The Inspiron Mini 12 uses a different chipset compared to most netbooks, namely the US15W Poulsbo. This chipset is oriented toward low-power handheld Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) comparable to Nokia's N810, and as such a lot of tradeoffs were made to save power. (It is single-chip core logic with a 2.3 W TDP, compared to the 945GSE + ICH7-M in most netbooks, which together are rated for an aggregate 8.8 W TDP or so.) One of these tradeoffs is the even weaker GMA 500 PowerVR SGX graphics core; the other is the memory controller, which can address up to 1 GiB of physical RAM. (This is why the netbook cannot be upgraded from the 1 GiB of RAM.) As it happens, the processor used is also MID-oriented; an Atom Z520 at 1.33 GHz or an Atom Z530 at 1.60 GHz, both rated for a 2 W TDP (but are low-voltage parts, so should use significantly less power than an N270; I believe their average power utilization is something like a few tenths of a watt. As an aside, the Atom Z series are currently the only ones to offer VT; the regular netbook N270 and nettop 230 and 330 lack it. Like the netbook N270 and unlike the nettop 230/330, the MID-oriented Z5xx series lack 64-bit support as well).

What's puzzling, though, is why Dell decided to put these especially low-power parts in a subnotebook that approaches conventional size at 12.1". At its size, the Inspiron Mini 12 can be equipped with a six-cell battery for decent battery life, and shouldn't need to sacrifice performance and upgradability by using a MID processor and chipset. At that screen size, the display backlight is likely to dominate power consumption further compared to an 8.9" or 10.2" display, so the choice of processor and core logic matters even less.

I don't really buy that this is a conspiracy to make people opt for regular notebooks, because the Inspiron Mini 12 isn't really that cheap; it's within the price range of the Vostro 1310 and Inspiron 13, I believe, while being substantially lower-specified and only slightly smaller. And after all, Dell makes it with the intention of having it sell well, right?

It is pretty unfortunate that the only OS option currently offered is Windows Vista. I remember reading rumors that Dell intends to start offering XP Home and Ubuntu Linux on the Mini 12 by the end of the year; who knows if it's true. If so, the notebook would become a more attractive option, given that either OS can run comfortably with just 1 GiB of RAM.

The Samsung NC10 supposedly has the best keyboard among the current crop aside from the HP Mini 1000, and has other niceties such as coming with a six-cell battery standard and being more attractive. (Its only flaw -- and being a netbook it has to have one given the tradeoffs that drove the design decisions -- seems to be a particularly small touchpad, but it's multitouch enabled, so that alleviates the inconvenience to some extent.)

Another interesting one is the LG X110, which like the NC10 seems to have a full-size conventionally-arranged keyboard. It doesn't seem to be widely available in North America yet, having been launched in the Middle East first. I hope to have the opportunity to play around with one next month or the month after when I'm in that region. It's built by MSI and looks like an MSI-built netbook (although still different from the Wind U100).

Firstly. Congrats on the baby!

I have the same problems with Dead Space, and thought it was in the game on purpose. Drives me right nuts.

I can't wait for the give away! I'd really love that system. It's too bad about the politics getting in the way of such a good gesture.

I wonder if there is going to be a game in the near future where PhysX is going to be a big part of the gameplay? In the PhysX demo there is a liquid demo, that could possibly be implemented into games, and there is a ball bearing shooting through cloth that causes the bottom to fall off. Would make some interesting mini games. Would the fact that the physics can't really be interacted with prevent some of these being put towards something usefull, and if added would folks running AMD card be hung out to dry? I'd think that would be something to push game developers away from such a tech. After all the market share who run AMD video cards can't really be ignored.

Adam, don't forget:

http://www.wackyarchives.com/offbeat/caring-for-a-baby-101.html

Another great show guys!

So uh, how 'bout that giveaway? Eh? Eh?

Wow! You just referenced Redneck Rampage! I totally forgot about being able to drink moonshine.

I never got past the sewer level... and I checked everywhere. I think that level was broken.

Edit - @22Min 18seconds it *really* sounds like Scott enters the conversation just as he is getting out of the shower. o_O

The adjustment and re examination of the Core i7 940 performance numbers demonstrates clearly(once again) to the tech community that The Tech Report is the premiere hardware site on the Net.
It might be a little redundant to conduct such testing but the net gain to TR's reputation is considerable.
Good one guys.

Christmas giveaway. Make the questions a little harder about techreport articles. Make the readers dig deep and no clues. This would make it more interesting than everyone having the answers.

(Daniel Micah Eiberger weighs in at 8 lbs, is in good health, and is consistently scoring 240 in WorldBench.)

Congrats! Have a cigar!

Now that that's taken care of, down to business. Specifically, is that worldbench score stock or overclocked? How much "juice" are you feeding him. What kind of mother (bored) is it sitting on? What kind of volume levels are we talking about? Is he scalable? Expandable? Upgradable? And most importantly... how long before the next newer model, um, comes out? :)

wow you guys are nuts because the mouse works perfect in the game with the games vsync off. aim mode just tightens up the feel of the mouse which does seem odd right at first. Im picky as hell about controls and this is NOT a crappy console port as you call it.

My motherboard failed a couple of days ago too. I lost my Opteron 185 with the failure as well so I'm going to put together a new Christmas rig. I'm enthusiastically planning a Core i7 920 build with a pair of OCZ Vertex SSDs. I really hope I see REAL WORLD performance gains with those SSDs in RAID-0. With my previous systems it always seemed like the HDDs were the limiting factor when experiencing the speed of the system.

Does anyone else think that the ending of the background song at the end of the podcast sounds like Dynasty Warriors or some SEGA arcade shooter? Haha, just wondering.

Scott,

About Dead Space, have you tried forcing VSynch in ATI or Nvidia's control centers? It works perfectly for me after I did that.

I have mouse sensitivity on less than half and am using a pretty cheap mouse and can use the aim mode and regular controls and its only slightly awkward in aim mode after 3 hours of play I don't seem to have any difficulty?

Maybe its just your play style (Not to say its wrong), I only go into aim mode once I'm facing the Nechromorph. If I hear a noise behind me I whirl around and then go in aim mode and fine tune shots, after all aim mode takes a tenth of a second to go into, its just an extra mouse click.

And about in-game menus, if you are referring to how you have to use five or six mouse clicks to switch weapons, that I know is at least on purpose by the developers.

I have a much longer comment about it in your blog you might want to check it about Fallout 3, joysticks, and your doubt as to whether or not you will benchmark Dead Space.

And if you are considering benchmarking, good luck forcing AA. The game engine doesn't seem to allow AA, and the built in AA option is just a edge blur effect for only Isaac.

Besides that, I won't argue the port was less than spectacular. The rest of the game if you do get used to controls is a treat as almost all reviews show. Its a start and as my post on your blog show EA was surprised by how well it sold on the PC, suggesting they will focus more on it and the sequel should fix these issues.