We've seen convertible tablets before, although they've never really taken off. However, Dell's decided to have a go at the convertible again with the Inspiron Duo and answer the question of whether people should buy a netbook or tablet with, "have both".

Click here to buy Inspiron Duo in our online store for £329

To drum up interest, Dell has used a brand-new method for the conversion process. Rather than having to swivel the screen 180-degrees before folding it flat against the keyboard, the Inspiron Duo has a far easier and cooler method: the screen spins in the bezel. Converting from netbook to tablet takes a couple of seconds, with strong magnets quickly locking the screen into place at both ends of the rotation. It works amazingly well and looks so different that if you do it in public you'll garner interested glances for sure.

This system means that the 10.1in screen is fitted into a fairly wide bezel, making the Inspiron Duo roughly the same size as an 11.3in laptop. This really works in the laptop's favour, as there's more room underneath for a keyboard. With larger keys compared to other 10.1in netbooks, the Inspiron Duo is surprisingly easy and comfortable to type on. We found that we could get up a good speed without making any errors. All of the Chiclet-style keys are in the right place, too, bar the backslash, which sits underneath the Backspace key, although this doesn't take long to get used to.

Controlling the mouse is simple due to the responsive touchpad, which is sunk into metal-effect wrist wrest above two easy-to-reach buttons. While metal-effect may sound a bit rubbish, if we're being honest, Dell has pulled it off brilliantly. Overall, the finish is fantastic and this is one netbook that both sticks out and looks more like a very expensive high-end laptop. The model we reviewed was the standard black version, bought from Dell in the US, but our images are of a bright-red sample machine that was in the building. Currently only the black version is available for sale.

There are usually two main annoyances with netbooks: performance and screen resolution. Fortunately, Dell has fixed them both with the Inspiron Mini Duo. For starters, there's a 1.5GHz Intel Atom N550 processor. This is the first dual-core model for laptops, with Hyper-Threading adding in two more virtual processors for a total of four. Combined with the 2GB of RAM, the overall score in our benchmarks of 24 is only a bit faster than single-core netbooks, but the system feels much more responsive. In particular this netbook doesn't get sluggish when running more than one application. That's not to say that you can have hundreds of browsing tabs open and start some video editing, but for general web browsing and work, the dual core processor does its job and makes the Duo a pleasant laptop to use.

A 250GB hard disk is good to see, and should provide plenty of room for most people's documents. A model with a 320GB hard disk can also be bought for £470, although you can only get the docking station with the £499 model with a 250GB disk, so you'll need to work out if you prefer more disk space or simple docking.

Screen resolution's not a problem, either as the 10.1in display as a resolution of 1,366x768. On the small screen this resolution looks fantastically sharp and gives plenty of desktop space. It's also the same resolution as a 720p TV, so you can watch HD movies. These play smoothly due to the Broadcom Crystal HD integrated decoding chip. With Windows 7's ability to add limitless codecs, the Duo essentially becomes the world's best media player in tablet mode.

Screen quality is very good. The LED backlilght is even and creates a strong vibrant white, and life-like colours. Contrast is also very good with dark areas retaining their detail. Most importantly, viewing angles are pretty good and only moving a fair distance off-centre causes a perceived loss of colour accuracy. For single-person use, though, this tablet is easy to view.

In tablet mode it's fair to say that the Inspiron Mini Duo is not as easy to use as the Apple iPad or Samsung Galaxy Tab due to Windows 7. Simply put, Windows was never designed to be used with a touchscreen only, and the icons are simply too small to use accurately. We also found the transition from landscape to portrait painfully slow, with the screen blacking out for a couple of seconds. Other things don't work quite as well as they should, either. Zooming into web pages isn't the silky-smooth experience of the iPad, as Internet Explorer was never designed this way.

In tablet mode a launcher starts to make accessing applications quicker, including the browser and the Windows Games folder. Dell has included some applications designed for a touchscreen interface - BookStage for eBooks (powered by Blio), PhotoStage for pictures and VideoStage for video playback. Their interfaces are simple to use, but it's annoying that PhotoStage doesn't let you swipe to view the next picture or rotate to align images correctly, although pinching to zoom does work.

That said, the touchscreen comes into its own for basic web browsing and controlling media playback. The fact that this tablet is so quick to transform from tablet to laptop, means that it's simple enough to start using the touchpad and keyboard for more involved tasks. We found ourselves switching between the two modes a lot when using this computer, making it the first Windows convertible tablet that we've enjoyed using.

One thing that's strange is the 1.3-megapixel webcam is built into the screen's bezel, not the screen. This means that in tablet mode the camera is shut against the keyboard and, for all intents and purposes, useless. That said, switching back to laptop mode to make a video call is so easy and, unless you make lots of video calls every day, the camera's position is unlikely to bother you.

Bizarrely, the Inspiron Duo is pretty much entirely devoid of ports, with only headphone and USB ports hidden behind a neat flap. To get wired networking, memory card reader and more USB ports you have to use the JBL-powered Duo Audio Station (our review price includes this dock, although you can buy without for £50 less). The Inspiron Duo connects neatly in tablet mode, leaving the screen at the right angle to watch movies or to be used as a monitor if you connect a keyboard and mouse.

It's in this mode that the Mini Duo is the ideal kitchen computer, as it's propped up at the right angle to watch a movie or for browsing recipes online. Sound quality from the speakers isn't particularly good, with little bass and tinny treble, though. They're loud enough to hear across a decent-sized room, but they're hardly a replacement for a hi-fi. You can also configure the Duo to display a clock or act as a digital photo frame when it's docked.

One of the biggest problems with this laptop is the battery life: 3h 46m is way under what we'd expect from a netbook. Considering that this result is from our light-use web browsing test, battery life for media is going to come up even shorter. There's no way to replace the battery or buy a bigger model, either, as it's entirely integrated into the laptop's case.

With that all said, the Inspiron Duo is a bit of an odd product, but that's a good thing. Windows 7 isn't a very good touchscreen operating system, but Dell's swivel screen means that you've got a tablet for basic tabs and just seconds away a keyboard and mouse for general Windows operation. This makes the Inspiron Duo the only decent Windows Tablet that we've seen, as the old convertibles simply took too much time to transform.

Overall, the Inspiron Duo is an inspired bit of work that's great for use around the house, but we'd have liked to have seen better battery life from it, to see it compete with other netbooks. If battery life's not a primary concern, this is a good choice, but you can buy the dual-core Samsung NF210 netbook, which has around eight hours battery life, for just over £300.

Click here to buy Inspiron Duo in our online store for £329

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