Dell Mini 9 gets 64GB SSD option for Linux, same 'ol for Windows

Looking for a little more room to grow in a netbook yet still can't get over the fear of spinning platters that's plagued you for years? So long as your odd phobias don't also include open source software Dell has your fix with the Mini 9, now available with a $75 64GB SSD option when purchasing a model sporting Ubuntu. Why no big SSD love for XP? Apparently someone at Microsoft has some strange phobias, too.

[Via jkkmobile]

[temitayo @ Jan 7th 2009 5:02PM]

First?

[matt @ Jan 7th 2009 5:06PM]

go and fall down some stairs?

[Brad @ Jan 7th 2009 5:11PM]

I think this has more to do with Dell not updating their site completely than some problem Windows XP might have with a 64 gig SSD.

[john @ Jan 7th 2009 5:18PM]

No, it's because MS has a license restriction for cheaply running XP on netbooks:

1GB of RAM and a small SSD (forget how big).

Basically, MS shot themselves in the foot by trying to limit the growth of XP and netbooks, thinking that that would contain the problem until Windows 7 is out, and to keep XP netbooks from stealing sales from Vista notebooks.

Instead, they've just ensured that Linux has no competition on "high end netbooks" (how's that for an oxymoron ;-) ).

[telepheedian @ Jan 7th 2009 5:27PM]

The restrictions must be ssd only, because the hard drive in my Eee is 80gb.

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:44PM]

remember when MS shot themselves in the foot over the internet, hohoho

thats my daily dose of MS bashing.

[telepheedian @ Jan 7th 2009 6:04PM]

@Oli D:

Apparently having the browser with the top marketshare, even if its a pile of crap, constitutes shooting themselves in the foot.

[L @ Jan 7th 2009 5:12PM]

75$ for 64 instead of 16GB? Not bad.

[Patriks7 @ Jan 7th 2009 5:30PM]

Yeah, but until we see real tests I'm guessing it's one of those that are really not so good..

[Fanfoot @ Jan 7th 2009 6:04PM]

Actually the STEC's that have been shipping in the Dell Mini 9's aren't bad. They're no SLC drives, nor are they as fast (write) as the RunCore upgrades available, but they're not that bad really. They support sleep mode in OSX, handle NTFS with no problems (some delays periodically but nothing too serious), etc. With a 64GB drive there's no reason to use compression either, speeding things up a little.

[Student Driver @ Jan 8th 2009 12:22AM]

I have a Dell Mini 9 with a 16GB SSD that I just upgraded to a Runcore 64GB SSD, and there is a big difference in feel. You still get some pauses, but it isn't anything like the STEC that came with it. I was running Vista on the 16GB (and the 64GB now) and I plan to use it for Windows 7 to see how that works out.

[Jonathan Tyler @ Jan 7th 2009 5:18PM]

$75?!

Stupid Canada. We start at 4GB, then to move to 64 it'll cost us $170.

Fail. :

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:38PM]

fail for canada not dell

[Jonathan Tyler @ Jan 7th 2009 6:34PM]

Srsly.

[scape @ Jan 7th 2009 5:19PM]

Dell is notorious for these strange configurations. Most likely they are trying to push out some Ubuntu, that way they pay 0 licensing fees.

[Les @ Jan 7th 2009 5:21PM]

It's showing 64ssd for 150$.

I think they were just mid update

[Jason Litka @ Jan 7th 2009 5:46PM]

If your base config has a 16GB drive then the upgrade is $75. You're looking at the upgrade from the 4GB. It's not any more or less since the cost from 4GB to 16GB is $75 and $75 + $75 = $150.

[jonas @ Jan 7th 2009 5:22PM]

not attractive if the 64gb SSD uses MLC nand flash having slow read/write speed..

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:39PM]

64 MLC... is that possible?

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:42PM]

have just realized the stupidity of what i said.

[Jason Litka @ Jan 7th 2009 5:48PM]

I'm pretty sure that they're all MLC. The 16GB drive in my Mini 9 runs sequential tests at about 80MB/s read and 18MB/s write and absolutely crawls when you break out the 4k random write tests.

[Fanfoot @ Jan 7th 2009 6:07PM]

You just need a good controller. For sequential write perforamance at least there are lots of SLCs now hitting 60-80MBps as long as they use a decent controller. Visit jkkmobile to see some of the numbers. Once the board has multiple flash chips on it, you can imagine how they might be able to parallel multiple write operations to speed things up. SSDs are going to get a lot faster in the near future...

[Raja Bill Dub @ Jan 7th 2009 5:28PM]

Of course. 2 weeks after I buy one do they come out with this. + Spending more than an hour on hold with Dell sales to tell me I can not purchase this standalone...

[Andir3.0 @ Jan 7th 2009 5:39PM]

If everyone knew that something new was right around the corner, people wouldn't buy as much now. ;)

As far as the upgrade option, that's kind of lame... but it would likely just cost you a new SSD anyway so go buy it and put it in.

