Dell teams up with Nickelodeon for kid-friendly netbooks (hands-on)

At an event in New York this evening, Dell released a new netbook co-branded with juvenile entertainment monolith Nickelodeon. The new "Nick Mini" is based on the successful Dell Mini 10v, retooled with extra branding, design and software additions to make it more of a kid-friendly gadget.

Officially called the "Dell Inspiron Mini Nickelodeon Edition", the new netbook is the start of a big partnership between the two companies. It features a themed design based on Nickelodeon's trademarked splat image; the slime runs down the back of the display and out from under the keyboard. It even comes with a Nickeleon display theme from the design wizards at Stardock. When the Start menu is opened up, an animated drop of slime runs down the side of the screen to great effect.

The hardware itself is essentially a rebranded Dell Mini 10v; there's no surprises in terms of features or abilities. The real difference between the two systems all comes down to the software. Since it's being targeted toward children, it needs to make the parents happy, too. To that extent, Dell and Nickelodeon are also putting forth a concerted effort to get moms in on the deal, too. The Nick Mini comes with a 15-month subscription to McAfee's Family Security software, which lets parents track and direct what their children do online. It also comes with LoJack for Laptops, so if it ever gets stolen, the child's parents will be able to log on and find out where it is.

To get kids involved, Dell and Nickelodeon manage to come up with some engaging content besides green paint and animated slime. Owners of the new netbook will be given access to Nickelodeon content that can be downloaded locally; it'll be updated every two months and occasionally include exclusive shows and episodes before they air on the cable channel. There's also an animation that rests on the desktop with a link to Whyville.net, an edutainment site that offers content from the CDC, Woods Hole, NASA, and others.

It hasn't yet been disclosed how much the new Nick Mini will cost; while Dell assures us it'll be "competitive", they also said that the branded Mini 10v will carry a premium over it's less-slimed brother. The netbook will be available on both Dell.com and in Wal-Mart stores starting in October. The Wal-Mart retail channel is a smart move for the Rock Rock giant, as they're likely to get a lot more exposure to moms and kids there as opposed to a more traditional location like Best Buy. For those who are averse to slime-covered netbooks, Dell's Design Studio will also offer options from other Nickelodeon shows, like SpongeBob SquarePants and iCarly.

Related Articles:

• Dell Announces Mini 10v Netbook (Updated)
• Dell to Add GPS to Mini 10
• Dell Latitude 2100 First Look Review

 

So are there any five year olds in the forum willing to comment as to whether this is something you'd want or not?

 

LOL
.........

 

Would you give your five year old a netbook?

Can it be put back to "normal" specs or is it locked?

 

I wonder if these will be venturing into preschool/kindergarten classrooms fairly soon... ..?


Cin...

 

you guys should go see some of the schools in the upper mid class 'burbs...

kids lugging 17" lappys to school... incredible...

 

I think the exterior could use more orange.

 

That is what I was thinking, it needs some more orange. They should use gel accents with the slim and include some gack. =P

I guess this is Dell and Nick's anwser to Asus and Disney's kid friendly netbook. Just incase the old vtech learning notebook is getting outgrown.

 

Interesting concept. But what comes to my mind is durability. Will this Mini 10v survive a 5 year old?

 

^^ Good thinking...an SSD should be standard on all of them.

 

I would like to see more color on the case (or anywhere) and other themes (there are many shows on Nick). Without seeing it in person, it's hard to tell whether my 8-year old would like this one, or the Disney one, or my Z540 -- although I have a hunch that he would want my Z, being old enough to ask about computing performance.

 

The Latitude 2100 seems so much better for kids...

 

I agree there.

And the color scheme (white+green) not going to make it...I thought Nick was orange-colored...

 

Based on lots of posts I read, I'd say that's around 30% of our userbase.

 

The specs are normal for a Dell Mini 10v. The difference come in branding and software. So if you wiped and reinstaled the OS, you'd have a Mini 10v with a green slime motif.

That's what the Latitude 2100 is for.

 

I don't know what's a worse design: University of Waterloo's new logo? Or this?

 

It doesn't have to be for kids. It could be for teens/young adults who were huge Nick fans. The design is cute but rather limited; it doesn't really cover the netbook at all.

 

I don't get the hate, honestly. It looks better in person, and it's pretty neat to be frank. You'll see them in person at Wal-Mart in Oct. if there's one near you.

 

it's soo beautiul!!!

 

I am definetly going to walmart to check this out, mainly for a laugh or two. Windows could capitalize here. How awesome would the concept of slme dripping start menus be if they were smartened up a bit for those of us between 16 and....however old the oldest person on this forum is. Get a star wars theme in there....halo theme....resident evil, have zombies crawl over the start menu.

 

my 3 year old would love it lol, she loves her pink clevo she has now ..

 

Still worried about BQ over here...

 

Is Nickelodeon even still relevant? No You Can't Do That On Television, no Mr. Wizard, no Salute Your Shorts, no Ren & Stimpy, no care!

 

can i have BEN10 version?

well the notebook looks slimy..why not just paint it with dots , looks more spongebob

 

Definitely uW's logo. Not like we have a say in what it is now.

 

My 9 year old niece has weighed in on this laptop and she think it's awesome..

 

Does it come built in with parental controls?

 

I think it could use a Nick splat instead of the slime

Wish it is as rugged as a Latitude 2100 though.

 

It may look good. But I find the design (personally) somewhat lacking of animosity. It looks rather dull (considering it is aimed at kids...)

 

Exactly. My little brother would take a solid red one over this any day. Why not have cartoon characters on there or at least make it more colorful?