February 2009 - Direct2Dell

Many of you have been keeping track of the Mini 10 since we previewed some details at CES. Starting today, we'll begin taking preorders from customers in the United States through QVC. U.S. online availability through Dell.com will follow soon after—it's scheduled for February 26.  We'll begin shippping next month. The regional schedule will vary, but the Mini 10 will be available to Dell customers worldwide in the future.

It comes standard in Obsidian Black, but we offer Alpine White, Promise Pink, Cherry Red, Ice Blue and Jade Green as color options. Mini 10 pricing starts at $399. With the 3-cell battery, its starting weight is 2.86 lbs.

Update (2-26): The Mini 10 is now available for order at Dell.com.

The Mini 10 will be available with two Atom processor options: the Z520 and Z530. Standard features include:

• an integrated 1.3 megapixel webcam
• an HDMI out port
• integrated 802.11g Wi-Fi
• a 3-cell 24Whr battery
• 160GB 5400rpm hard drive
• a 4-in-1 memory card reader

Initially, all Mini 10s will come with 1GB fixed RAM (which means it will not be upgradable), the Windows XP operating system, and a 16:9 edge-to-edge display that supports a maximum resolution of 1024 x 768. The default screen resolution is 1024 x 576, which is a better fit for the widescreen display. As far as ports, the Mini 10 features HDMI out, 3 USB ports, an Ethernet jack, a 4-in-1 memory card reader, AC Power in and 1 line out + 1 Mic-in ports.

Update (3-31): The high resolution screen is now available as an option on the US website. For $35 more, you now can opt for a 1366 x 768 display).

Update (4-30): I tweeted this last week, but forgot to update this post: The 6-cell 56W/Hr battery is now available as a $30 option. Beyond that, we now offer some designs in addition to all the color options I've mentioned elsewhere in this post. 

Update (8-15): Recently we just began offering a promotional Mini 10 configuration for customers in the United States with 2GB of RAM and Windows Vista Home Basic with SP1. For more details, check out my updated post on the 2GB topic here.

All Windows XP machines will ship with Windows Live Essentials and the Windows Live Toolbar. Microsoft Works will also be standard software. Microsoft Office Basic 2007 will be an option in the future.

If you prefer Linux, Ubuntu 8.04 will be an available option soon. The higher resolution 720P panel will be available as an option in the future and the integrated digital TV tuner will be available on a future model. While I'm on the subject of future options, Bluetooth, integrated GPS and mobile broadband, will all be options down the road.

I've been using the entry-level config for Mini 10 for the last few days. My verdict: I'm going to have a hard time giving it back. The keyboard is the first thing I noticed—at 92% the size of a standard keyboard, it's a bit larger than the one on the Mini 9. I adjusted to it in no time. The other thing I noticed was that overall performance on Windows XP seemed really snappy. Just about all my work these days revolves around e-mail and web-based apps, and for those kinds of things, the Mini 10 was great. I installed Internet Explorer 8 and Firefox 3 and fired up several tabs to mimic what I do everyday. I used two of my favorite Twitter clients, Twhirl and Tweetdeck to have some conversations there. Beyond that, the Mini 10 performed well when I uploaded and viewed videos and  images on YouTube (even HQ and HD-quality ones) and Flickr, checked Techmeme and wrote most of this blog post on both Live Writer and the Community Server back end. Doing these kinds of activities, I was able to get about 3 hours of battery life with the standard 3-cell battery.

I'll update this blog post as new options become available. For a bit more background on the Mini 10 and where netbooks fit in the world of mobile devices, check out this StudioDell video. And if you want to see some photos of the Mini 10, take a look here on Dell's Official Flickr page.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing more about the inspiration and perspiration behind Adamo by Dell, and thought you might want to know a bit more about who I am. I am Vice President of Consumer Experience & Design at Dell, and each day I try to bring my passion for craftsmanship, style and design to Dell’s consumer products.

Passion is actually what brought me here from NIKE - passion for Dell’s heritage, and the possibilities ahead.  I loved the idea that the company that created the “built-to-order” model for PCs is transforming and pioneering the “made-for-me” model. 

I think the path I’m on is truly in my genes. My grandma was an artist and she always encouraged me to draw, create and make. She inspired me to create products that were both beautiful and functional and to truly enjoy the process.  Her voice is definitely still with me, and part of what I am doing at Dell is not only creating quality products, but hopefully providing others with the opportunity to continue to create and express.

It’s not all about me though, there is a team of committed, passionate people around the world at Dell who working to create expressive products to you.

 Like I mentioned recently, today is the day that customers in the United States and Canada can order for the Studio XPS 435 desktop  via Dell.com. Pricng starts at $1,099. This monster of a desktop will be available initially to customers in the U.S. and Canada, followed by Asia in early March and select European countries in June.

