The long rumored, long awaited "Eee PC Killer" from Dell, now called the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, is now shipping! The Windows XP version, available now, costs $399. The Ubuntu Linux version, available in "a few weeks," will cost just $349! These prices are actually much lower than ASUS's for comparable systems. As leaked earlier, inside is an Intel Atom Diamondville processor and it has a 1024x600 LED-backlit screen with 4, 8 and 16GB SSD options (plus you get 2GB free online storage at Box.Net) and about three hours of battery life. Only the Windows XP version is available now for $399, in black or white-the $349 Ubuntu flavor, along with the rest of the six-color rainbow are a few weeks away. FYI, you can pick one up for $99 if you buy another Dell AND it has 3G hidden inside.

The first review can be found on Arstechnica:

I will admit, before the Inspiron Mini I didn't really show much affection towards netbooks. I understood their appeal and their purpose, in my mind the current netbook revolution is simply taking the ultra portable Sony Picturebooks of the early 2000s and making them affordable, which is great, but I never really fell in love with the design of the Eee PC or its competitors. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 changed that for me; it modernized the netbook and at $349 I no longer felt like I had to justify why I was spending so much on slow hardware. And I can't stress enough how pretty this thing is, especially for something that costs less than $400. We always give credit to Apple for good industrial design and while I wouldn't put the Inspiron Mini on the same level as the ID of the MacBook Air, I'm quite impressed.

ASUS got the equation nearly perfect with the Eee PC, but I believe that the Eee and the Mini are really good for two different types of users. The Eee is more of the tinkerer's netbook, it's got a bit more storage, 802.11n and comes more feature filled out of the box. Dell's Mini ships at a lower price and with a correspondingly reduced configuration, but it targets the heart of what I believe the netbook user is: someone looking for a simple, relatively comfortable way of getting online and doing basic computing tasks. MSI aimed much higher with the Wind, with larger hard drives and attempting to beat ASUS based on specs alone but I'd argue that with a netbook it's not the specs that will crown a winner, it's the efficiency of the package.

At $349 I'd like to see the Mini ship with 1GB of RAM standard and with at least the 0.3 megapixel camera, as it stands my desired configuration ends up being $384. Of course I'd want it to be cheaper, the $299 price point being the magical target, but there is something to be said for Dell's current promotion. Buy a Studio 15, M1530 or M1330 and Dell will sell you the Mini for $99, treating it as an upgrade to a notebook rather than a standalone device. While the promotion is short lived, I do think it's one that makes enough sense to bring back as often as possible.