Vodafone has become the first carrier to say that it'll sell Dell's newly announced Inspiron Mini 9 little laptop.

And it'll be the only carrier to do so. It has the European carrier exclusive on sales of the Small, Cheap(ish) Computer with a built-in HSDPA modem.

That's an accessory notably absent from Dell's own website this morning, despite the fact that the vendor's own support site reveals the SCC has a user-accessible slot for just such a device.

Dell said this afternoon that it too will sell the HSDPA-enabled Mini, presumably with Vodafone airtime.

Dell's been working with Vodafone for years to offer a range or regular laptops with integrated 3G and, later, HSDPA network connectivity.

Unfortunately, that long-running partnership hasn't enabled the two to work out yet what the carrier is going to charge for the 9 - if, indeed, it doesn't entirely subsidise the £299 the Dell wants punters to pay for the machine.

It's not hard to imagine the 9 being offered for free on top-of-the-range monthly airtime packages, for example.

Vodafone said it will spill the beans in the "coming weeks". It'll sell the HSDPA-equipped Mini from "late September".

I am going to buy a netbook and I was waiting for the Dell. That keyboard looks really small though. the presence of an inbuilt 3G modem is appealing though especially if its unlocked for use with my Three SIM.