Dell has hit its stride with the Inspiron Mini 10 - it takes the basic design of the smaller Inspiron Mini 9 and adds a larger 10.1-inch screen. This results is a larger, more comfortable netbook to use. What’s more, it even manages to offer more in the way of battery life.
We took the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 for a spin, see how we got on with our review…
One of the problems we had with the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 was its size – Dell simply tried to cram too much I to too little space. So, the arrival of the Inspiron Mini 10 resolves most of this problem. You’ll find the build quality is still has high but the larger screen means that everything has more space.
It has the same design look as the smaller version but with a 10.1-inch screen that delivers a 1024 x 600-pixel resolution, you feel as though you are getting more for your money.
The larger screen allows for a more comfortable keyboard, which is a great choice if you plan to write long documents on your netbook. The keys have a great feel and are firmly mounted on the chassis. It’s a close call as to whether the keyboard is as good as the Asus Eee PC 1000HE, and also matches that of the Samsung NC10.
When it comes to performance, you’ll find this machine chugging along with the same spec of most other netbooks. So, the processor is an Intel Atom Z520, which runs at 1.33GHz and with 1024MB of memory you’ll find the Windows XP operating system runs reasonably well. The hard drive on our review unit packed in 160GB of storage space.
We found that we could run a couple of apps on the Mini 10 quite successfully but things start to slow down if you try to do anything too number-crunchy.
Extra features remain the same, so you’ll find three USB ports, 802,11g Wi-Fi, SD card slot and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. All of which add up to a decent, if unremarkable netbook.
Verdict
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is a cracking little netbook. Sure, it doesn’t stand out from the crowd but this has be made possible due to the range of colours on offer. We like the newly tweaked design and with a larger keyboard this is certainly the best Dell Mini we’ve seen.
Best features
Larger screen
Better keyboard
Choice of colours
Not so good
Standard battery life
Average spec
Check out the range of Dell Inspiron Mini 10 colours available
Check out our Dell Inspiron Mini 10 gallery:
Closest rivals
Acer Aspire One A110
This 8.9-inch netbook uses Linux for a quick boot-up and easy to understand interface. It’s slim and light and makes a great choice for those with smaller hands
Advent 4211c Netbook
The screen and keyboard are the same size as the Samsung NC10, make this a smashing, and cheaper alternative, but it can’t quite match the battery life
Asus Eee PC 900 12GB
Packing everything you’ll need into this 8.9-inch netbook hasn’t been easy but Asus has managed it, and delivers on the battery life front too
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