Rumours Surface of New Dell Netbooks

Dell may soon be releasing a new line of netbooks.

Engadget recently reported that a German Website, netbooknews.de, got a hold of slides that it says are of Dell’s road map for its netbooks. If true, a new Mini 11 netbook could be out sometime before the end of the third quarter of 2009, with a starting price of $299 (£203).

The Inspiron Mini 10, Dell’s current model, would include options for Microsoft Vista, a 3G modem and possibly a 1.86GHz Intel Atom processor on 17 April and a new 1.6GHz Atom N270 in May. In the second half of the year, everything would be updated again with Intel’s Pine Trail processors.

A spokesperson said Dell’s official response is: “Dell does not comment on speculation around future road map investigations.”

What’s more certain is that Dell is now offering the option of a high-definition display for the Mini 10. The standard display is a 10-inch, 1,024-by-576-pixel display; for $35 more, users can now choose to update to 1,366 by 768 pixels, which represents 720 pixels of vertical resolution–or high-definition video mode.

According to researcher iSuppli, worldwide netbook shipments increased by more than 2000 percent in 2008 and are expected to rise 68.6 percent in 2009.