The Dell Inspiron Duo should go up for pre-order sometime soon and start shipping out the first week of December, according to Engadget. The base model, which includes a dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor, 2GB of RAM, a Broadcom Crystal HD accelerator, 250GB of storage, two USB ports, one audio jack, and Windows 7 Home Premium, will start at $549 (£449). If you want to configure it with a larger hard drive and add the JBL speaker-dock we saw in the amazing teaser video, the price will go up to $649 (the price of the dock itself is unknown).
Announced two months ago, the convertible netbook has a 10-inch capacitive touchscreen (1366x768-resolution) with an interesting swivel mechanism: the screen flips vertically inside the bezel. When the panel is facing inwards, you have a normal netbook that you can open and close as you normally would. When it's facing outwards, you have a tablet with a hardware keyboard underneath.
In other words, the device has an entertainment mode and a productivity mode. When you go from the latter to the former, the device automatically launches Dell's Duo Stage UI layer, which provides access to Dell's MusicStage, VideoStage, PhotoStage, and BookStage applications.
The timing for the launch is perfect: just in time for this year's holiday season. On the other hand, what do you think of the price; is it too high, too low, or just right?