So you can get external GPS receivers for your laptop, and some are even coming configured with it onboard. GPS in phones, of course, is old hat. So what’s next? GPS-enabled netbooks – you know, these wee lil’ laptops that are all the rage — somewhere in between a notebook/laptop and an ultra mobile PC. PC maker Dell announced this week via its chief blogger — no, really — Lionel Menchaca, that it sees location-based services as a hit for the netbook market. As such, beginning next week in the United States it is going to roll out the Dell Wireless 700, a combination GPS and Wi-Fi positioning hardware/software module for its Mini 10 netbook.

To quote the chief blogger:

The hardware part is an internal GPS card with built-in Wi-Fi locationing. These two technologies work in tandem, which means the technology works both indoors and out. In other words, it can calculate your position using Wi-Fi access points or using GPS satellites. The Dell Wireless 700 is powered by Broadcom’s [assisted]-GPS and Skyhook Wireless’ Wi-Fi position solutions.

Um, just FYI to the chief blogger: location is the noun form; locate is the verb form. You could be locating, but not locationing. Blogging will be the death of American Letters.  But that’s neither here nor there. Get it? Location … here … there … ah, I slay myself.

But seriously ladies and germs, if you’re not familiar with Wi-Fi positioning, it’s a pretty cool use of technology that is increasingly appearing as a supplement to GPS positioning in consumer gadgets and apps. To put it in simple terms, Wi-Fi positioning relies on maps of known Wi-Fi access points to determine location. In other words, when you’re sitting in the coffee shop and can’t get a GPS signal lock, the software will look at what Wi-Fi networks your laptop, phone, or other gadget can detect, compares these with a database of known locations of the corresponding network’s access points — the physical location of the MAC address, if you wanna get geeky — and thus determines where you are. It’s not as precise as GPS, but it works indoors and its close enough for jazz.

As for the A-GPS, the Dell Wireless 700 module uses Broadcom’s technology; in a nutshell A-GPS uses a database of calculated satellite positions to assist a device in determining a location; that data is typically accessed via a data network, in this case a cellular one. The receiver on the Dell Wireless 700 comes on a mini-PCI card.

The Dell Wireless 700 will also rely on Dell’s CoPilot navigation software to provide turn by turn directions and mapping; Dell’s chief blogger also says the company also plans to launch a location-aware web portal with Skyhook and Loki that will work with social networking and other location-based services.

Hope you haven’t already installed Linux instead of Windows on your Mini 10 though. Per Menchaca:

In the OS department, initially, it will support Windows XP. Vista and Windows 7 support will come later. The Mini 10 is the first system that we’ll offer with the optional Dell 700 Wireless location solution. Stay tuned for more details about more supported systems, accessories and more regions.

For more info on the Dell Mini 10 go here. Looks like the Dell Wireless 700 module and software will run about $70 bucks. Of course, you could hack in a GPS receiver yourself.

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