Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Review

Our pre-production unit used an Intel SSD, but we have been told that Dell will be using multiple suppliers for SSDs in their netbooks (similar to how notebook manufacturers use hard drives from multiple manufacturers ... so you can choose your hard drive capacity and speed but not the manufacturer of your hard drive).

Bottom line, you "might" get an Intel SSD in your Mini 9, but don't make your purchasing decision based on that because your Mini 9 might have an SSD from another manufacturer.

 

It thought it was from STEC...

http://www.liliputing.com/2008/09/dell-inspiron-mini-9-ssd-could-be-faster-than-acer-aspire-one.html

"However, instead of a hard disk, Dell chose a solid state drive – specifically the UM-SSD (Ultra Mobile Solid State Drive) supplied by OEM company STEC and built into a PCI Express Mini Card format with a PATA interface and inbuilt controller. STEC claims the UM-SSD reads up to 85MB/s and writes at up to 25MB/s."

http://apcmag.com/scoop_dells_inspiron_mini_9_netbook_first_australian_review.htm

http://www.stec-inc.com/product/pci.php

 

I have a question for you all, I am thinking of getting the mini since my wife and I are both in grad school and we both need a laptop. Currently we share a Dell Inspiron 1405. I know it won't get the same performance but how well will the mini run:

Outlook 2007
Office 2007
Xfire
Trillian
Winamp
Firefox
Videos from Hulu.com full screen (also sites like CBS, ABC, etc)

The first thing I'd do when I get it would be to swap the memory for a 2GB.

 

Main thing to watch out for is you'll run out of disk space fast as you install more programs. Other than that, make sure you are OK with a small keyboard and screen. If it's your main laptop, I'd rather get a full Windows, full capacity disk drive and regular screen size. I really like the mini and am also thinking of getting one for my wife, and/or kids, and even relatives. Perfect secondary laptop... but I wouldn't have it as a primary.

N.

 

The other thing to consider is that netbooks like this make a great "take everywhere" notebook for people who have high-performance desktops and don't really use standard laptops.

Before getting an Eee PC last year I used to take my 14-inch work laptop home every evening to work from home. I have a high-performance desktop at home, but I liked the idea of working on the couch at home in the evening. Now that I have the Eee PC I just use my desktop at home or I use the Eee PC on the couch.

Netbooks certainly aren't meant to be your primary computer ... the keyboard alone will drive you insane after a few hours of continuous use.

 

When at work it will be hooked to an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. My only concern is how it will perform using the apps I listed. If it struggles with those it's really no good to me.

 

Mentioned this in the official forums thread but thought I'd call it out here as well. I'm a bit concerned about the heat numbers in the review. I currently own a M1210 and frankly it sucks for use on the couch etc because the bottom runs so hot (But of course it's otherwise a nice PC). The MSI Wind seems to run a lot cooler based upon it's review.

JerryJ have you had experience with both and is it really that much different?

 

The difference between the MSI Wind and the Mini 9 is that the Wind has a very nice cooling fan inside the chassis to keep the notebook cool (at the expense of very minimal noise). The Dell Mini 9 is perfectly silent because it used passive cooling and no fan ... but it gets hotter because there's no fan to blow the hot air out of the notebook.

I would say that the Mini 9 would feel pretty hot on your leg after about 30 minutes (particularly around the wifi card near the front bottom of the notebook) but the Mini 9 isn't unbearable in terms of heat.

If you're on a plane with the wifi disabled then the Mini 9 won't get as hot because the wifi card is the biggest heat culprit inside the Mini 9.

 

Jerry can the laptop take more than 1GB? On the Dell site it says up to 1GB for memory.

 

Please read my previous responses in this thread. The answer is yes and no ... depending on the operating system.

Windows = Up to 2GB
Dell customized Ubuntu Linux = Up to 1GB
Other Linux distros (if you install them yourself) = 1GB or 2GB depending on the Linux distro.

The BIOS supports up to 2GB, but Dell's customized Linux OS won't recognize more than 1GB of system RAM. Windows doesn't have this problem ... it can use as much RAM as the BIOS recognizes.

 

the DEAL-Breaker for me is the screen size!
i dont understand why dell didnt opt for 1280x800 resolution
anthing bigger than 1024x600 and i will already be all over this thing

or is it because of the hidden 3g card inside. i mean will browsing on 3g run too slow on a higher resolution hence the 1024x600 cap.

