The Official Dell Inspiron Mini 12 Thread!!!

Samsung NC20 vs Mini 12: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9y05Xlmz50

 

Nice comparison from what I can see. There is no English translation.


Cin

 

that is exactly what i did and it is running much better

 

So... are you on the Win7 or UNR?
If you are on Win7, you should try UNR!

 

Here's an interesting titbit:

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090206PD203.html

Buried in this piece about VIA processors and Samsung NC20s is this paragraph:

As Dell has decided to suspend shipments of its 12-inch Inspiron Mini netbooks, Samsung will the sole vendor in the 12-inch netbook segment when it begins to market the model in mid-February, the sources noted.

I hadn't heard about this before. Is this a permament suspension or will the Mini 12 return??

 

Ummmmm, I see mini 10 coming....



and 12 going?
I like 12 a lot, though.

I guess shipping with Vista first was bad idea.
There are so many horrible reviews based on Vista, which discourage consumer to buy one.

 

Vista+4200 rpm hard drive+no LED screen is not a good combo.

 

I can see the 10" being the 'sweet spot' of netbook sizes. I just hope Dell 'does it up right' this time with a much improved keyboard and a choice of SSD or HD.

 

Hmmm. This will be nice to see how it all plays out.


Cin

 

Oh well maybe it will become a collectors piece . I really like mine.

 

We had decided that the I12 was the right one for us and planned to hold out until next weekend for a better deal. When the DigiTimes article came out, I panicked and went ahead and pulled the trigger Fri night - ESD 11/20 (although it was "in production" 12 hr later - XP, 1.6, 6 cell). Then Sat AM rec'd email form Costco featuring the I12 for about the same price ($549) - but Costco has a 2 yr warranty and 90 day return policy. Oh well, still looking forward to getting this puppy!

http://www.costco.com/Browse/ProductSet.aspx?Prodid=11379774&search=mini&Mo=0&cm_re=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US&Nr=P_CatalogName:BC&Sp=S&N=4001486%204294967022&whse=BC&Dx=mode+matchallpartial&Ntk=Text_Search&Dr=P_CatalogName:BC&Ne=5000001+4000000&D=mini&eCat=BC|84&Ntt=mini&No=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nty=1&topnav=&s=1

 

How many memory slots does the 12 have? can the memory be upgraded to 2gb?

Thanks

 

nope...stuck at only 1GB possible due to the gimped daughter board equipped in the Mini12

 

this is actually a nice lappy on xp. the screen has the perfect rez and it's light and works ok if you use non-microsoft resource-hog programs. the price is also ok if you buy from the outlet with a coupon and i picked one up to try it out. i don't need it cus i have an xps 1330 uhh...and an I9 lol so this is going to be a gift to a friend.

 

Can I be your friend ( the friend who will recieve this mini 12) ?

 

The Mini 12 is definitely the most underrated netbook. It can be set up to run very well if one chooses. I have it set up with Ubuntu and use it as my main computer now. I love it to death. It allows me to get all my notes done in class with 3 hours of battery life and its fast enough to do all the stuff I need to do. I think it just got a bad reputation from the original Vista offering.

 

^^yea that's true it was a total mistake to release it with vista as everyone predicted. it's kind of a tweener netbook cus it's way bigger than all of the super small 9 and 10" lappys. one of the things i forgot to mention was that the 12 does have insane battery life with the 6-cell.

 

Really? I find the I9 and I10 much more Tweeny. I love searching the net on mine. The resolution is great.

 

I think 12" is a great size for a netbook/notebook cross. Looks like Lenovo think the same because they are going to join the party: http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20090216PD200.html

 

IMO It sounds like Intel is being a baby about 12" netbooks
"The specification would break Intel's restrictions for netbook products that state devices cannot offer panel sizes larger than the 10-inch category, according to sources at notebook makers.

As a consequence for breaking the restrictions, Lenovo will lose out on preferential pricing for the N280 processor, and would end up having to buy at Intel's officially announced price, which is around US$10 higher than typical quotes to vendors of Lenovo's size, the sources noted."

 

Agreed, but it was forced to at launch by Microsoft's draconian restrictions. The Mini 12 had to use Vista due to it's screen size, just as the Vaio P has to use Vista due to it's high resolution screen. Microsoft relaxed the restrictions a bit and Dell responded as soon as it could, a shame indeed since the Mini 12 would have received far better praise with Windows XP. Although, it would have certainly helped if Dell offered the n-series Atom processor and a faster HDD.

 

I saw some engadget pics showing that the Mini 12 has a lot of empty space in the machine. Has anyone hacked a 2.5" hard drive into it? A nice 2.5" 7200rpm drive would be nice to have.

If it only uses PATA, that would be a problem, but PATA 2.5" hard drives used to be available...

 

.... and long may they continue to be available; sooner or later I'll need one.

I think the HD (PATA) fits into a tiny space under the right palmrest; nothing bigger will fit. Still other smaller machines can fit one in, but Dell decided to be different.

 

I am possibly going to open up my mini12 tomorrow(monday) to check out its innards I will take some pictures and post them here and tell you what I think

 

Just ordered a Mini 12 color Ice Blue!!!!! Gotta wait a month for the build!!!! I hope its worth the wait!!!

I got it here: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellst...75971913&kc=productdetails~laptop-inspiron-12

 

Any real photos of it?

 

Any luck with that erwallie?

 

I'm sorry. I intended to open it up but then something came up

I will do it soon.

 

Ship date says March 25th, so when I get it I'll post some up.

I could of gotten the Red one, with March 9th ship date, but that blue ice looks sooo nice I figured its well worth the wait.

