Yes.. another badly kept secret is finally official. This time it’s the Dell Inspiron Mini 12 netbook – a 12 inch Atom powered netbook that will initially be available in Japan. Japan you say? Yep.. never fear though – the netbook will be going global in November with prices hovering under or around $600 dollars.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 12 features an Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, your choice of either a 60GB or 80 GB HDD, built-in Bluetooth and 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, a 12.1 inch WXGA display, a built-in webcam, and Windows Vista Home Basic. It measures a mere 0.92 inches thick at its thinnest point and weighs only 2.72 lbs. Dell also announced that it will offer Windows XP and Ubuntu as alternative OS choices.

The full specifications are as follows:

• Intel Atom Processor Model Z520 running at 1.33 GHz or 1.6 GHz with 512KB L2 cache, 533MHz FSB
• Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic SP1
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
• 12.1 TFT TrueLife WXGA (1280 x 800) display
• 60GB or 80GB SATA 4200RPM HDD
• 801.11 b/g Wi-Fi
• Intel GMA 500
• 3 USB 2.0 ports
• 10/100 Ethernet
• VGA port
• 1 Line-out, 1 Mic-in
• 5-in-1 memory card reader with support for SD/SDHC/MMC/MS/MS Pro
• Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
• Measures 299 x 229 x 23.3-27.6 mm  (11.77 x 9.01 x 0.91 ~ 1.08 inches)
• Weighs 1.24kg (2.7 lbs)

[Check out the press release via NetbookTech, Ubergizmo]

[Check out the Dell Japan product page]

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