Review of Dell Inspiron Mini 10

With the number of netbooks releasing into the market, Dell too has tried to keep its line of this fashionable electronic gadget interesting. The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 features a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Z530 Silverthrone Processor, 1 GB RAM and comes with Windows XP.

Specifications
Price as reviewed/Starting price: $593 / $349
Processor: 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530
Memory: 1GB, 533MHz DDR2
Hard drive: 160GB 5,400rpm
Chipset: Intel GMA 500
Graphics: Intel GMA 500 (integrated)
Operating system: Windows XP Home SP3

Design
This netbook has the same look as other models from Dell notably the Mini 9 and the Mini 12 specially with its glossy coating, which is obviously going to have fingerprints all over it. The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is available in black, white, green, pink, blue or red. It measures 10.3 X 7.2 X 1.3 inches and weighs 2.6 pounds. Opening up the netbook, we discover the 10.1-inch display with a resolution of 1024 X 576 pixels. Above the screen is where the 1.3 MP WebCam is located. It comes with a built-in microphone and when we tested it, our voices didn’t sound that loud from the netbook. Ports on this netbook are a Kensington lock slot, 3 USB ports, a 3-in-1 Memory Card Reader, Ethernet jack, an HDMI Port, a microphone and headphone jack.

Keyboard
The keyboard on this one is slightly bigger than the one found on the Mini 12. It is certainly better with full sized keys, the typing process was fully enjoyable. The touchpad is small in comparison with the keyboard and it has its buttons on itself rather than having them separately on top. Compared to having a comfortable keyboard, using the touchpad is not comfortable at all but still the touchpad is better than most netbooks around.

Battery
The 3-cell battery keeps the netbook alive for about 2 and half hours of multi-tasking operations and when we used it on the power saving mode, it sustained for around 3 hours. We wished it was longer but then we will need a bigger battery for that.

System
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 features the Z530 version of Intel’s Atom CPU which is different from what other netbooks have. With a 1.6GHz clock speed, we found that this netbook runs slightly slower than netbooks with the usual Intel’s CPU Processor. The kind of processor found on this netbook was first designed to be used on handheld computers. You won’t feel much difference unless you are expecting to process like a laptop. We used Microsoft Word while listening to music and the netbook worked just fine. The same goes for downloading contents from the internet and listening to music. Most netbooks don’t have very good graphics and this one is no exception. Playing a DVD video is fine but it jams a bit while playing HD videos.

Conclusion
What impressed us with this netbook is the fact that it has a stylish and neat design, the keyboard is spacious and it is light to carry around. What we didn’t like is its cramped touchpad with the not-rightly placed buttons that could have been different. We weren’t impressed by the 3-cell battery but if it has to be slim and ultraportable then only a 3-cell battery could fit in the Dell Inspiron Mini 10’s list of features. With strong competition in the netbooks market, this netbook might appeal to those who are looking for something light and simple to carry around on trips, meetings or classes.