Inspiron Mini 1012

Hey guys:

Just received my refurbished dell mini 1012. Overall, there's a lot I like about it(size, appearance, sound, battery life, etc), but I am very disappointed by its performance, which is obviously most important.

Here are the specs:
-- HB 95 802.11n Wireless Network Card
-- Processor: Intel Atom Processor N450 (1.66GHz, 512K L2 Cache)
-- Genuine Windows 7 Starter
-- 1 GB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz (1 DIMM)
-- 250 GB SATA Hard Drive (5400RPM)
-- 6 Cell, 56WHr Lithium-Ion Primary Battery
-- 10.1 inch HD WideScreen Anti Glare Laptop Screen (1366x768)

I purchased this because I was looking for something light/portable that would be adequate for surfing the web, watching/streaming movies, etc. The issue is that everything seems sluggish. Watching streaming video is very jittery. I'm not looking to play games or anything which IMO would be outside the design/purpose of this machine.

I realize this probably isn't a top of the line netbook by any means, but at a minimum I feel like I should be able to do normal multimedia/web surfing without problems. Please let me know if I'm just simply way off the mark.

Is the issue Windows 7 being too much of a resource hog for this? Should I attempt to find a copy of XP and install that? If so, any idea where I could still purchase one?

I know a lot of people put a 2GB stick of RAM in, but I'm not so sure that that's the issue. It seems to me like the laptop is just too slow. I haven't installed any software and am not running anything significant in the background(to my knowledge). I don't mind putting in the extra RAM and spending the money, but I'd rather not waste it.


Thanks for your help and please let me know if you have any other ideas.

 

Did you get any kind of warranty? The refurbs usually come with a 90 day warranty. Make dell fix it. Windows7 or the ram is not likely the problem.
Realize that the atom processors were made to do very simple computing. more likely the processor is not handling what you are doing.

 

About the only good thing about the atom powered net books is battery life.. and nothing else. I can't say portability is a advantage anymore with the newer 11.6 inch AMD powered portables. I just got the HP dm1z with dual core, 7200 rpm hd and 3 gigs of ram with a 720p display.. Also has hdmi and ati graphics and these newer systems will spank the atom system to pieces. They are nearly as portable. Only draw back is only around 3-4 hours battery life but it is fast..really fast and can play 1080P flash or anything you throw at it. If its a dell you like they have their version of it with the 101z I believe it is called.

Also, you must understand that much of the streaming on the net is flash.. which takes primarily processing power to run it smoothly. Atom processors are weak and the integrated graphics are crap as well. But I have to admit, you got a decent display resolution. It just does not have the horsepower to play back any HD. What I suggest is add at least another gig of ram. Also look at your task manager to see if there is any other programs that are robbing processor power. You have to tweak the performance. Also make sure you are not in power saving mode.. i hear that really hurts atom systems performance. Put it in balance mode at the very least. At the very least, your system should run 480P flash and dvd's and regular xvid files. Possibly 720P but doubt you would ever get 1080 to work.. but without hdmi and the screen res, that's not necessary on your system.

 

Bump it up to 2 GB of RAM and it should smoother. But don't expect an uber fast machine with an Atom and Intel GMA graphics. That Atom is pretty much equivalent to a Celeron 900 or a V140 AMD processor.