[Jason Litka @ Jan 7th 2009 6:05PM]

Yeah, I'm trying to get my rep to order me one but he seems to be hitting a brick wall as, for now, it looks to be allocated to new systems only. I had the same problem buying a 5530 3G Wireless card for my Latitude. My order sat there for about 4 months waiting to be filled while they were shipping brand new systems with them preinstalled. That's what we get for being early adopters (I ordered my Mini 9 and Latitude E4200 on the days they were released).

[Fanfoot @ Jan 7th 2009 6:08PM]

Its possible it is currently limited to new systems, but past experience suggests you'll eventually be able to order the part standalone. You'll need the part number, and you'll need to be persistent. See mydellmini for advice on how to get it done.

[Student Driver @ Jan 8th 2009 12:26AM]

If you want to get a 64GB SSD, just hit those same forums and look for the Runcore links to MyDigitalDiscount. I got mine yesterday and it's been great so far. Strangely, I couldn't get the image to take using Acronis, but I didn't care to fix it (generic winload.exe error that I probably could have fixed with the Vista disc) and just reused my vLite install DVD instead. Quite a bit faster, and you don't mind leaving a pagefile on it since it's written to a lot faster when needed.

[Mr Awesomer @ Jan 7th 2009 5:32PM]

Just install you own copy of XP on there. Does anyone here really run off an OEM OS install anyway?

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:37PM]

or just use Ubuntu...

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:36PM]

A victory, thanks dell

[g2ok @ Jan 7th 2009 5:38PM]

The restriction to Linux might have to do with read/write speeds of the SSD (SLC vs. MLC drives).
Probably Ubuntu is able to use the cheaper MLC drives, but Windows cannot run efficiently.
Windows is not designed for SSD and will kill them through all the write cycles.
Hopefully Win 7 plays nice with SSD, but don't bet on it.

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:45PM]

true. MLCs suck on NFTS

[Fanfoot @ Jan 7th 2009 6:11PM]

Sorry, but what you're saying makes no sense.

Dell ships the Mini 9 with Windows running NTFS (w compression on) on the smaller STEC drives, and since bigger flashes tend to be slightly faster than smaller ones, it makes no sense at all that they would suddenly run into an issue with this SSD.

Yes, NTFS has issues with slower (usually MLC) flash SSD's. But the STECs Dell has been using are reasonably good. You might want to turn off last access time updating just to speed things up a little, but NTFS works fine.

[Snowflake @ Jan 7th 2009 5:41PM]

In Canada, the 64G SSD shows as a $170 upgrade from the base 4G model. The Windows version of the mini9 has a "you save $110" applied to it, but has no 64G SSD option.

I just configured identical models with Ubuntu and Windows (1G RAM, 16G SSD, Bluetooth, 1.3MP camera, red case), and the Ubuntu one was $544 and the Windows one $484. Just like when I bought my XPS 1330, the Windows laptop was cheaper when identically configured. No amount of harping on the Dell reps on the phone would make them change anything though... If I wanted Ubuntu, I would be paying more for my laptop.

In the end I bought the Windows version and installed Ubuntu myself.

[Oli D @ Jan 7th 2009 5:48PM]

Won't give me the option for anything other than 8Gb in UK...

[Jeff Lewis @ Jan 7th 2009 5:56PM]

"Looking for a little more room to grow in a netbook yet still can't get over the fear of spinning platters that's plagued you for years?"

Or.. you could invest the $75 in therapy for that weird phobia... :)

Seriously - I've never lost a hard drive in a laptop - and I've actually thrown a Compaq laptop onto concrete from waist height by accident - I thought I was tossing my laundry bag and got the wrong shoulder strap.

I'm sure it happens - but I can't help suspecting that failure rates of filesystems from hard reboots or crashes are more common than actual honest-to-god hard drive failures.

What do you people DO with your laptops?

[Fanfoot @ Jan 7th 2009 6:18PM]

The complete silence, lower heat output, very slightly lower power utilization are nice. I do worry less about walking around with the thing before it might have powered down or whatever. But no, my laptop's drives haven't been that failure prone either. A bunch of people around me have had issues though...

[LongshotX @ Jan 7th 2009 6:18PM]

Ubuntu would quickly get wiped if I bought it.

[nsfw @ Jan 7th 2009 6:35PM]

Is this now the perfect hackintosh machine?

[Boards of Canada @ Jan 7th 2009 7:19PM]

buy the linux one, install xp.

[Boards of Canada @ Jan 7th 2009 7:19PM]

or Win7 beta! ;P

[tickko @ Jan 8th 2009 11:12AM]

I was thinking the same thing. Why couldn't you just install a Windows OS on the Linux configuration if you wanted 64 GB SSD. It's possible, right?