Dell is slowly slipping out snippets of information on their upcoming ultra-portable and cheap mini-laptop, which could be called the Inspiron Mini, and be ready for release in August. Apparently the reason Dell is taking so long to bring out this new mini-laptop is they have been tinkering with the keyboard, which may not be to the good.

Reports from APG Magazine say Dell, wanting to make the keys larger and easier to use on this tiny laptop they decided to lose the F keys, now yes, not many use the F keys on a regular basis but they are on a normal keyboard for a reason right? They come in handy for shortcuts and stuff making it quicker to get stuff.

The other thing is the F keys usually allow access to the computers BIOS setup when booting, although with Dell’s experience it shouldn’t be difficult for them to assign that particular operation to some other key. APC says the hardware keys for adjusting volume, standby mode, battery meter, brightness and other settings are “littered around the keyboard,” which isn’t too good.

However, on a brighter note the Dell “Inspiron mini” does come with a VGA port to connect an exterior display, a card reader and 3 USB ports, although the unit that APC was a pre-production unit so it is possible that Dell could still change things, and there is as yet no detail on storage capacity, processor, OS, or RAM, and no hint of what it will cost.

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