BTW, I got $110 off with a coupon I bought ebay that cost me $2.99.

http://cgi.ebay.com/DELL-6-OFF-COUPON-ANY-DELL-COMPUTERS-ITEMS-05-31-2009_W0QQitemZ260364277504QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Gift_Certificates?hash=item260364277504&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205|66%3A2|65%3A12|39%3A1|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50

 

Any of you guys having problems with Ubuntu?

Mines coming pre-installed with it!

 

Well... It absolutely refused to install on my m7700

The mini9 i had my hands on for a week with it was great, i was pretty impressed overall.

 

I'm trying very hard to like the Mini 12. It has some very attractive aspects- the 12.1" 1280x800 display and great battery life with the 6-cell option are at the top of the list.

But making the 1.33GHz Atom Z520 processor standard and offering Vista Home Basic instead of XP Home (initially) were unwise moves. The 1GB RAM limit and use of PATA 4200rpm hard drives are also performance-limiting.

I realize that the 1.6GHz Atom Z530 is optional, but it still lags somewhat behind the N270 that's standard in almost every other netbook. Paired with SSD or 5400rpm hard drives, the Mini 12 ends up as one of the slowest Intel-based netbooks.

I'm wondering if the Mini 12 will surive or the rumors of its demise are based on fact? I'd love to see a revised version with one of the upcoming dual-core Atom processors and upgradeable to 2GB of RAM.....I won't hold my breath, though.

 

Its suppose to be a netbook, not a power laptop! If you want something with speed and power, then you need to spend at least $1k.

 

Nah, $500-600'll do just fine in the dell outlet for a core duo or core 2 duo.

 

Samsung NC20 about to be released on March 16 in the US.

 

Yea, but it doesn't look half as nice as the Dell Mini 12!!!

 

I don't expect it to be a "power" laptop...but it'd be nice if it could match the performance of Dell's own Mini 9!

 

Yea, that's true. I'm still waiting for my order which is scheduled to get here by March 25th. CRAZY!!!!!

I've been shopping around trying to find something better, but can't find anything that looks nicer!!!!!!!!!

 

It will be interesting to see how the VIA Nano performs in the NC20. I believe it's a 1.3GHz Nano chip, at least for now.

 

The design is definitely top-notch, even compared to more expensive conventional notebooks. Personally, I think the Obsidian Black is the most expensive/upscale-looking. The Alpine White is nice, too. The look inside (keyboard/wrist rest/display bezel) seem to match those basic colors the best. It's easily the best looking Inspiron (Mini or regular).

The Dell Outlet currently has about 30 of the Mini 12s, Previously Ordered New, for $379. But they all have Vista Basic, not XP. At least they have the 1.6GHz Z530, though. Even with Vista, I'm tempted at that price!

 

I know you've ordered the Mini 12 so you have some stake in that, and you should know that I have an NC10 so I have some stake in that, but the NC20 design does look better to me. I personally find the standard Dell silver-and-black design very bland and boring.



Oh, and the 1.3Ghz Nano is a good performer, it performs better than the 1.6Ghz Atom in some benchmarks and in the NC20, also provides more than 5 hours of battery time.

 

Nice pics. Makes me like the Dell Mini 12 eve more now!!!!!!

The Samsung looks kinda like an el cheapo model!!!!

I did originally want the Blue Samsung N10, till I found the Mini 12!!!

 

There are quite a few (50+) Mini 12 systems currently available from the Dell Outlet. They start at $339 and all have the 1.6GHz Z530, but they also ALL have Vista Home Basic.

Is there any reason that ReadyBoost wouldn't work on the Mini 12 models that have Vista Home Basic? I'd almost forgotten about ReadyBoost, to be honest. It was shown to have no measurable impact on systems with 2GB or more of RAM. But it has potential on a system that has just 1GB of RAM! And it also could compensate, in some functions, for the slow 4200rpm hard drive (caching to a fast Flash Drive rather than a slow hard disk, for instance)?

Any reason it wouldn't work?

 

Can't see why it wouldn't work. I'll eventually experiment with Windows 7 if Ubuntu bore's me to death!!!

 

For all of you who wanted pics showing the inside of the mini 12...Here is a thread I made.
http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?p=4605321#post4605321

Hope you appreciate it

 

I got mine with Vista from Outlet, too.
It took forever to boot with Vista.
I installed UNR and boots up in 1 minute.

My timed bootup posted on Youtube

 

I love the soothing soundtrack you put on it!!

Is it a lot more usable than the Vista version.... And does everything work?

 

It depends on what you use it for.

If you don't have to use Windows specific programs, the answer is yes.
I use OpenOffice for writing papers and it can handle any Microsoft Office files.
It has spreadsheet program and presentation program, too.
I did my presentation using the video out port for external projector.
It worked without any problem.
I use Thunderbird for mail client, and Firefox for web browsing.
The bootup video was edited on mini 12, too using free and open software.

In conclusion, my computer works much faster and everything that comes with Ubuntu is free. So, for me everything works.

 

Very interesting, thats cool how you did all that on Ubuntu.
Do you ever notice in any way that the Mini 12 has the PATA 4200RPM HDD? I'm not getting one, but I was just wondering, if at all, it affects any of the work you do on your Mini 12.

 

Yes it comes with Zif PATA slow HDD.
I opened once and checked inside.

Yes it affects anything I do on the mini 12, if I use Vista or even Windows 7.
I tried them.

If you use UNR with Xfce, oh man... it is fast.
.... for web browsing and offece applications.
No. Not 3D games or video editing.

It is extremely light, have decent screen size, has 6hr battery life and was really cheap.

Moreover, the performance of the machine will be improved once Intel release more mature graphic driver.