Hasta La Gadget!

Dell will ship a Nickelodeon-branded version of its Inspiron Mini 10v netbook, preloaded with some kid-friendly technologies and Nickelodeon’s trademark slime motif, or an optional SpongeBob SquarePants or iCarly logo.

The Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon Edition will be available online in the United States at Dell.com and on Walmart store shelves and Walmart.com in October. Prices have not been announced, although the standard Mini 10v costs about $299.

Each Dell Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon Edition features an easily personalized user interface, and links to WhyVille.com, an educational resource, and Nick.com, where kids can select their own video content. The netbook also comes with a 15-month subscription to McAfee Family Security as well as LoJack for Laptops.

Asus has announced a similar netbook, but that one will be co-branded with Disney.

There was no official announcement of this one, but a look over Dell’s website will reveal the truth — it looks like the Mini 12 has been shuttered. It’s not hugely surprising news considering its companion, the Mini 9, was recently given the axe as well. We’ll miss them both. Sniffle.

[Thanks, Drew]

Filed under: Laptops

Dell Mini 12 quietly discontinued originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 07 Aug 2009 12:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember when 190 grams felt feathery light? BeamBox wasn’t satisfied with that, and has put its pocket projector on a strict diet, cutting its weight all the way down to 75 grams. The Essential G2 promises VGA resolution on up to a 73-inch projection, though we’d expect the listed 20 lumens to produce usable images closer to 7.3-inches. Alas, you have to expect sacrifices when moving to such miniature dimensions. USB connectivity takes care of both power and image source, though there’s 1GB of integrated memory if you don’t feel like lugging a comparatively monolithic laptop or netbook along. If this has piqued your interest, a remote control comes as part of the deal and pre-orders are being taken now — £220, $250 or €240, depending on your local currency — with general availability set for July 29.

Filed under: Displays

BeamBox Essential G2 projector is tiny, available for pre-order originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 20 Jul 2009 08:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just when you thought you were safe from the netbook horde, along comes HP’s new Mini 5101 to tempt you with the same basic specs once again, but this time with a slick aluminum and magnesium chassis to appeal to the “mobile professional” or anyone else with a bit of class. In a crazy twist, HP has **finally moved the mouse buttons below the trackpad (because only professionals like clicking), and has included other perks like a 7200 RPM hard drive, Bluetooth 2.0, 2 megapixel webcam, and options of either a WSVGA (1024 x 600) or “HD” (1366 x 768) 10.1-inch LED screen. There are also options for 80GB or 128GB SSD drives, four-cell or six-cell batteries, with the latter rated at an improbable eight hours of runtime, and of course WWAN. There’s a start price of $449, but with some of these options we could see that shooting up pretty fast — especially if you pick the optional USB-powered external disc drive, external speakers or port replicator. It’s not cheap being cheap. The Mini 5101 goes on sale in July.

We got a quick hands-on with the netbook, and were fairly impressed. The square chiclet keys are much easier to hunt down than Mini 1000-series flush keys, and the proper trackpad configuration is naturally a huge bonus. We’d much prefer multitouch scrolling to the side-scrolling action, of course, but at least it’s an improvement. The overall build quality is near the top of any laptop or netbook we’ve played with in this price range — it’s not perfect, and there’s some of that telltale keyboard flex, but it’s a big improvement over its largely plastic competitors and predecessor.

Filed under: Laptops

HP Mini 5101 cleans up nice, shows the serious side of netbooks originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We know the Mini 1101 is the more business-centric of the new HP netbooks, but unless the company has a sudden change of heart, it looks like you’ll be getting the base configuration or nothing at all. Starting today, HP is enabling eager consumers to purchase one of the $329 machines, but the only “customization” options are external accessories and peripherals. Hit the read link to see if what’s offered fits your bill, and if not, the Mini 110 XP and Mini 110 Mi alternatives should be popping up soon.

[Thanks, Richard]

Filed under: Laptops

HP’s Mini 1101 up for order, customizations nowhere to be found originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 31 May 2009 13:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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