Dell's Mini 9 netbook gets unboxed on video
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 13th 2008 2:27PM
posted Sep 13th 2008 2:27PM
posted Sep 13th 2008 2:27PM
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if I had one of those HTCs (in the video) I could probably do without a netbook
Meh, I'm looking forward to the samsung netbook though. More or less the same specs, but the main reason is that the keyboard is perfect, all the keys are where they should be and there is minimal wastage of space. 1GB RAM is standard and the rest is the same I guess. Yeah, it looks good as well and if the price is good($300-$400), then the sammy is far better. The dell mini was way underwhelming.
It took long for it to start up, odd for an XP comp.
Now THAT is small.
That's what SHE said...lawl!
Looks very, very decent.
Link is dead.
It works for me.. are you sure?
zelda is going to be pissed
build for small village peoples
if they could take away that palmwrest and migrate it into keyboard as a pointstick, that could save more spaces, likely produce a much lighter widescreen netbook, and portable too
Damn, that dude likes his gadgets.... Oh, the Rolex ain't bad either!!!!!!
I know - he's got one a lappie of every size
Still can't afford to buy anything but a budget laptop for his daughter though! ha
I'm glad to see more entries into the netbook market but this one just doesn't offer anything particularly outstanding in comparison to exisiting products to get me that excited.. (afaik)
I dont need, but i do want.
Don't most of us? :P
aside from Windows taking forever to load, it looks pretty nice.
lose the "crapware" and boot times would improve - the specs on this thing are well above what xp was made for - it should be pretty zippy without all the preinstalled stuff weighing it down.
I'd be curious to see performance numbers on the SSD versus something like the Acer Aspire One with a 120GB drive in it. Granted it looked like it was finalizing the installation of XP on the initial boot ... but that was pretty lengthy. Wish they would demo a boot and general usage after the crapware was uninstalled (maybe even XP lightened up without all the indexing and UI features).
Why are people burying Matt C? He isn't talking about the OS - he's talking about the additional crapware dell loads, like McCaffe Security center
In the comments section below the video he notes that Windows XP takes 35 seconds to load after the initial setup.
Well it just started right up now didn't it...
Best Quote:
"that took a while...that was a good...at least 10 minuets."
If you dont like the xp load time get the ubuntu version. "oh but it won't run my programs".. WINE
Yay! Hes from scotland too. :D
Away an bile yer heid. :P
Awa 'n' fuck yer sel'.
Em no carin' wa says fit tae fae, or fa says fit.
Sorry to all you normal english speaking people. :P Scottish slang is almost a different language on its own :P
LOOK AT THE WEE BABY DELL NETBYUK!
Seriously his voice made that video better than what it should have been.
Ye, I have to agree that would be a good move. I think this really sets the prescident for someone to make a mini PCI-E SATA adapter.
But does it play emulators?
Okay it's small but why is it so FUGLY?
What?! Exactly what are you expecting from a computer? That is, by all accounts, one of the most attractive computers of any kind that I have seen! Next to the other notebooks he had out, this thing was looking quite sharp. Some people are just impossible to please.
I don't quite understand why certain comments are ranked high and others low... sometimes I think this is how politics work.
Anyways, I'm guessing the excessive boot time is characteristic of first-time Windows boots. I think this is especially true of manufacturer-setup installations (as opposed to "clean" user installations). My Fujitsu U810 literally took a good five minutes or so the first time it started up.
I contacted Dell about the Linux version. It won't ship till Oct 20.
I've also read that the WWAN slot has no antenna hooked up. Making the mini 9 a pass at this point to me.
Why would Dell eliminate the antenna making an upgrade impossible/harder? Anyone interested in this kind of mobility isn't going to want a dongle solution.
The slots exists on the mother board. However, there is no connection antenna. I assume this is due to the fact that the wireless provider would want the mini using not only the WWAN card, but the antenna they provide.
For example, Vodafone will buy Minis from Dell and install the Vodafone card and antenna. Then repackage and sell.
The original batch apparently shipped with the PCIe connector for the WWAN card soldered down, and some even had the antenna cable present. Newer models appear to have neither of these, so you'd need to do some serious soldering to use the extra PCIe slot...
this is pointlessly underpowered
in a year you wont use this computer ever again.. kinda like a disposable computer, just what the environment needs!
I love this computer, Dell laptops are just so tough too.
http://www.buttpaste.co.uk
Guys, it doesn't even have room for the Eee PC 70mm SSD upgrades that are available. There isn't any way a laptop hard disk drive is going to fit in there.
Now the obvious question... why isn't it thinner then?
I'm getting one for my 4 yr. old...Price is right...install peanut butter pc and he's good to go...
And, before you hypocrites jump down my throat about a 4yr old on the internet...Are you saying this isn't a skill he needs in his future?
Does your 4 year old really need to be buying stocks on his trips to Starbucks?
Get a desktop for half the price and put it in his room. Cheaper, easier to deal with, and less chance of him dropping it down the stairs.
El Link no funciona :S
I got mine on Friday, and after you've gone through the lengthy setup and removed all the nonsense which comes pre-installed, boot up is very, very quick. Twenty seconds or so.
I'm pleased with it, so far. Much nicer than the EEE and subjectively better than the Aspire (just feels better screwed together). I've stuck a 2GB PC2-6400 SODIMM in and it's flying along.
Very nice. I dont know much about web books and was going to get an EEE.
What is the benefit of getting this over an EEE with Windows on it?
www.PhoneDevil.com
.....I've just read that the EEE has a very poor keyboard.
In that case, should I get the linux Mini 9 or the windows version?
Cheers
hhp://www.PhoneDevil.com
If it had a 120gb hard drive (even as an option) I would be interested. But SSD with Windows swapping all the time? It would kill it in months.
Guys
I did the unboxing. The lengthy bootup time was initial startup. It's 30 seconds from a cold boot to the XP Screen, 10 secs or less from hibernate and 3 secs from standby.
Great job!
Enjoyable video!
Thanks for your efforts!
Not too bad really.
Once Windows has been tweaked it'll start up just fine.
I'm still glad I went with a Nokia N810 because I have a proper laptop that probably runs about as well as this that hasn't died yet.
I just might get one of these in the future, we'll see how things go this year. :D
I connected the inspiron mini uk version up to my TV last night and was *very* surprised when it outputted at 1920x1080 as I was expecting it to max out at the screen's native resolution. I was able to run IE at that resolution and it seemed fine, although it wasn't really possible to watch any videos at that resolution e.g. youtube - far too jerky.
I'm getting some freezes at the moment. The system hangs for a couple of seconds every few minutes and it's driving me mad. It seems to happen mostly when Google Chrome is running. I uninstalled most of the bloatware that came with it but I think I'm going to try a clean installation. Once I get that sorted, I'll be very happy.