The Inspiron by Dell is a range of laptops (and more recently desktops) designed to meet the needs of a personal computer (the Dell Latitude line is designed specifically for the business market). The most recent addition to the Inspiron line is the Inspiron Mini 9, a subnotebook that weighs in at 2.28 pounds and is 1.22 inches thick. The Mini 9 was first released on 16 September 2008. The keyboard has been reconfigured to save space, eliminating separate function keys, and setting F1-F10 as secondary functions on the middle line of keys (a through ;) accessed by pressing an Fn key.

System details of the Mini 9 sub-notebook do vary in between the American and European market availability. The RAM options make up the biggest difference as well as the connectivity options. The American version features optional Bluetooth, while it is a standard on the European version. You have an option on either version of using the Windows XP and the Ubuntu Linux operating systems.

The Intel Santa Rosa platform supports longer running Inspiron models, the largest of these are the 1720 and 1721 models. These models are very similar with the same kind of case, which offers a variation of processing features. An Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with up to 2.5 GHz and an integrated Intel X3100 or NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS/8600M GT are included in the 1720. An AMD Turion with up to 2.2 GHz along side an ATI Radeon Xpress 1270 are included in the 1721. A 17-inch display with resolution up to 1920x1200, as well as support for dual SATA hard drives of up to 640GB - 2 x 320GB drives, and 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM with up to 4 GB is included on both the1720 and 1721. There are optional hard drive configurations available on the 1721 however; it is not available on the 1720. Both models feature a choice option of eight popular colors.

The 1535 is a version of a medium size Inspiron, with a release date of June of 2008. It is an upgraded version of the 1525, which by the way is an improved version of the 1520 and 1521. The 1535 also carries the name of the Dell Studio Laptop. Its design in size and weight are similar to the 1525 at 5.9 lbs, 14.05" x 10.08" x 1.00"-1.48". Before the recent release of the Mini 9 the smallest models were the Inspiron 1420 and1420 N. An Intel Core 2 Duo Processor with up to 2.4 GHz and a 14.1 inch display with resolution up to 1440x900 are included in both the 1420/1420 N models. Other design features include an integrated Intel X3100 or an NVIDIA GeForce Go 8400M GS with 128 MB and 128 MiB dedication and either a SATA hard drive that will hold up to 320 GB, with 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM that will hold up to 4 GB and 4 GiB. Because it uses the Ubuntu operating system rather than the Windows XP, the 1420N is the less expensive of the two. However, both of these models do feature a choice of eight popular colors.

The less expensive of the two is the 1420 N since it features the Ubuntu operating system rather than the Windows XP operating system. These two also feature the option of choosing from eight trendy colors. The Dell Inspiron series is quite impressive in general and now it features it own full line of notebooks. These are suitable for a wide-ranging set of uses and needs. The Mini 9 Inspiron is a wonder addition to any notebook category.