typical.

So, even 5 year old machines don't get to see much load. So, you're on the move want to surf a bit and read your email? Well, you don't need a Dual-Core Multi-Gigahertz machine for that anymore. So why spend more? So, that's for the performance part.

Now the size part: typical laptops are 15.4" or larger. I don't know about you, but that's pretty huge and not exactly something a woman would put in her purse. Indeed, there are machines that were small, but they were also very expensive...

Which brings us to price. The small portable machines from a few years ago were extremely expensive and also didn't have the oompha that their larger cousins have. I wouldn't ever spend 2500€ to have a small and slightly underpowered laptop. However, I have no qualms paying 300€ for a small-very-underpowered-but-adequate laptop.

As a matter of fact, up until January 2007, my primary laptop was an old P-III 600MHz/512Meg RAM dual-booting XP and Linux... It ran absolutely fine for my light usage. Compare that to the underclocked Celeron 630MHz in the original Asus EEE PC... Well, the only differences? The Asus is much smaller and lighter: I do lack a bit screen estate. The Asus EEE 900, however has a 1024x600 screen, which is pretty close to what my old P-III laptop had, being 1024x768.

Re:pricey

[dugjohnson]

Real NETBOOKS (not this thing, too big and expensive) are useful for RIAs (Rich Internet Apps) that don't need a lot of screen real estate.  IF they have a lot of battery and IF they are small enough and IF they are cheap enough, you can put these netbooks into the hands of floor workers (retail, medical office) and have all of the access you need.  Most WIFI phones/PDAs are too small for real floor usage.

Re:pricey

[blackest_k]

well this is being posted from a netbook.

Screen size is 9 inch with 1024 by 600 resolution. This is quite a comfortable size and is sharper than my old hp 15inch with 1024x768 resolution. Smaller Screen with Smaller pixels. Admittedly the netbooks with smaller screens are a bit too cramped with 800x480.

Keyboard size on 9inch versions seems adequate I can type at a reasonable rate without hitting the wrong keys.

Processing power is good enough in ubuntu and Linux in general. 2000 in a Vm isn't super fast but its quite usable.

in short its probably roughly equivalent to my old HP, The Atom processor isn't quite as fast but its good enough. Really thats the key too the whole thing. It is good enough.

Now what makes it better than my old HP is the size its small enough to fit in a glovebox or for the ladies a handbag. power wise it uses about 22,23 watts and even with the stingy battery Acer supplied a comfortable 2 hours can be had. Better batteries can increase that to 5 or 7 hours.

Storage ranges from 4Gb to 120Gb depending on model and extra space is easily added with Sd cards and usb sticks. When you consider that a show such as hero's can be just 300 Meg for an episode a 2Gb Sd card will keep you entertained for hours, if you want to work on a document you could do that too. Wifi and wired connections are built in, some have 3G adapters or you can use a usb hspda dongle or a cell phone as a modem (i use a 10mm usb bluetooth adapter to get net access most places it costs me £5 a month or 50p a day if i feel a need for it).

It's the portability and price that really makes a netbook and i really wonder if by buying a 12inch dell it really isn't too big and pricey. Your starting to get into regular laptop territory and they are just too big, toting a full size laptop soon becomes a chore.

Well you might say well get a pda then, however they have extremely small screens and pretty terrible keyboards if they have them at all picking away with a stylus is a terrible way to type and handwriting recognition far too hit and miss. If you have a net enabled mobile, you probably find that web pages are hard to navigate and interact with. Yet the same mobile when used as a modem suddenly becomes useful for more than just phone calls (or in the case of the pda sat nav).

Storage is easily added when needed, yes you can burn a DVD with a usb connected drive. (mines recycled + an external case) and if I need a bigger screen keyboard or mouse I can plug them in. Off course once I am in contact with my home Lan everything is accessible. I generally print using my samsung lazer printer.

When I'm out and about i have an inverter which allows me to charge my netbook when it needs it. I can park up and still sit behind the wheel and work or pop it on the dashboard and watch a film. My Car stereo has an aux jack but in cars without a small fm transmitter or even a cassette adapter will work as well.

I could choose to read an ebook too.

So its replacing a few devices I might have bought, a full size laptop just can't be used so easily. Airports are good places to have a netbook too, even a kitchen worktop or a coffee table. Students love em, they replace full size laptops and are easily transported from class to class.

They could be better, touch screens, webcams that can face away from the keyboard. screens that can lay flat and usable, would it be useful to record a lecture whilst taking notes maybe. maybe use it as a sketch pad capture an image with the webcam and annotate it perhaps.

So yes there are plenty of uses for a netbook it certainly calls into question the need for any other pc and a dedicated area of the home.

World's first review?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I'm not alone when I ask "who really gives a shit?". This is a computer geek's equivalent of "f1rst post!" in a hardware review.

Captain Obvious to the rescue!

[Big Nothing]

Ultra-slim and lightweight - not even room for two speakers. Is there really a need to state that it isn't "upgrade-friendly"?

Also, even though it's a sleek, lightweight laptop it certainly is not a high-end product (1,6 GHz Atom Z530, max 1 GB RAM and 60 GB HDD). So who's gonna pay the $1000 Dell want?

