Dell Launching Inspiron 910 Mini Notebook Thursday

It’s certain by now that the netbook, or mini-notebook, segment is now wide open. Brought to the forefront first by the Asus Eee PC, now it seems that every PC maker is having its hand at capturing a piece of the market.

Dell, never one to leave any segment of the PC market unattended, will launch its netbook Thursday, according to various reports.

Both Wall Street Journal and InformationWeek cite a source with Box.net, a company that will provide services that provide online services like photo and document storage that will "come preinstalled on the Dell Mini," expected to launch Thursday. A Dell spokeswoman confirmed the company’s involvement with Box.net.

Exact specifications of the Dell netbook, currently expected to be the Inspiron 910, are mostly unknown, though it should match up with most other products in the same segment – which according to Gizmodo, points to a 8.9-inch display with Windows XP or Linux pre-installed on a solid-state drive. Prices are expected to come in at below $400.

The WSJ reported that Dell had originally scheduled its netbook for a June or July launch, but chose to delay to finalize manufacturing processes.

Research firm Gartner Inc. expects sales of netbooks to amount to 5.2 million this year, with that number growing nearly ten-fold by 2012.

The netbook segment is here to stay, and the competition is burning hotter with each new entrant. Look for more information with the official announcement tomorrow from Dell.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • BaldFat
    Please be $450 has 20 GB SSD or 120 GB HD runs either on a Atom (More battery less power) or VIA C7 (More power less battery) Options. I want the same resolution as HP Mini without the gloss screen and a LED back light. All running Linux SLED or Mandriva (But it will at least be Ubuntu?)
    Reply
  • Just ordered one with Linux Ubuntu, loaded with 1GB memory, 1GB SSD, BT, yadda, yadda, yadda.
    Reply
  • jacke
    I really like that most probably Dell Inspiron price will be lower than eeePC 1000. I think that Asus made mistake, "upgrading" good old eee-concept affordable netbook to too pricy sub-notebook.

    Jack, http://shop.it.ee/
    Reply
  • batteryfast
    I'm vacillating between the Dell inspiron 910 and the Acer Aspire One.

    The Dell is said to have an instant on feature that could make the difference for me. I assume that's Linux on the motherboard, perhaps with Firefox easily available as part of the instant on. If that's the case, I'd love it. Instant on with Firefox would suit me most of the time, and I'd boot into XP on those rare occasions that I need Windows.
    Reply