The Inspiron Mini 9 is Dell’s first foray into the mini laptop field, a realm populated by such Lilliputian creatures as the ASUS EeePC 900, the MSI Wind, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10, the Acer Aspire One, or the 2133 Mini-Note PC. How does the newcomer hold up to its more established cousins?

Physically its measurements are 6.8 by 9.2 by 1 inches, placing it between the Acer Aspire one and the EeePC 900. It weighs around 1.04 kg, about as much as the other pintsize PCs around. It has a shiny black finish, a black keyboard and silver palm-rest, giving an old-school business look. The screen sports an 8.9 inch diagonal which could stand to be bigger, but this is made up for by its good contrast and clear picture.

Under the hood, we see a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM (you can upgrade this, but not without voiding the warranty) and instead of a spinning-plate hard-disk, it stores information on an 8GB solid-state drive. This doesn’t leave much space after OS installation unfortunately, and although there is a $40 upgrade to 16GB, it pales in comparison to, for instance, the MSI Wind’s 90GB.

The advantage of a storage solution with no moving parts is there though, and should be taken into consideration. It comes with Windows XP preinstalled, and there is also an option for Ubuntu 8.04 (for the 4 GB version). Other accessories include three USB ports, a 4-in-1 media card reader (SD, MS, MS Pro and MMC), VGA-out, an Ethernet port, and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. The latter makes it suited for video conferences.

All this, coming at a price tag of $474 make it suitable as a secondary laptop for the businessman on the go, or for that matter anybody who doesn’t want to carry a heavier 6 pound laptop on an airplane, through customs, or other travel locations.