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Dell’s popular Mini 10 is the most customizable Netbook we have seen. Adding up extras such as a higher-resolution display makes it more valuable, but also blurs the price line between Netbooks and laptops.

As a maestro of the build-to-order PC, it’s no surprise that Dell has managed to produce a fairly customizable edition of the Netbook. Although most vendors offer them as one-size-fits-all solutions, Dell Inspiron Mini 10 has plenty of ways it can become the perfect Netbook for you.

Naturally, at nearly $600, this is getting dangerously close to mainstream laptop territory, and we could think of several better ways to invest that kind of money in a laptop. And, if you’re just a fan of the wide flat keys and reasonably slim design of the Mini 10, you can get virtually the same feel from the budget-friendly Mini 10v, which starts at just $300.

Not as streamlined as Asus’ latest Netbooks or the minimalist HP Mini 5101, the Dell Mini 10 alternatively takes its design cues from the bigger laptops in the Inspiron family, with similar rounded edges and shiny surfaces. It’s a smart move for bringing in first-time Netbook purchasers, as the familiar look and feel make taking the Netbook plunge less daunting.

There’s thankfully little wasted space in the keyboard tray, with wide, flat keys going nearly edge-to-edge. Unlike Dell’s earliest 9-inch Netbooks, there are no missing keys or major space compromises, and important keys, such as the Shift, Tab, and Ctrl keys, are relatively full-size. The narrow wrist rest keeps the system from extending out too far and becoming unwieldy, but that requires a long, letterbox-style touch pad, with the mouse buttons integrated directly into the lower left and right corners of the pad. It’s far from our preferred Netbook touch pad, but better than the similar long touch pad with buttons on the far sides found on HP’s Mini 110.

The 10.1-inch wide-screen display is the systems’ most remarkable feature, with a 1,366×768 native resolution. A standard 1,024×600 is also available on other configs of the Mini 10. We were worried that the higher resolution would make text too small to read, but we quickly got used to it. A handful of other Netbooks, including Sony’s Vaio W, also offer these higher-res screens, and we would love to see it become the new Netbook standard. The edge-to-edge glass over the display looks nice, but also adds to the glare–something to be aware of if you’re sensitive to that.

Read more about this product here : Dell Inspiron Mini 1o