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Where, oh where, is the Dell netbook?

By Christopher Saunders on August 19, 2008 3:31 PM

Have netbooks jumped the shark? For a while there, it looked like the nascent trend of diminutive, lightweight, inexpensive, low-end notebook PCs -- netbooks -- were about to be undone by the company that jumpstarted it all.

I'm referring here to Asus, maker of the Eee PC... and its many, many permutations: There's the Eee PC 2G Surf, the 4G, the 4G Surf, the 8G, the 900, the 901, the 904, the 1000, the 1000H, and the 1000HD. Whew.

The Eee PC models are not only multiplying like rabbits -- thereby increasing the potential for confusion in the minds of buyers -- but they're rocketing skyward in price, too. As a result, Asus's netbooks have eaten away at one of its key selling points: the savings compared to a low-end notebook.

That's leaving the door open for a slew of competitors. Acer's Aspire One, MSI's Wind, Everex's CloudBook and HP's 2133 Mini-Note PC are already out and competing with Asus. Meanwhile, Sharp, Gigabyte, LG, VIA and Lenovo are also widely expected to move into the market.

It's an increasingly fragmented market, clearly, and that potentially means good news for Dell.

According to Internet scuttlebutt, the company is poised to release an Intel Atom-based, Linux-powered netbook with SSD storage and an 8.9-inch screen... for $299, a price that would undercut all of its rivals while (one would hope) delivering the quality Dell's systems are known for.

Best of all, Dell is said to begin selling the netbook -- known variously as the Dell E, the Dell Mini Inspiron and Inspiron Mini -- Friday.

The problem is that Dell hasn't really said much at all about its foray into the netbook market.

In fact, this whole thing began when gadget blog Gizmodo caught Michael Dell himself walking around the All Things D conference with what evidently had been a prototype unit.

No real announcements. None of the usual months-in-advance warning. No specs. No names. Just lots of rumors and lots and lots of (apparent) leaks. (Original source here, in Portuguese.)

There are tantalizingly few images, hints from manufacturing partners and cryptic statements by Michael Dell suggesting something is coming out soon.

It's been said that there's such a fine line between stupid and clever. And I have to wonder on which side of the line Dell's PR efforts behind the new netbook would fall. (That's assuming there's any effort behind this at all.)

The true test, of course, will be whether the masses gravitate toward Dell's netbook, or dismiss it as yet another faceless Eee PC follower. Wild success or also-ran? The Apple iPod of netbooks, or the Archos Jukebox?

With the hype building to a some kind of crescendo, Dell's got to produce something on Friday -- if not an actual netbook, a shipping date, confirmed specs and pricing. If not, I'm not sure how much more hype all of us Dell E-watchers will be willing to take.

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