San Francisco: Dell Inc is poised to announce a new mini-laptop computer later this week, a source familiar with the company’s plan said on Tuesday, confirming a Wall Street Journal story.

The source said the Dell “mini” would be a low-priced computer that is two-thirds the size of full-featured laptops, which will put it into competition with the Eee PC from Asustek Computer and other rivals in Taiwan and Japan.

The Journal cited “people familiar with the device” as saying the Dell mini notebook is likely to sell for under $400, have a screen size under nine inches, and run either Microsoft Windows or Linux operating system software.

A Dell spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment. The source confirmed that the new Dell model would be revealed on Thursday as part of an announcement with partner Box.net, which supplies online data storage services to Dell.

Mini-notebooks have caught on with heavy computer users who want full-access not just to e-mail but to Web pages and business documents while on the go outside of their offices.