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Its worst-kept secret: Dell officially releases its mini-notebook
Photos of a new mini-notebook from Dell hit the Web months ago. A pretty good estimate of the price was nailed down soon after. And some of the key features leaked out earlier this week.
This morning, Dell officially took the wraps off the Inspiron Mini 9, an 8.9-inch notebook available immediately in the U.S., Japan and parts of Europe. The “netbook,” as this growing category of small laptops is called, will come in white or black. (Oops, the previous pictures had it in red, apparently not an option out of the gate.)
The first batch of the 2.28-pound Mini will run on Windows XP and will sell for $399. Upcoming versions will offer a choice of XP or the Linux Ubuntu operating system, as well as a special Dell interface. Versions with the custom interface will sell for $349.
As reported earlier this week by the Wall Street Journal, Dell said it also will provide online storage services through a company called Box.net. A free basic plan will give users 2 gigabytes of online storage but can be upgraded to as much as 25 gigabytes.
Basic models will carry 512 megabytes of storage, with options up to 1 gigabyte.
The netbook category has mushroomed over the past year, sparked in large part by the popularity of Asustek’s Eee PC. Hewlett-Packard Co. and now Dell, the two largest computer makers by volume, have released netbooks this year.
Gartner Inc. expects computer makers to ship more than 5 million netbooks in 2008.
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