Exclusive: White Dell Mini 9 is Europe bound

Some good and some bad news for fans of Dell's netbook, the Mini 9 . We've just been told that for now there are no plans to introduce the 32GB SSD option that became available in Japan earlier this month and hit the States yesterday. But, just to ensure European customers don't feel too left out, Dell will be throwing us the sweetener of a white colour option to add to the current black offering.

Dell's Ellen Murphy told us: "We're not offering the 32GB SSD in Europe at this time but we are shortly going to be offering the Mini 9 in white." And while Ellen couldn't give us an exact date, she did say that shortly meant, "within the next week".

The white Mini 9 (or Alpine White as Dell likes to call it) won't bring with it any spec changes and there'll be no premium for specifying white over black (unlike when it was first brought in in the States) so it'll cost exactly the same as the £269 black 8GB version and £299 16GB model.

Even with the black and now white option, we're still lagging way behind the US when it comes to customising Dell's first netbook. Over there you can now choose from 4, 8, 16 or 32GB, compared to our 8 and 16GB options and decide whether to go for XP or Ubuntu. You can also select from a palette of pink and red (at a premium) as well as black and white - or go for four new extra-cost artwork options. Then there's the option to spec whether it comes with Bluetooth, whether there's a 0.3mp webcam, a 1.3mp one or none at all - and the option to go for a cheaper 512MB config rather than the standard 1GB.

Here we're stuck with a 16GB XP model or an 8GB Ubuntu one, but at least they do come fully loaded with all the 1GB RAM, Blutooth and 1.3mp webcam trimmings as standard. Meanwhile we're all stuck with Dell's 4-cell config as the only battery option, which trumps many others who supply 3-cell batteries but can't top Samsung's 6-cell powerhouse on the NC10.

So keep your eyes peeled this week for that white option - but don't hold your breath on a 32GB SSD or any other hardware options.

[ Dell]