APC out with the first review of the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 netbook

Looking for a review of the newly announced Dell Inspiron Mini 12 netbook? Well APC managed to get their hands (via Michael Dell himself no less) on the new system at a regional Dell event in Shanghai and as a result, they now have what they’re calling as the “world’s first review” of the system. They’re probably right with that claim.. since I can’t seem to find another review of the system as of yet. In any event, here are some notes from the review:

It’s not quite as slim as the ASUS S101 but it might cure your MacBook Air envy
Manufactured by Taiwanese OEM/ODM Compal
Internal codename for the Mini 12 was “Yao Ming” for you know who. The Inspiron Mini 9 was codenamed “Qiao Hong” after the Chinese table tennis champ.
Temperatures seemed warm but OK
Mono speaker – boo
Nearly full size keyboard – very nice
Two mini PCI card slots underneath – one for the Wi-Fi and one for 3G HSDPA support
Upgrades are going to be painful as it’s a pain to get into the netbook
Uses the smaller and more power efficient Z series Atom processor
Uses the Poulsbo chipset which integrates Northbridge, Southbridge, Graphics, Audio in one chip (also known as the System Controller Hub) but only supports a max of 1GB of RAM. Yup.. that stinks
Yes Vista is installed and it does work.. but yes.. you only get 1GB of RAM so do you really want Vista on this?
Dell Dock included
Battery life is poor given the three cell battery (2.5 hours or so depending on usage)

Finally, here’s a blurb from the review:

“Yet I can think of plenty of mainstream users – typically the family, friends and workmates of many APC readers – for whom this $999 netbook will really hit the sweet spot by blurring the conventional boundary of form factor and blowing apart the long-standing sub-note barrier of price.”

Note that it’s expected to be under $600 in the U.S.