As with its competitors, Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9 is fitted with Intel’s Atom N270 chip. This pint-sized processor has a surprising amount of muscle. Partnered with 1GB of RAM, it gallops through everyday tasks such as email and the web and uses programs such as Microsoft Office. If you’re in the market for a netbook, the Inspiron Mini should be near the top of your list.

In three reports delivered to Congress on Wednesday, the department’s inspector general found wrongdoing by a dozen current and former employees of the Minerals Management Service, which collects about $10 billion in royalties annually and is one of the government’s largest sources of revenue other than taxes.

With a sharp 9 inch screen, 16GB solid state drive and optional 3G mobile internet functionality waiting in the wings, Dell’s new $599 mini notebook, the Inspiron Mini 9, has maximum appeal – unless you want Linux…

Dell will continue to offer Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system to customers beyond the June 30th deadline. The announcement comes after CEO Steve Ballmer suggested that Microsoft might change its mind and extend Windows XP if customers asked for it. However, Mr. Ballmer added that most customers were not asking for XP.

A few weeks ago we ran some rumored specs of Dell’s answer to the Eee, the Dell Inspiron 910 (aka Mini Inspiron and Inspiron Mini). Now we’ve gotten our hands on the full (internal) 910 web documentation. The system will go on sale in the US in just a few days—August 22nd our source says—but we still don’t know whether or not that $299 starting price is just a myth.

The end-result for Dell customers is that they can watch DVDs and Windows Media Video, and play MP3s and Windows Media Audio, with no fuss or muss. However, many of these improvements rely on proprietary software.