Dell Launches Mini 10 Netbook at $399

Dell's third netbook will sport a 10.1-inch widescreen display and Intel Atom processor.

Breeding its popular Mini 9 netbook with the stallion Mini 12, Dell on Thursday bore the Mini 10, which will fill in the middle of its growing netbook line. Like its predecessors, it will use an Intel Atom processor and modest hardware to keep price and size to a minimum, but with a 10.1-inch WSVGA display, similar to other recent arrivals like Acer’s Aspire One AOD150 and the upcoming Archos 10s.

Basic specs will include 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, along with built-in Wi-Fi, a webcam, HDMI output, and Windows XP as an operating system. Users will optionally be able to upgrade to up to 2GB of RAM and a 250GB hard drive, an internal digital TV tuner, built-in Bluetooth, WWAN, GPS, and a choice of Ubuntu Linux or Windows Vista as an OS.

Weight will remain under 3 pounds, and Dell claims that its keyboard is 92 percent the size of a full-size equivalent. The touchpad will also support multi-touch gestures to perform scrolling, rotating, zooming and other functions with more than one finger.

In a rather unusual move, Dell will begin taking orders immediately for the netbook via QVC, but won’t open up for purchase on the Dell Web site until Feb. 26. The most basic version of the Mini 10 will retail for $399, and will be available in black, white, red, pink, blue and green.