THE OFFICIAL: Dell Inspiron 9 (Mini I) Thread...

Best Buy starts carrying the MSI Wind:

http://www.mobilemag.com/content/100/334/C16331/

 

Hey! Thanks for sharing the information, and the linky! Makes for a nice read & the ability to purchase/check out before ordering, at the local B&M



Cin

 

So many posts having trouble keeping up.. Anyone install Vista Basic on their Mini 9 yet? Also, I see that 32GB SSD PCIe cards are available but does anyone know of any big name that sells them? (Like a newegg or buy.com)

 

How about one in white and red...lol

 

they could mini or the 10...
but like that pink but red.. oh my

 

Here are some other discussions I have found relating to Windows Vista

1. http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/10092510/Mini_9_Vista
2. http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/forum-replies-archive.cfm/985051.html
If you read the discussions it appears that people have successfully installed Windows Vista.

32GB SSD: Have not seen a link to newegg or buy.com but you might want to keep an eye on these discussions.

1. http://www.ideastorm.com/article/show/10092552/Dell_Inspiron_Mini_9_32GB_SSD_Upgrade

2. http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/install-a-32gb-ssd-into-your-mini-9-t89.html

3. Video guide on how to install 32GB SSD: http://www.liliputing.com/2008/09/how-to-upgrade-the-dell-inspiron-mini-9-ssd.html

 

Does anybody think this might be one of those "items" like the wee that gets
cranked up!!
Bad year to do that with people's money.

 

I picked this case up on the way home from work today. It's actually made for a portable DVD player. It's only $9.99, but I have heard some Radio Shacks have it on clearance for $4.99 It's well worth it for whatever price you find it. The AC Adapter fits fine in the front pocket, although there is no velcro or a snap to keep it closed. The main pocket is zippered and padded to hold the Mini. It fits perfect, almost like it was made for it. Here is the link at Radio Shack where you can check your local store to see if it is in stock:

http://www.radioshack.com/product/i...case&origkw=dvd+player+case&parentPage=search

This is the picture from the manufacturers website. This looks identical to the one I purchased. The picture on Radio Shack's site is slightly different.

 

Just got mine, formatted and reinstalled a Nlited version of XP Pro, Office 2007, firefox and I have 5.2GB free still.

My 2GB stick is on the way, but even with 1GB if is fast for basic use

 

Hey thar! It looks really nice! Look's like it can hold a few *extras* also!

Cin

Thats great news! Looks like you can up the GB with your comfort level of available space!


Cin

 

hee hee!!!! Actually just looking at those colors...is making me quite *anxious* LOL.

Look at that *red* it's just so...sleek, sexy, and stylin!

patience patience patience.....



Cin

 

I would jump on this if it had a shoulder strap, does it? For travel (especially in airports) I require a should strap, it doesn't appear to have one.

 

Well I have the mini 9 on order and for whatever reason I decided to look on Amazon for the AAO with 6 cell & 160 HD. Well it is now available to order from Amazon.

Should I wait until Oct 20th for the Mini, or just cancel and order the AAO and have it tomorrow?

Has space really been an issue for owners with the 16 GB SSD? That was my main concern from the start with the mini. However, I like the idea of a quiet unit with no fan. But the AAO is about $150 less expensive...... Questions, questions, question.....

Im really undecided right now as to what to do........ I need direction.

 

Nope, no shoulder strap. There is not even a ring or hook to put on on if you wanted to.

 

Dell now has the power adapter for sell on their site if anyone needs an extra/spare one. $59.99 is a little steep!!

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=330-2063

 

anyone know when the 64GB SSD will be availible? I emailed that site with the video of the 32GB install and they never answered me back. I need to get this for the Mini

 

ALso noticed. Best Buy and Circuit City are not offering the Acer Aspire one anymore. Mustove sold out of them to fast.

 

According to this website late October:
http://www.mydigitaldiscount.com/SP...d-for-dell-mini-9-----800008CD-1222915030.jsp

 

Did you see that online? Wowsa ..or was it at the B&M store level???


Cin

 

On a similar note, ended upgrading the Dell Wireless 1395 802.11b/g Mini-PCIe card up to the 1510 802.11 a/b/g/draft-N equipped in the Studio notebooks: http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...&cs=19&sku=PW934&mfgpid=197160&chassisid=8477

Ended up getting creative securing the card since it is the half-height form factor and Dell really blew it in my opinion by not originally configuring the WLAN of the I910 to support this more power efficient half-height size.

