Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook On The Way

The 10.1-inch screen is powered by an Intel Atom Z520 or Z530 processor and comes preloaded with Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 3. With a standard three-cell battery, the Mini 10 tips the scales at about 2.86 pounds.

Because mobility is so important for the netbook market segment, the Inspiron Mini 10 is equipped with a Wi-Fi 802.11g or a/g/n mini-card and has an optional internal Bluetooth mini-card as well. Potential customers can choose between one of two hard drives, depending on the desired storage capacity, with a 120-GB option and a 160-GB option.

Because the smaller form factor of netbooks occasionally makes typing difficult for users with larger hands, the Mini 10 has a keyboard that is 92 percent the size of a standard laptop keyboard.

Dell also made it clear that the company hasn't finished adding features to the Inspiron Mini 10, with a "coming soon" section featured prominently on the product page.

Some of the more interesting and compelling features that Dell plans to add to the Mini 10 include HD capabilities for the optional 720p high-definition 10.1-inch screen. More storage space never hurts, and Dell plans to offer customers the option of purchasing an additional 2 GB of memory and a 250-GB hard drive.

GPS will also be offered by way of internal WWAN support.

Finally, battery life can be a hurdle for customers considering using a netbook. The standard three-cell battery that comes with the device offers approximately three hours of battery life. In the future Dell will bring a six-cell battery to the Mini 10, which more than doubles the operating life of the netbook to 6.5 hours.