Re:Captain Obvious to the rescue!

[compro01]

I question too. $1000 (CDN) bought me my current laptop (an HP tx2512) in August, which has a 1.9ghz AMD X2 processor, 3GB ram, 250GB hard drive, half decent video (ATI 3200HD), same 12.1" screen size (same 1280x800 resolution too), and is a convertible tablet. About the only thing the Dell does better is that it is thinner, a little lighter (mine is only 2 and some pounds), and has a built-in 3G modem, though I can stick one of those in my expresscard slot (which the Dell lacks) if I had need.

Re:Captain Obvious to the rescue!

[jabithew]

AU$1000=US$620=CN$788=GBP391=EUR492

Australians

[Kaseijin]

At $1000 I'm not sure who this is targeted at.

1000 AUD is about 600 USD, which seems in line with the competition.

Re:Australians

[ChunderDownunder]

In all fairness, the RRP costing might have been done before the recent dramatic devaluation of the $AU - A couple of months back it was around $US.95 - The Australian price could actually go UP in coming months to cushion Dell Australia's profits.

But anyway, as I noted in another reply, I purchased an HP 'notebook' for a similar Australian price about a month ago. I mightn't be Dell's target user but, at the same price, I would still prefer to buy the 12" HP.

Working mobile

[Bender_]

I think it is quite useful of you want to work while travelling in an airplane on a train. The 9" netbooks are not really good for anything that involves a lot of typing.

A bought a DELL latitude x200 off ebay a couple of years ago for exactly that reason and I have never regretted it. Back then this was still a business notebook and costed $3000+ (I paid $250, years later). The $999 price point is not too bad.

The main drawback seems to be the battery. But did you know they had outlets in many european trains?

Price, Size / Weight and Battery Life,

[Rog7]

I'm not sure when the reviewers and manufacturers will get the popularity of netbooks. There are a minimum set of features (which almost all of them have) but after that there are only three important points: price, size / weight and battery life.

The review sites seem to spend so much time worrying about the bells and whistles that they're accustomed to with bigger laptops, but these come at a compromise of the most important aspects.

This is going the wrong way

[Anonymous Coward]

This almost seems like it is a full blown laptop again. The EEE had me hopefull we would see really affordable laptops. But then it was a big hit. Prices went up specs went up. What do we have now. Normal laptops only they are called mini.

Hard to get a sense of scale

[trawg]

Just me or is it hard to get a sense of scale in those photos when there's barely any other objects in there? There's a pen, half a hand, and another laptop that I don't know how big it is.

I always struggle with photos like this because it's obviously difficult to find a reference object /everyone/ is familiar with, but even a few little things might've been helpful in some of the photos.

Re:Hard to get a sense of scale

[TheVelvetFlamebait]

I always struggle with photos like this because it's obviously difficult to find a reference object /everyone/ is familiar with

How about a ruler?

They used to call them laptops

[fph il quozientatore]

Wow, a netbook with a large screen! If the trend keeps on going this way, next year we'll see an innovative netbook with a 15.4 screen! First in the world!

Glad I didn't buy a first gen Netbook

[NoNeeeed]

The "netbook" market has moved so fast over the last year, I'm glad I didn't stump up for an early Eee PC. This looks like it may hit my sweet spot of price/performance/size.

I'm at least a year from buying a new laptop and I can't see me replacing my current MacBook with another mac. As much as I like MacOS, I can't justify the cost of a full spec laptop. Currently, little of what I do stretches my MacBook's performance, no games, no video editing. A cheap, portable and rugged netbook running linux is just up my street. Another MacBook would be a nice to have, but at a price-tag that I just cant justify.

I think this is something some manufacturers are missing, fewer and fewer people are pushing the limits of their existing hardware. There just doesn't seem to be the pressure from software as there used to be. I know there are applications that need more power than a cheap latop can deliver (games, high-end graphics work, video editing), but this is becoming an increasingly small segment of the whole market.

Paul

The 10" Eee PC has a pretty decent keyboard

[Joce640k]

The only outstanding feature is the 1280x800 graphics (which is worth having, don't get me wrong...)

It basically fills in the gap between mini/maxi and more choice = good.

One thing it really does is pull the rug out from under those vastly overpriced $2500 SONY mini-laptops. The only reason to buy those was small size, and that reason just vanished.

Bummer it comes with Vista and not XP.

Little tiny keys!

[RiffRafff]

From the article:
"Happily, the Inspiron Mini 12 adopts a more standard sub-note layout with near full-size keys (a quick measure of a prised-off letter key came in at 1.8mm x 1.7mm, but we could be out by a few mils)."

That's like 0.071 X 0.067 inches. Does it come with a stylus for those keys?

Comment removed

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Cut-rate netbook? I'll take the Sony after a few..

[sethstorm]

One thing it really does is pull the rug out from under those vastly overpriced $2500 SONY mini-laptops. The only reason to buy those was small size, and that reason just vanished.

Not really. Those Sony mini-laptops still have a bit better construction and hardware than your cut-rate netbook. Asus can try again when they stop cutting corners by using Realtek, using sub-standard(never mind them taking forever to get close to XGA) displays and all over construction. Not a Toughbook, but something that at least tries to make a stab at quality.