Another option would be the Dell Wireless 1505 which is a full height Mini-PCIe draft-N 802.11 a/b/g card that would fit without mod into the I910 but is overpriced at Dell IMHO...

 

Mine just showed up today and I can't believe its turning right around. What's with the 1200x600 resolution? They couldn't fit anything larger? Half my programs, mostly surveillance , won't run on anything less that 768..... what a tease.

 

How did you end up securing it?

 

I'm finding 1024x600 to be perfectly fine for typing papers and surfing. Hell, i'm getting used to the keyboard enough to touch-type now!!!

 

1200x600 is listed in the specs: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9

LCD Display
Glossy 8.9 inch LED display (1024X600)

Also, most reviews mention this.

I think the real problem is the software your using not being able to adjust to a different resolution.

 

I have seen 768 on an 8.9" with the HP mininote... it isn't pretty, it's just way too small, and that's coming from a person who really likes 1920X1200 on a 17"...

Also, how is it that you ordered it without knowing the resolution?? >.<
I mean, you didn't realize that you would need something higher res?

 

Ending up soldering screwable posts that we happen to have at work

 

way to read buddy.

 

People, lighten up. I certainly wouldn't return it without first googling around for some software hack that might emulate 768 resolution. These hackers are geniuses!

 

Thanks richard... I saw the spec of 1200x600, but didn't think any programs actually didn't run on it. I haven't run into anything less than 768 lately and the program doesn't tell you its an issue until you actually run it on a problem display.

 

That's CLASSIC!

 

I have installed Vista on mine, with some options strip down. It goes very well, except for the wireless. After installing the driver, it say some networks are available, when I click, it's say : <<Windows cannot find any additional networks>>. But if I click set up a connection or network, I can manually connect. Anyone having this problem ? I have started netsh to check the config, but WLAN autoconfig is enabled.

 

no phone/internet orders here, sales are done at stores, i called my agent this week to ask about availability, and these things arent on sold here yet. no idea when to expect them, but with the massive sales and delays in the states this could be months.

gonna order it the moment it becomes available. im guessing late november!

 

If you buy one of these... crazy stuff happens

Like going to my Vostro 1400, it seems friggin huge in comparison. So much screen space

Oh and everyone else thinks that they are awesome.

One thing I like is I have it set to go into standby with the lid closed. Unlike every other laptop I have had, when I open the screen back up, it just pops back on. Every other laptop always takes 5 seconds or so before its ready. Its like a PDA,

Only thing I don't like is how quiet the speakers are. I can barely hear music when its all the way up unless I am in a very quiet room

 

I finally got around to opening mine (Got it last friday) and setting up XP the way I like it...

So far I like it but it feels awfully slow. I have an old lappy with a celeron 1.6GHz processor and 1GB Ram and it seems to handle XP better... any ideas why this could be? I didn't do a clean install of XP but I cleaned up the bloatware and followed the normal OS tweak "must-do's." So far I've only installed Office Ultimate 2k7, Firefox and VLC Player. Also, I only have about 500MB of storage left on the HDD and I can't find what is taking up so much space... Restore is off, Hibernation is off, all the usual suspects are taken care of... Is there something I missed?

 

Page file to start with. That was about 700MB by default. Also, go to the root of the C: drive and delete the folder MSOCache (its hidden) that office uses as a temp folder while installation. That will clear up about 600MB

You seriously need to reformat and start over. Use nLite and follow this guide
http://wiki.eeeuser.com/howto:nlitexp

Reinstall XP either from an external CD drive or a flash drive.

I'm running a nLited XP SP3 with Office 2007 (Word, Excel, PwrPnt, OneNote, Outlook) Firefox, Pidgin, GIMP and a few other things and have over 5GB free.

Once I get my 2GB SODIMM, I will create a 512MB RAMDisk and move all temp folders to it, leaving me with 1.5GB for RAM, which should be way over enough.

My Mini flies. Opens word faster then my desktop

 

Did you remember to uncompress the drive? A lot of people have said doing so made the mini runs faster on xp.

 

Just for kicks, I downloaded a short 3 minute 720p HD WMV demo from microsoft... and it ran perfect with no slowdowns

 

Thanks for the info! I already took care of the MSOCache and the page file. Of course, my first choice would be a clean install, I have an 'nlited' iso all ready to go, but I currently don't have an external drive and don't have the time to mess w/ the flash drive option. I spent some more time tweaking and things seem to be getting snappier. I am curious how to create a RAMdisk though, I have a 2GB stick installed... could you enlighten me?

