Never a company to miss a trick Dell have plugged the gap in their netbook portfolio between the Mini 9 and the Mini 12 with the imaginatively named Mini 10.

The Dell Mini 10 does have some features which sets it apart from the general netbook crowd whilst working within the accepted netbook format.

The Mini 10 runs the netbook version of Windows XP Home SP3 hence the 1Gb ram limit and 160Gb hard drive.

Only a 3 cell battery ships as standard which helps to keep the weight to an acceptable 1.3kg.

New Intel Atom Processor

After the standard fare things begin to get a little more interesting.

The Mini 10 has an excellent keyboard which rivals the usability of the compaq mini or HP 2140. The trackpad however appears to have no buttons. If you are a mac fan then this won’t phase you one bit. The buttons are incorporated into the trackpad which has gesture support (I can think of a few suitable gestures whilst trying to get to grips with it!). Laying three fingers on the pad for instance brings up a handy task launcher.

The screen as standard is a WSVGA 10.1″ with a resolution of 1024×576. For just an extra £15 you can specify an HD version which gives a resolution of 1366×768.

A number of lid colours are available with black or white included in the price and others available for an additional £19. Personally we think it looks pretty smart in black anyway.

Connectivity wise there are 3 USB 2.0 ports, an RJ45 Ethernet port, HDMI video out (but no VGA),2 audio jacks and a 4 in 1 card reader.

Internally there is Bluetooth and Wifi 802.11 b/g with a draft n card available as an optional extra.

Extras

Plans are afoot for further optional goodies in the form of built in GPS (If you think GPS is a gimmick I can assure you having recently returned to the Nokia N series phone I wouldn’t want to be without it now) and a TV Tuner. For the more down to earth extras a 6 cell long life battery will also be available.

Two models of the Mini 10 are available. The first starting at £299 has a smaller but still acceptable 120Gb hard disk drive and uses the new Intel Atom Z520 processor running at 1.33Ghz.

The higher spec model which usually starts at £379 but is currently on offer from Dell at £329 sports the 160Gb hard disk drive and the equally new Intel Atom Z530 processor which runs at 1.6Ghz.

PCWorld are now discounting the Dell mini 10 so you get the 160Gb hard drive version in any colour for £299 which seems like a cracking bargain to us.

The Z series of Atom processors are designed to use less power than the N series found in most netbooks which allows it to run cooler and therefore do without a cooling fan. The Z processors are also a little more feature rich than the N270 and N280 so despite the lower processor speed of the Z520 it should still be well up to netbook tasks.

Conclusion

The Dell Mini 10 is likely to appeal to a large section of the netbook buying public although it still has some stiff competition with the likes of the NC10 which is similarly priced but already has a 6 cell battery and a decent keyboard.

The HD display option will swing it for some and there are rumours of a ubuntu Linux version in the near future which should provide a cheaper option still.

Overall we think the Mini 10 is another solid product to add to the Dell lineup and we will have to wait and see if the introduction of the Z series Atom processors will do anything to increase netbook battery life.

The Mini 10 is available directly from Dell. Click link for details