There is still no industry standard definition of what a netbook is. At present, 7 to 10 inch laptop models from major PC manufacturers like Asus, Acer, MSI, HP and Lenovo are widely called as netbooks.

Dell recently announced the availability of the Inspiron Mini 12 and as the name suggests, it has a 12.1 inch (1280 x 800) screen. At this size dimension, I'm no longer sure, is this already a laptop? or just the world's largest netbook?

However, like the smaller netbooks, the Inspiron Mini 12 has an Intel Atom processor, 1GB of memory and 60GB or 80GB hard drive. It also has a 1.3MP webcam, built-in Bluetooth, 802.11b/g wireless, 10/100 Ethernet jack, 3 USB ports, full size VGA out, a 3-in-1 card reader, SIM card slot, mic and speaker/headphone sockets.

Don’t expect to use this netbook for gaming, but if you only need something that can handle e-mail, chatting, blogging, web browsing, video calling, playing music, and uploading photos then the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 might be just for you.

It's priced at $599 (P29690).