The Mini 9 has a big brother in the form of the Dell Inspiron Mini 12.

As the name suggests it has a 12.1 Inch WXGA display.

The Mini 12 is trying to bridge the gap between what is considered the normal netbook form factor and regular laptops.

Like the 9 it is based around the Intel Atom processor running at 1.33 Ghz or 1.60 Ghz.

Unlike the Mini 9’s solid state storage the Mini 12 has a 40Gb or 80GB pata hard drive and 1 Gb of dual channel DDR2 RAM.

The 12 Inch form factor still doesn’t allow for a full size keyboard but it is big enough not to be a problem in use.

The basic 3 cell battery supplied is good for about 1 hour 20 of use but there is an extended battery available with 6 cells which boosts battery life to over 3 hours.

Pros

12.1 inch WXGA screen giving 1280×800 resolution

Excellent build quality with solid feel but only weighing in at 1.25Kg

Cons

Unlike the 9 there is no HSPDA modem so if you want mobile broadband you need to use a USB modem.

The biggest drawback of the Mini 12 is the operating system’s it ships with.

The base 40Gb model comes with ubuntu Linux which is fine if Linux is your thing but the big problem comes with the 80Gb which struggles along with Windows Vista Home Basic.  The system really struggles to handle the OS so you should budget to replace it with good old XP if you want a useable system.

Lastly the price.  At £329 for the 40Gb linux model and £399 for the 80Gb Vista model it is firmly in budget laptop territory where it meets with some very stiff competition from some well specced rivals.

Overall the Mini 12 is much more practical in everyday use than it’s baby brother with its bright 12 Inch screen and grown up keyboard.

If you are happy with Linux then this could be the one for you but if you want a windows based system then there are probably better options available.