Is this why Dell ditched the Mini 12?

When Dell announced on the weekend that it was discontinuing its 12-inch netbook, the Mini 12, the stated explanations were portability and the idea that "customers who buy a 12-inch system expect a little more horsepower".

Oddly enough, Dell now seems set to launch a new range of Inspirons, the smallest of which has an 11.6-inch screen, according to Engadget.

In other words, Dell is about to start selling a new netbook — in all but name — that has almost exactly the same screen size as the Mini 12 but is powered by an Intel CULV processor, not the weakling Atom that makes its way into pretty much every netbook out there.

So, more horsepower and (hopefully) better screen resolution, which sounds pretty sweet to me, but not a "netbook". It looks like the term is about to become a little less useful.