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

Plumbing problems will do that to you Cin.. I know for sure!! Been my cross to bear or how to you spell bear? lol

I'm still trying decide if I should take the mini9 to boot camp or 1530..
hmmm

 

I'm really enjoying it, enough so that i want to get another one and build a docking port for it in my car to play music and do navigation and such
Not that i have the money to buy another one, but whatever
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Now that is a great idea!!

 

I'd take the mini i think, seems like it'd be more durable in the face of dust and being knocked around.

 

Thanks for giving an opinion. I'm leaning towards the red guy!
Easy to drag along...
And I'd hate anything to happen to the 1530. But it has Windows 7 and I just love it!!

 

Stick windows 7 on the mini!
I know someone did that.

 

Yeah..major prob's.... Hopefully, fixed tomorrow when I call the Plumber.

Hmmm. What would I take with me. I consider them both to be portable. I think, I would bring the Netbook, if all I were going to be doing was basic internet usage, and such

Cin

 

Did you buy the Mini 9 as a portable travel companion? If so....

 

Well I bought it to basically take to work and home.
I am bringing my mom one .
Since it's such a short time will probably take my mini!

 

Now that the new-ness of my Dell Mini 9 has worn off, I am getting a little bummed by its kind of sluggish performance, even running Ubuntu with 2GB ram, it still hangs a bit more than I would like when just doing basic web browsing. Anyone think going to a faster SSD (Like a runcore) would make any noticeable difference?

 

Yes. It would. The SSD is the bottleneck in the Mini 9. No doubt, Dell went slow to save some coin.

 

I did.

Its about as quick as XP is. I only have the 8GB SSD drive though, so it takes up almost all of it. Everything seems to be running fine on it, including Aero.

When I get a bigger SSD I'll fool around with it more, I just tried it out now to see what the performance was like, and its definately usable as a full-time OS.

I also heard that Win7 is going to have a 'netbook' edition that will cut down on the things installed and such.

 

Great! I figure it is worth a shot. I don't suppose you know where I can get one from a place that I have actually heard of? It seems like none of the big names have them, like a newegg or ZipZoom.

Also, I want to recommend that everybody with a netbook check out mesh.com. It is awesome, all my pictures and documents from my computer sync to it automatically, then if I need something while on my mini, then I just can go grab it using the web version of mesh.

 

it's probably going to be like the version of xp that they ship with the mini 9. it comes pre-tweaked to use less resources and is pretty much almost the same as using the "xp tweak" guides that have been floating around the internet for years. pretty handy after i figured out that i didn't have to do it myself haha.

 

I have had it on mine for awhile. I think you could fool around with vLite and make your install smaller. If you don't use hibernate that will free up almost a gig of space. There are a few other settings that will make it smaller and faster.

 

I totally agree. It would help that feeling of disappointment from
it being sluggish..

 

I got my outlet mini in today. I gave it the look over and for the most part it's in really good shape minus some hard to see scratches on the cover. they are pretty hard to see, but they are bothering me just a bit and my wife thinks i'm being silly. i guess for the difference in price the scratches aren't that bad and i'm considering a skin anyways. I went ahead and installed the 16gb runcore and the 2GB RAM i've had waiting and installed XP Pro that i got free through school.

i've got most of the essentials installed now and will probably working on getting everything just right over the next few days. even though i got to see it in person at best buy, i'm still struck on how small it is. Typing isn't too bad... I get caught up on the shift, and apostrophe, but other than that i'm managing pretty well (typed this post from the mini).

i'm really liking this purchased especially through the outlet. this thing is going to come in handy killing time in between classes and for the trips we have planned this summer.

 

Nice! Grat's on the arrival!

It is a nice little netbook...When I was first using it, I thought I would never get used to the keyboard. But really, after one day of typing on it...it nearly becomes second nature!

HA! I had the same prob' with the the shift, and apostrophe~If you don't continually use the I9..you can start to lose the keyboarding skills you learned on it!

Sounds like your *tweaks* have gone well, also! Nice!


Cin

 

Of course, irony strikes again and my new order mini shipped out today.

 

Oh no! That's right you weren't cancelling until you received your Outlet purchase....Are you gonna try it out for a few days, before returning?


Cin

 

I'm definitely going to keep one of them. I'm leaning towards the new one since it already has bluetooth installed and it would save me from trying to order a module from dell and then installing it myself (which would probably be the easier part of that process). Either way, I can use the outlet one for a couple days until the new one gets here. I assume there is a similar 21 day return policy on refurbs?

 

I would prob's lean towards new, also..if it has the BT you want, already!

This is kind of nice for you, you can get used to the I9...and when you recieve the new one..you still have a few days to to decide which one you want to keep!

Oh, and yes..the Return policy is 21 days from date of invoice!
Here is some info' on that for yah!
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/segtopic.aspx/returns?c=us&cs=22&l=en&s=dfh


Cin

 

A similar question was asked on mydellmini: http://mydellmini.com/forum/gaming-on-the-mini--t3091.html-st=0&sk=t&sd=a.

In addition, you might want to see if you have the A04 BIOS installed. Also, see a thread on mydellmini: http://mydellmini.com/forum/canʹt-s...228.html-sid=aa345bc6b0a2e0dd9a2b401aaf26f1a2

Lastly, check this thread: http://mydellmini.com/forum/dell-mini-9-game-screen-t4166.html-sid=aa345bc6b0a2e0dd9a2b401aaf26f1a2

 

I wonder if the mini 10 will replace the mini 9 or if there is enough customer base for both?

I may save up and buy a mini 10 later in the year, but overall I think the mini 9 is the most convenient for travel.

 

With the $199 price of the Mini 9 today, does that mean Dell is getting ready to introduce a refreshed Mini with the N280 processor, tv tuner, and 16x9 screen like the Mini 10?

