Dell's $299 Mini 10v now officially on sale
By Nilay Patel 
posted May 11th 2009 10:42PM
posted May 11th 2009 10:42PM
[Thanks, MethodicJon]
posted May 11th 2009 10:42PM
A look back on popular stories from today in a specific year.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Love the price!
yeppers
I lost touch with netbooks so long ago. Its so hard to keep up with the different models and specs. It hurts my brain.
A lot better looking now that it's lost the Mini 9's fugly speaker grills and fat bezel.
I am getting confused, what is the difference between the mini 9, 10, and 11. There is obviously a big price difference but does not seem to be a big feature difference.
The screen size
The mini9 has more pixels: 1024x600 instead of 1024x576.
there's no 11, 9 and 12 are like the first gen
10 is the newer one, its sleeker and actually has a more storage, a larger keyboard, and more pixels (at the 1366x768 option (not yet available on the 10v)) than the 12
so 12 along with the fact that it comes with Vista should probably be cut until Windows 7 is released
Costs less with Windows strangely...
Not strange...Microsoft has loads more cash to help subsidize its products than the OS community has.
So you're saying Microsoft makes all its money selling Office and Xboxes.
They subsidise by selling OEM Windows versions. This still makes the laptop cost more, not less.
They also charge less for Windows because they don't have to further train their tech support to support Windows. If a normal consumer buys an Ubuntu computer from Dell, would you expect them to be able to troubleshoot their own problems?
I'll get one for my dad once I can get it with the production release of Windows 7 pre-installed.
The Dell Mini 10v is $100 cheaper because primarily:
- the N series Atom processor is larger, uses slightly more power, and is slightly hotter than the Z series
- the 10v uses the regular GMA 950 chipset while the regular 10 uses the GMA 500 chipset. The GMA 500 chipset has AVC and VC1 hardware acceleration built-in, which will help with 720 HD playback:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intel_GMA#GMA_500
But if you're concerned about 720p playback, the 10v is the better deal!
Thanks for pointing this out, not always so clear. The GMA950 isn't terrible and will run Aero fine, but as you said useless for any HD playback.
Part of the reason for the Mini 9's huge success is the ease of putting MacOS on it - all the hardware just works out of the box. The old Mini 10 did not support it, and also had non-upgradeable RAM.
Based on the new platform, should the Mini 10 support MacOS like the Mini 9 does? Anyone know if the RAM is now user-upgradable?
You can't actually believe that a significant number of people are buying Mini 9s to put OSX on them.
A quick google search brings up a site called mydellmini dot com with 12,685 registered users. I wouldn't call that necessarily insignificant. And that only counts people that happen to belong to that forum. if you look at the threads it seems that maybe half of the users or so do that. there are other such sites devoted to it from the hackintosh side of things too. so i'd say there are probably in the thousands of people out there putting os x on the mini 9.
Wow, thousands!?
Sweet!
Just picked up one for my ma for mothers day. I'm sure she'll enjoy it.
so which is better.. this or the hp mini? netbooks all kinda look the same these days so whats the best out there? skyblaze could use a little schooling
Damn, this thing is almost perfect, all I need is the higher resolution screen on the regular mini 10.
Not much of deal to me. There's no option for additional memory. No options for operating system. The screen is at par. After the addition of Bluetooth and a 6 cell battery which are becoming the standard, the PC is at 355. If you want a color another 40. Upgrading the memory to 2 gb is almost mandatory. A simple upgrade but still another 25 dollars to do. On average your spending closer to 400 dollars here. Stick to an Asus or HP mini with these specs at this price.
No option for OS? Really? What's it mean when it says customize or customize with Ubuntu? I'm pretty sure that gives you your option of OS's.
I think the RAM's soldered on and non-user upgradeable. Unless Dell has or puts their own option for 2GB onboard for the Mini 10v, it's maxed out at 1GB of RAM.
This is stupid, they don't have the option for the 1366x768 screen.
If they did, I probably would have ordered one already.
Still hoping they will add that option on but I doubt it.
Yay. Mini 9 on the inside. Mini 10 on the outside. $300. I'm in. I'll order this as soon as I get the $$$ and Windows 7 on it pronto. This will make a great companion PC for my soon to be purchased MacBook Pro. :-D
I'm confused it says this is up for sale on the US site and I can't find it for the 300 price with the N-series processor can someone point me in the right direction?
You have to click the link from Engadget. I couldn't find it on Dell's site otherwise either.
=)
Nothing I click on leads me to this model and computer in my basket with an N processor and a price anywhere near 300 US.
found it... damn thats a pain.
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?cs=19&kc=6F976&oc=DNPUFS1&x=10&y=15
What are the actual specs. Clicking + Tech Specs on Dell's page takes you to the regular Mini 10 specs. Ack!
Does anyone know if the 6-cell battery sticks out (like the extended battery on my Latitude X300) vs the standard battery which is probably flush with the case?
http://www.engadget.com/2009/05/09/dell-mini-10-6-cell-battery-gets-pictured/
I am still wondering if you can get 2gb memory an put osx on it
What about the regular mini 10 option for the display? 1366x768? I was so psyched about that option when they announced it for the regular mini 10. I came really close to ordering one just now but then saw I couldn't get that option.... Hmmm. So close dell.
Jeez, things like this, just makes the wait for Windows 7 and the next-gen Atom CPUs seem longer than a few months.
What about CANADA?!?!?
So which one is the better in terms of performance, the regular 10 or the 10v?
This shit gets confusing and I don't want to buy the wrong one.
The mini 10v is supposed to be better the the original mini 10 for a few reasons. First off, the size is the smallest that they have ever made before. Also, it come standard with a web cam, or from what I saw in the Dell magazine. Plus the prise is unlike any other laptop on the market today. If you have the money, I saw just go for it. You will be very pleased with your purchase!
I just ordered a 10v. I am curious:
1. I plan to stream VOB files from my PC. These are standard DVD files. Will the 10v render them or will it just look horrible.
2. I hope to run the Sling Player software for my sling box. Any thoughts if it will run?
for anyone wanting a picture and video guide to upgrading the memory: http://www.jrin.net/2009_07_23/how-to-upgrade-dell-mini-10v-memory