Dell Shrinks

After years on the proverbial subnotebook bench, Dell jumped in the ultra-portable game with its tiny, new Inspiron 2100. Weighing 3.4 pounds with a one-inch thin magnesium alloy case, the PIII equipped Dell models start in price at $1,900.
2001 is shaping up to be the year of the shrinking laptop. New ultra portables from Compaq, Toshiba, Gateway and Sony recently hit the streets. Thanks to Intel's new Mobile Intel Pentium III processor with a new low power, less heat consumption technology called SpeedStep, and the similar Crusoe processor from Transmeta (which adds extra long battery life), the latest generation of one-inch thick subnotebooks don't melt your tray table or accidentally iron your pants in transit. Price is another factor in the trend towards small. A subnotebook used to cost well over $3,000. Now these sexy -looking subs sell for as low as $1,700. The good news for consumers is that with the Cadillac's of portables selling for under $2,000, look for some great deals soon on laptops with less beauty, but more brawn and better brains in the coming months.

Dell news from the wire:

The Inspiron 2100 features 700Mhz,a high-resolution 12.1-inch XGA screen, ATI Rage Mobility M graphics controller with 4 MB SGRAM and memory configurable from 64 to 256MB of SDRAM.

"This is the smallest, lightest notebook Dell offers in its Inspiron notebooks," said John Medica, vice president and general manager of Transactional Product Group. "This is the ideal product for consumers and small business workers who want to lighten their load but stay connected and productive."

The Inspiron 2100 includes many features designed for convenience and mobility. Each notebook includes a built-in 56k-capable modem and a network interface card to connect easily to the Internet. For cable-free communications, the Inspiron 2100 also supports current and emerging wireless technologies. For those who would like additional peripherals, an external media bay is available with the following disk drives: floppy drive, 24X CD-ROM, 8X DVD, 4X/4X/20X CDRW, Zip 100, and secondary 20GB hard disk drive.

This notebook also features the Dell Solution Center, the latest customer support application that combines Dell's outstanding support and education tools into one easy to use graphical interface. This tool gives customers a quick and easy way to solve problems, find answers and learn more about their notebook 24 hours a day seven days a week.

Prices for the Inspiron 2100 start at $1,899 and includes Intel's Low Voltage mobile Pentium III with SpeedStep technology at 700MHz, 64 MB SDRAM, 5 GB hard disk drive, integrated 56k v.90 modem and 3Com 10/100 Ethernet, ATI Rage Mobility M with 4 MB video SGRAM, floppy drive media bay module, external bay and IDE media bay cable, and one-year next business day return to depot service. www.dell.com