Dell Mini 10 w/2GB RAM & 250GB Options Shipping w/Vista: A Challenge to Microsoft’s Netbook Definition?

Dell is up to something in netbook-land. But, I’m not quite sure what it is yet. Why do I think this? It is because I think there is a lot more to the story that this simple blog title suggests…

2GB RAM Option for Mini 10 is Finally Here

Dell has been playing some funny marketing games with their Dell mini netbook line for the past couple of months. First, they removed the popular Hackingtosh-ready Dell mini 9 from the line-up. Then, they re-introduced it for a few days. That was extended to an indefinite period while announcing the Dell mini 12 would be removed from the lineup. Dell now also has altered mini models in the Vostro, Latitude and educational lines. Before diving into the mini 10 RAM option, let’s look at what Microsoft has told hardware vendors a netbook should look like to qualify for discounted operating system licenses:

1. Screen 10.1 inches or smaller
2. 1GB RAM max
3. 160GB hard drive max

The Dell mini 10 meets the screen size limit. So, does the mini 9. The mini 12 clearly did not. If you look at the…

Dell Inspiron Mini 10

…product page, you’ll find it doesn’t actually say how much RAM it ships with. And, it doesn’t provide an option to adjust it up or down. You’ll find it also has a option for a 250GB hard drive. And, this is the first Dell netbook model I’ve seen that only offers Windows Vista as its only operating system.

Dell has clearly positioned this netbook as a Windows 7 device. The question is if Dell is challenging Microsoft’s definition of a netbook.

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