Babel Machine

Netbooks have one feature that’s a bit of a double-edged sword: their small size. Sure, a tiny 10in PC is great for portability and use at school or while travelling, but for more prolonged home or office use they’re not great desktop replacements. Some vendors have recently started mixing netbook components into desktop PC systems, but I reckon the most appealing use for these low-cost parts is putting them into slightly larger, bigger-screened notebooks. The 12in Inspiron Mini 12 does exactly this, and could consequently have been a rather stunning machine. However, in its current Australian incarnation, it’s merely adequate. At 1.26kg (without the power adapter) and just over an inch thick, the Mini 12 is exceptionally light and portable, beating even some 10in models on weight. It also packs a great 1,280 x 800-pixel screen that’s clear and bright, with natural colours and good viewing angles. The bigger chassis has allowed for a larger keyboard, but it isn’t as big as it could’ve been, with a clear 1cm on either side. It is a little light on function keys (with no Pause, Break or numeric keypad), but it’s certainly a lot more usable than most netbooks. Under the bonnet, it packs a 1.6GHz Atom Z530 chip (one of the newer hyper-threaded models), 1GB of RAM, plus 802.11g WiFi, Fast Ethernet, Bluetooth and a 4,200rpm, 1.8in 80GB hard drive running Windows XP Home. In terms of performance the Mini 12 is functional for basic tasks, though subpar compared to many recent Atom N720-processor netbooks I’ve tested. That hard drive is the main culprit for this and it had a huge impact on certain disk-intensive benchmarks like UserBench Security and Image. However, what really lets down the Mini 12 is the machine’s three-cell battery. Given its 2,200mAh capacity, its UserBench Battery result of 1 hour 47 minutes isn’t terrible, but it means the machine is clearly no mobile road warrior. What’s more, Dell doesn’t even offer the option to purchase a six-cell battery. It’s likely that the poor Aussie dollar has pushed Dell to cut some corners to keep the price down. Unfortunately, these cuts have turned what was a unique and appealing netbook into a just passable one.

Overall I give the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 a 7/10 – A light and inexpensive ultraportable with subpar performance.