Dell Inspiron Mini 10

It took Dell a little while to get on the mini-notebook bandwagon last year, but when it did with the 9in Inspiron Mini 9, we were impressed with the results. Now there’s an updated version in the form of the 10in Mini 10.

There are actually several versions of this: the one we’re looking at, at £299, uses an Intel Atom Z520 processor and has Windows XP and a 160GB hard disk. The screen was bright and clear, although we had some trouble convincing it to display at the correct resolution instead of the blocky low resolution it seemed to prefer.

It’s the same size as the Samsung N310 and like that computer its keyboard stretches the full width of the case. It was less easy to use, though, because the keys weren’t as cleverly spaced as on the Samsung. The trackpad is a multi-touch model like that on the Acer Aspire One D250, though.

There are three USB ports, sound sockets, a memory card reader and an HDMI port for connecting to TVs and monitors, and it can connect to wired and wireless networks. It’s nicely expandable – the Dell website offers a higher-resolution screen (though there’s little point at this size), a longer-life battery and even a TV tuner as paid options.

Performance was so-so: the upgraded processor doesn’t offer much for Windows XP users, though it is a little better at handling video files. The battery life was poor, though: we only achieved two-and-a-half hours in our testing.

At £299 the Mini 10 is not among the cheapest mini-notebooks, and while it offers some performance gains most home users will see little benefit compared with a computer that costs £100 less. And if you’re determined to spend £300 on such a computer, the Samsung NC10, with a great keyboard and excellent battery life, represents a much better investment.

With poor battery life and unimpressive performance the Dell Mini 10 does its job perfectly well but at the asking price is less than impressive.