You may remember late last month when I told you about the Dell Inspiron Mini 12. By most accounts, it is the largest netbook to date, boasting a large 12-inch display. Keeping in mind that most (all?) other netbooks max out at the 10-inch range, the Mini 12 isn’t exactly all that mini by comparison. Well, Dell has gone official with the netbook and it should be available for purchase as of right now.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 12 seems to be a good option for people who want the smaller form factor of a netbook but want a slightly bigger screen. Unfortunately, it also comes with a slightly bigger price tag. Shopping around, there’s a good chance that you’ll find an adequate netbook for under $500. That’s not the case with the Mini 12.

Instead, the cheapest version of Dell’s larger subnotebook goes for an asking price of $549. Remember that this is for the entry-level model. There are two other versions that move slightly further upscale for $599 and $678.

The $549 model comes equipped with a 1.33 GHz Atom processor, 40GB hard drive, and a three-cell processor. The higher models bump you up to the 1.6GHz Atom processor, six-cell batteries, and 60GB/80GB hard drives. All three versions, unfortunately, get a paltry 1GB of RAM and the only OS option is Windows Vista Home Basic.

Really? Dell expects us to run Vista with just 1GB of RAM and an Atom processor? I haven’t gone hands-on with this netbook yet, but I imagine that this combination makes for a rather sluggish experience.