 

I doubt it, they occupy different price points and feature points.
The mini12 is probably doomed though.

 

Look at these photos, the 10 is barely larger than the 9: Here

 

I think the Mini 9..will prob's stay with the same options it has. Unless, they plan a huge overhaul..


Cin

 

I just sold my Alpine White Mini 9 to get the one I really wanted, a Cherry Red Mini with 16 GB SSD and bluetooth. Can't wait!

Also, Dell now has a glossy red bluetooth mouse for sale (cool!). Will match the Cherry Red mini

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=330-2752

 

Very nice...you will the lurves the Red

Oh, I believe there is an accessories coupon out..so you can save more money on that mouse if you wanted!


Cin ;0

 

Already used the coupon--sweet deal! Mouse will arrive this week but Mini won't arrive until March 24th.

I also used my income tax refund to get a new Dell desktop (XPS 435)..delivery isn't until March 30th.

I wish I knew why there was such a long delay...

 

Yes, the accessories for the lappy's always ship sooner it seems!
3/24 is a long time for delivery on the Mini 9...

I wonder if it's because the pricing went way down, and more peep's have ordered?

That's a sweet mouse, I've contemplated getting it!


Cin

 

My mini 9 said it was going to ship on the 10th of March but they shipped it on the 27th of February, so I don't believe in those date estimates. I guess it's better to over promise than to under promise.

 

The Outlet shipping estimates are laughable, both of the laptops i ordered shipped within a couple days.

 

So the SSD, WiFi and WWAN all use PCIe connectors, as such could i take the wifi out and put a second SSD in there?
Unfortunately my mini lacks a wwan connector or i'd stuff a second one in there.

Anybody tried it?



EDIT:

On a note along the same lines... Anyone try one of the MadeInChinaBySlaveLabor $3 bluetooth mini-dongles from ebay on their mini9?
$3 shipped and not having to shred the laptop is worth having it stick 1/4" out the side to me, assuming it works.

 

The great thing about the Outlet..and even better..shipping is now free!

I havent tried this...I'm sure someone has..though!


Cin

 

If nobody reports in i'll have to give it a shot for giggles

 

So you are going to be our test Beta? :laugh:

That's nice of you. I think I will wait a bit before doing that!
What earphones are you using for the mini 9?


Cin

 

No earphones here, if i were using 'em they'd be cheap earbud type things.

 

Yeah..I had some nice Sony's but they *died*..So I just ordered some Sennheiser CX300's..I cant wait to test them out on my Mini 9


Cin

 

These are my current favorite pair:
http://www.skullcandy.com/shop/titan-p-82.html

Really well built, sound amazing and good color choices.

 

FYI, at the Outlet this morning are a few PREVIOUSLY ORDERED NEW Black Mini 9's for $179, free shipping. Ubuntu/4GB/512, but for those of us taking out the anemic RAM and 4 or 8GB that comes with it, buy it as cheap as possible, then upgrade!

 

Quick question...regarding upgrading the SSD. On newegg.com, I see nice 32GB and 64GB modules, and some of the reviewers reference them as SATA, not PATA, but the specs don't mention anything about being SATA.

Are the mini-PCIe SSD drives really some sort of SATA or PATA, and if so, which one does the Mini 9 take (the Dell specs don't state).

Thanks!

 

I saw those, they are nice! I just went with the CX300's based on several recommendations and reviewing them

$179 at the outlet Very, nice....yes *barebone* as much as you can..and then upgrade how you want!


Cin

 

I'm a bit unsure about upgrading the SSD, though. Researching a bit, I cannot conclude whether the Mini 9 takes a special mini-pcie SSD, or do the SUPER TALENT or PATRIOT models at newegg work?

The Outlet has new Mini 9's with 64GB and 2GB RAM for $329 (seems like an equivalently good deal based on pricing at newegg for 64GB SSD's).

If it's going to be an expensive "PITA" to get a special SSD for the mini 9, those $179 units may not be worth it.

Any comments from anyone in the know?

 

Most people at mydellmini are going with the RunCore drives from mydigitaldiscount.com. See this thread for a discussion of which third party SSD drives are compatible with the Mini 9: http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/which-type-of-ssd-work-for-mini-9--t3884.html

 

Thanks. I had run upon that info when I was looking around, but I still have not found conclusive data on if the RunCore are specially made for the Mini 9 or if others will work. I'm a fairly technical person, and if all mini-pcie SSD's will work, I'd rather make my own decision based on pricing and performance.

Update: that link is different info, and pretty much says normal mini-pcie drives won't work in the mini 9.

 

From my limited understanding there are currently only three places where you can get a SSD drive that will fit the Mini 9: Dell, Crucial and My Digital Discount (RunCore's drive). I'm hoping that more companies start producing Mini-9 compatible SSD drives so the price goes down a little. The RunCore's price of $219 for the 64GB is a little high when compared to the total cost of the Mini 9 itself. Also, I've read the SSDs from Crucial have a slower read/write speed when compared to RunCore.

 

I bought one of the larger ones 64 and it seemed slower so I took out.
64GB Going to sell it on Ebay when I get back.

 

/wave long time no see everyone!

anyone have any idea if they ever plan to toss a ion into these little machines? i almost want to pull the trigger on preordering a mini10 but i really have no reason to buy it and i want to wait for the ion lol

 

Sorry to hear about that. I assume you are talking about the RunCore 64GB? It is somewhat surprising to hear since many people at mydellmini who have the 32 and 64GB claim that they see a noticeable difference in the write speed. Even the benchmarks I've seen show a noticeable difference in the write speeds. Your statements are disappointing since I've been thinking of upgrade my Mini to a 32 or 64GB SSD drive.