Upcoming Dell E netbook dubbed MID
Breaking news from Engadget this morning is that the Dell Mini Inspiron first spied at D6 last month is now (temporarily) called the Dell E and will be available in three configurations starting at just $299. All of the specs and additional info can be found in this gallery, so they don’t need repeating here. What struck me most, apart from the price and models, is that the company is referring to the 8.9-inch device as the "Dell Mobile Internet Device (MID)."
You can see all of the MID-related comments here but since the text is a little blurry, I’ve typed them out below:
- The Dell Mobile Internet Device (MID) has the lowest starting price point of any Dell computing device.
- If the focus is on cost and basic productivity, then the Mobile Internet Device is a great option.
- The Mobile Internet Device is one of the smallest, lightest devices to provide basic productivity.
- MIDs can do some creation, but full video editing is better left for a more powerful processor.
- While XP can be installed on a MID, if the customer needs the usual XP experience then they should look to Vostro or Latitude.
- The MID is not a true notebook, so running XP with Office on a MID will sacrifice performance.
- Vostro and Latitude on-site service options are not available on MID.
- The MID has a finite set of options with storage being limited to 2-40GB.
So now we’ve got Dell, ARM, Texas Instruments, Microsoft, and of course Intel all using the MID term and defining it with a different set of specs and form factors. How easy to understand for the mainstream consumer!
Note: The Dell E is scheduled for release in August, so it won’t be added to the Pocketables giveaway prize pool.
