Once rumored, now real: the Deal Mini 12. It’s the same deal as the Mini 9, that is, a netbook that’s designed for light Internet usage, but this time with a 12-inch display. (Incidentally, my first laptop, a PowerBook G4, also had a 12-inch display—the meshing of netbooks and notebooks?) Dell defines it as great for “teens, tweens, travelers and ‘Tweeters’ to surf the Web, chat with friends, blog, stream content, upload photos or enjoy online videos, music and games.”
What’s sorta weird is that it’ll be available in Japan for about a month; it should be available to buy online by the end of November starting at around $600. That gets you Vista Home Basic, 1GB RAM, 60 or 80GB hard drive and built-in Wi-Fi. Like every other netbook, then.
And if you’re looking for a hands-on report, be sure to check out our friends at Laptop magazine. They played with an early model of the netbook and found that the 12-inch screen makes this netbook eminently more usable than others.
Dell making solid computers? Quick, someone play “The World Turned Upside Down.”