Rep for you!

 

The speakers are really that quiet??

Cin

 

Figured it was about time I registred so I could share my knowledge regarding the mini 9. So hello to you all.

I see that so many is waiting or waited forever on their mini 9. Kinda funny from my point of view, as the mini 9 was launched 4 days after in Australia and took only 3-4 days to arrive at my door (I ordered on launch date).


Anyway, thought Id post some info about my approach to get support from Dell here in Oz.

First of all, the firmware upgrade app is stupid. I started it and without pressing flash bios it apparently started taking backups and flashing etc. And the program said close all programs before flashing, so I did that, and the flashing tool crashed. Since I hadnt pressed the "flash bios" button I thought I could turn off the computer without harm.

I was wrong.

Computer wouldnt even get to POST anymore.

Tried to call Dell after I found out that their chat function doesnt work. Was in line for 30 minutes before I gave up. Called lots of times and complained I couldnt get through and everyone said line was big, try again in 2 hours. So I did, try again in 2 hours, line was still huge.

So what I learnt was to ask the first person you talk to how big the line is.

When I called the last time, the estimated wait was only 15 minutes, so I waited. The guy I then talked to was very helpful and was gonna send out a technician to replace my motherboard (for the dead bios) and a bottom casing (my mini 9 was tilting a little bit to the bottom right).

I did the calls on Monday, and today, Wednesday, the technician showed up and replaced both items. Computer working perfectly.

2 drawbacks though:

1. The bottom casing still tilts a little bit to the bottom right, but I can fix it by twisting the casing a little bit.

2. The technician made lots of scratches to the glossy coating on the back cover. One that was 1 cm and clearly noticable. I guess Im picky, but I hate scratches on a new system.

The technician called a number and arranged for a replacement of the back cover, and that will probably happen within the next few days.

Overall Im pretty satisfied. Some drawbacks with the problem of actually reaching Dell support and the scratches, but kudos to how fast they fixed my computer.

 

Some skins for the Mini:

http://search.stores.ebay.com/3acp_...3acpQQfsooZ1QQfsopZ1QQsaselZ368325426QQsofpZ0


Actual photos of the Mini with the skin:

http://picasaweb.google.com/Robb318/DellMini910#


These are not my photos, I have not purchased one of these skins. Just passing along the info.

 

Heres a guide on how to install XP from a USB key. Took maybe 20 minutes to make it.

I dowloaded all the drivers beforehand and extracted them, and intagrated them using nLite.

RAMDisk http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/05/27/free-ramdisk-for-windows-vista-xp-2000-and-2003-server/

 

Dell is offering a free I9 w/purchase of a XPS 1530..it will be added automatically at checkout...This is interesting..as they can't even keep up with peep's orders placed over a month ago..

I'm curious to see how these orders will roll out!

Hmmm...will they be able to now keep up with supply and demand? Or more backorders and cancellations?? or

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4010209#post4010209

(taken from Notebook / Tech Bargains section of the forum)
hoping that was alright...

Cin!

 

Found this on My Dell Mini Forum:

On this page is a link to Dell's files for linux the reinstall cd for Ubuntu Hardy 8.04 can be found there. I don't know if it is infact the same used for the mini but I am planning on trying it.

http://linux.dell.com/

A more direct link:

http://linux.dell.com/files/ubuntu/hardy/iso-images/

Here's some more info on ISO

http://linux.dell.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_8.04#Dell_OS_Factory_Recovery_8.04.1_DVD_ISO

 

I hope it works for you! Be sure to advise....


Cin

 

Hi All,

I just ordered a Mini I yesterday and will have to add this thread to my daily stop along with the M1730 thread.

 

Awesome!!! Welcome to the I9 Thread! Congrat's on your order! :yes:

We love updates! Whens your ESD?

Cin

 

Hey, for anyone that still interested in buying one, Dell just updated their EPP pricing last night.

You now automatically get $40 off and 7% discount as opposed to just 2%. Priced one out fully loaded (every option) but with linux for $424.

I wish I could keep mine as it is really a nice piece.

 

Nice! Well, since I've got the I9 on my mind..maybe I will go play around with my EPP discount for a bit...

Thanks, for info!


Cin

 

My ESD is 10/28/08, can't wait.