Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 "Netbook" low cost sub-notebook computer is due out in a week in the USA for $US349. This is a similar low cost low power device to the MSI Wind, Acer Aspire One and ASUS Eee PC. Dell offer the lowest cost version of the Mini 9 with Ubuntu Linux installed and Windows XP on the higher optioned units ($15 extra for Windows XP). It will be interesting to see if Dell bring out a desktop version of the Mini 9, as ASUS did with the E-Box.

One option is a white, rather than the standard black case, for $US25 extra. This seems a odd sort of extra cost option. The Eee PC was made available in a range of colours. Notebook makers might be better off making a coloured consumer installable cover available, is is done with some mobile phones. The Wikipedia has a good comparison table of netbooks.