No one is mourning the Mini 12's demise?

I haven't seen mention of the recent announcement that Dell is discontinuing the Inspiron Mini 12. It's hardly a shocker, but I'm wondering if Lenovo's IdeaPad S12 will fare much better?

 

Nope, sorry I'm not...

I was excited about it at one time...but that was then..now I just look forward to what the future going forward Dell will have to bring to us!

Cin....

 

Dell might be mourning it...

 

I never understood why they had the Mini 10 and 10v and then a Mini 12 with lower processor power and harddrive space. I would think that those going for the bigger Mini 12 would like to have at least as much power and hd space as the Mini 10 offers, if not more.

 

Mini 11 is almost here, will be much better with is culv processors. The Mini 12 could have been good had Dell given it the Z540 and Z550 as options.

 

The Inspiron 13 will help ease the pain. Practically as small as a 12, but with full Core 2 Duo CPU.

 

no 11 or 12 will be any interest to me if they are going to put a slower atom processor then the 1.6 that we already have.

id really like an 11 inch ulv processor and 9300m gpu laptop but sadly that will never happen.

 

The Mini 12 was at an awkward junction of weak specs and relatively large size for a netbook. The Mini 10 and 10v are both smaller, but have more powerful components.

 

The Mini 12 was hobbled from day one! It would make a good case study for Dell (and other companies) of what NOT to do!

The 12" display had some appeal, but the use of 4200rpm PATA hard drives, 1GB RAM limit, Windows Vista Home Basic and the weak 1.33GHz Atom Z520 processor were less-than-wise decisions! They quickly yanked Vista Home Basic and replaced it with XP Home, which negated any benefits from the Intel GMA 500 graphics....

They also used a 12.1" CCFL-backlit display instead of a more energy-efficient LED-backlit unit, for some unknown reason?!?

The Mini 12 was one of the thinnest netbooks available and no surface was ever more than lukewarm to the touch, even without a fan...but the compromises made to achieve the thin, fanless design were far too great! It was also rather pricey- easily topping $500 with the Z530, 80GB hard drive and 6-cell battery.

 

I liked the Mini 12, it was incredibly light for its size and I personally loved the larger 1280x800 screen resolution.

 

If I remember right the MS / Intel restrictions on net books with 10.2"+ screens were responsible for its limitations.

The NC20 looks the best of the 12" alternatives, but all these new 11.6" models look like they'll be more successful, even with similar performance.

 

Actually, there was a lot of speculation whether Intel would charge more for the Atom platform for the Mini 12 since it exceeded their display size parameters. The choice of a PATA-interface hard drive was very strange, but the 4200rpm speed was to minimize power usage and heat. The 1GB RAM limitation is related to the design of the Intel US15W chipset, which has the 1GB soldered onto the motherboard and no way to upgrade. Netbooks based on the Atom N-series can be upgraded to 2GB by the user, though 1GB is the limit they can sell with XP Home installed.

 

The chipset used with the Z processors also has a 2GB version.

 

You're right...the Sony VAIO P is an example of the Atom Z-series with 2GB RAM...but Dell didn't offer it on the Mini 12 (or the Mini 10, either). They both come with 1GB of 'integrated' RAM and there's no way to upgrade it!

 

They did look good though. If they'd been sold in the shops, perhaps they'd have sold better.

 

Looking back into the specs of initial launch of the model...
1. High Price.
2. No optical drive.
3. Atom Processor.
4. Limited performance hardware, GMA500... if i'm not wrong.
5. Limited sized RAM.
6. Limited sized battery option.
7. Windows Vista!!!!!??????????????

On 1.
-no idea about the market response else where. But here in Singapore, with that initial launch price(SGD$999 if i'm not wrong...), we could easily turn our eyes away from mini12. As there are more 12inchers around which are sold around that price. Acer and HP comes into my mind.

On 2.
-Lets temporary ignore about other brands or makes. A 12inch screen is almost comparable to other portable media players(DVD players with screens). Even with optical drive built in, Vostro 1200 is still portable to most people, with better harware specs too!

On 3.
-2 processor option available during the sale period. Z520 & Z530. Yes, undeniably, these processors are much more better than the N-series Atoms, especially when it comes to energy consumption. But again... by topping up a little more, you might get dual cores(Intel Ts or AMD Athlons/Turions) with same sized screen, with other brands in the market.

On 4.
-Notebooks nowadays does not serve only basic computing purpose. With internet, there will be more demand on hardware performance when it comes to multi-media. Is GMA500(hpoefully i'm not wrong) sufficient for these demands?

On 5.
-The initial release of mini12 comes with VISTA and 1G ram. Huh? Is that too little? Further more, when 12 was selling in Singapore, the options available to customize our purchase is pretty limited. 1G ram??????

On 6.
-ehh... what was the original released battery size to mini12? 3 cells, 4 cells? Or do we have an option to upgrade to 6 cells(Here i'm referring to the Singapore market again)?

On 7.
-needless to say, if someone tries to sell you a netbook, tells you that it runs on Vista. What will your reaction be?

Price, limited hardware/performance option, odd choice of O.S.... Doesn't these are enough to push mini12 to the cliff edge faster?

I won't mourn.... Not me...