The Studio XPS 435 is built for performance and supports the latest hardware and technology like Intel’s X58 chipset and Core i7 processors, up to 24GB RAM and up to 4.5TB of hard drive space. Hardware is one thing, but it’s about style too—the XPS 435 features a sleek chassis design that makes upgrading components a pretty seamless process, plus it features some functional elements like the deck top device storage area on the top of the case. It features three angled USB ports that's perfect for charging your devices like an iPhone, Zune, Blackberry, etc. Plus, it also has angled headphone and microphone jacks.

Click on either of the images in this post to see larger versions of them, or the XPS 435 image gallery on Dell.com, or more still at this set on Dell’s Official Flickr site.

Who the heck needs a desktop like this these days? Folks like my buddy @RichardatDell who spend hours at a time in Photoshop working with multiple high-resolution pictures he takes. Other customers who do a lot of video editing and encoding will, and finally Media Center Edition fanatics who want to send simultaneous HD streams to multiple Xbox 360s can do so with this kind of power. It's a pretty solid system for gaming as well, but it's worth noting that the system has a single x16 PCIe graphics card slot, which means you won't be able to run two ATI cards in Crossfire mode.

For folks interested in the speeds and feeds, here’s some details on the options it supports:

• Core i7 Quad Core processors, including the 920, 840 and 965 Extreme Edition 
• Up to 24GB Tri-channel DDR3 memory via 6 DIMM slots 
• A range of ATI graphics cards including the Radeon HD3450, HD3650 HD4670, HD4850 and HD4870
• Up to a total of 4.5TB in 3 hard drive bays
• A slew of external connectivity ports including 8 external USB 2.0 ports, Firewire and eSATA
• A 475-watt power supply
• Two 64-bit OS options to make use of all that memory: Vista Home Premium 64-bit and Vista Ultimate 64-bit

And some other cool features:

• The deck top device storage area I mentioned above
• built-in infrared receiver so Media Center users can use a remote control without an external box
• An integrated 15-in-1 card reader right near the top of the chassis for easy access

Technorati Profile

Lots of readers have seen blog posts like those in VentureBeat and CNET that mentions Dell has generated over $1 million in revenue. While we're pleased with that, it's pretty clear that we can do even more.

Beginning today, Dell will offer deals from the Dell Outlet exclusive to Twitter in the U.S.  With over 11,000 followers, our team wanted to show their thanks to the Twitter world through these new deals which will continue each week.  Our team at Dell, by the way, now has over 80 twitter properties, including new Dell Outlet-focused ones in the UK and Ireland. For those interested in offers on new systems, we support regional sites in Australia and New Zealand, and for US customers and looking for new system offers can check out Dell Home Offers and Dell Small Business. For a list of where Dell is on Twitter, and to see the individuals behind them, take a look at www.dell.com/twitter.

@DellOutlet has come a long way since the first follower joined shortly after SXSW Interactive in March 2007.  We want to thank the Twitterers of the world for their support.

To illustrate our thinking, we have our first interview with Stefanie Nelson, who leads our Twitter efforts for Dell Outlet.  Enjoy! www.twitter.com/bobpdell

 Several folks are interested in the Latitude XT2 – Engadget, SlashGear, Gotta Be Mobile and others have written in anticipation of the coming launch of the Latitude XT2. Rather than making you all wait any longer, we’re unveiling the Latitude XT2 today (Tuesday) instead of tomorrow as speculated here. We hope you like what you see. Click on the image to the left to see a larger version of it. To see more pictures, go here on Dell’s Official Flickr page.

To give a bit of historical perspective, a little more than a year ago Dell announced the first convertible tablet, the Latitude XT, with capacitive touch capability. Capacitive touch technology is really unique a couple of ways – it responds the human touch, does not require force for input and was the forerunner technology for multi-touch capabilities.

Eight months later, we introduced a firmware update that unlocked multi-touch capabilities, making it the first convertible tablet of its kind. Today, we’re updating the Latitude XT2. This upgrade incorporates latest technologies to deliver better performance and enhanced security, plus improved manageability and connectivity:

• Up to 11 hours, 28 minutes of battery life with six-cell battery and optional six-cell battery slice.
• Improved connectivity with new LCD-based wireless antenna design.
• Enhanced hinge design for improved panel stability.
• SATA drive support providing updated storage technology and enhanced performance.
• Comprehensive security features adding Dell ControlVault and ControlPoint Security Manager.
• DDR3 RAM allows better performance and up to 5GB RAM.
• Manageability with integration of Intel vPro and DASH 1.0 compliance

We’re also enabling rotate as a multi-touch “gesture,” in addition to pan, rotate, scroll and zoom. These “gestures” work with common productivity applications like Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer, and features high touch accuracy for small icons.

You’ll notice some design changes too. We’ve relocated the WWAN antenna to the top of the screen for more convenience, as opposed to an external, pull-out antenna on the Latitude XT located next to the pen. And we’ve also added eSata that is also compatible with USB.

If you're more the visual type, here's a short video that highlights some of the capabilities of the Latitude XT2.