 

Is there a limit to the size of a USB Flash memory stick or SDHC card being used? I would think these fall under the limitations of XP Pro; but thoguht I would ask.

I could easily see using either of the above as additional mass storage. I'm thinking along the lines of a U3 USB Stick to store apps on to conserve as much of the internal drive's capacity as possible.

Cheers,

 

Lawlzy.

 

One thing I haven't heard mentioned that I think is a "bigger" deal than most realize is the small size of the AC power adapter. The adapter for the Mini 9 is actually pocketable.

One of the things that is often overlooked when people are comparing these devices are the power supplies. These devices still don't have very impressive battery life in my opinion (impressive is 4+ with WiFi on and backlight on full). So inevitably you are forced to bring along the power supply if you really put this through any significant usage.

Probably not a big deal, but a nice "feature" nevertheless.

 

Hi , JerryJ , I'd like to know about the vga output.Let say I am planning to output the 24 inch LCD , is it possible supporting 24 inch LCD ? or 22 inch LCD ?

 

i will wait till oct 3 to get the inspiron mini 12
i am happy about this because i just cant get my head around to believe people are actually content with WSVGA screen.

the mini 12 i believe comes with a true HD WXGA screen.
it seems like this one is more geared towards students.

this is a list of atom CPUs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Atom_microprocessors

*WSVGA -- 1024x600
*WXGA --- 1280x720 or 1280x768 or 1280x800

 

I don't know about some but when I'm at work the I9 will be hooked to a monitor so the laptop screen res doesn't bother me.

 

Anyone know? I'm intereted in that answer too.

Also when is the 3G version coming out?

 

Stryker: if you intend to hook your laptop to an external keyboard & monitor, I recommend you look at an entry level Dell Latitude and get a docking station. Plugging / unplugging peripherals gets annoying very quickly, while with a docking station, you push the undock & eject buttons, and all your cables are out of the way. When re-connecting, stick it in and all your devices are connected again. I'd even check a 2nd hand model if you are budget crunshed. You'll be glad you have a docking station. Hooking a mini to lots of peripherals, external monitor, and adding apps is going to take it to its limits. It may work, but it's not made for that.

 

I always have two weeks to decide.

 

hi Folks

I found that in deep review of the Inspiron Mini 9 on a german website - happily that I got a bit of language understanding - bute the review made me quite pissed off cause the mini that I was waiting for that long did not reach what i exprected from Dell

Poor SSD performance AND poor Display qualities
- That's the main verdict from that review

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 - lots of pics and Benchmark scores ...
http://www.notebookjournal.de/tests/646

so I ask you guys, what does Dell expect us to buy? A Mini Laptop that is supposed to stay indoors? - > due to that shiny fecking glare type display. There are number of Netbooks out there, that come with matt finish.



found this top10 of netbooks - lots have matt panels
http://www.notebookjournal.de/top10/mini_and_net

the second bit; poor SSD write performance - the tester say it slows down everything you do - opening progs, copy files, saving things ...

Whats your opinion? just get rid of the fecking SSD, replace it with a smart spinning drive

cheerio, crazy

 

Would it be possible to have 2 SSD drives in a RAID 0 configuration? That would definitely speed up the SSD speed issue.

 

I've just read a review of this mini 9 and that is saying it can't do multi-tasking. Is it true?

 

Heres a another review. http://www.anandtech.com/mobile/showdoc.aspx?i=3399

 

First time poster with a question. I download podcasts and software updates to my iPhone via iTunes - if I replace my PC with a mini 9, will I be able to download podcasts and updates using Linux?

Thanks for taking the time to lead me by the hand here . . .

 

I just got mine today and it struggles with multi-tasking. I can't tell if it's because of the SSD or not though.

 

What type of multitasking where you doing? (Youtube, IM, Office, etc..)

 

I was just installing Windows updates and trying to have a web page open (just text). I also noted in another thread that when I installed SP3 it took much longer than on my other laptop.

 

for those interested on how it performs with xp, I just got mine the other day (finally) and wrote up a bit about it: http://www.jrin.net/2008_09_25/dell-inspiron-mini-9-usage-review

basically, it's on par with the acer aspire one in terms of speed, performance, etc (I just hate the non-standard keyboard layout)

 

hey..thanks for the review..

was looking for aspire one review like this..got it there..

 

JerryJ you have to get in touch with me regarding a new upgrade for the Dell Mini 9 SSD. I would like to coordinate you receiving a sample ASAP. This part is something no one has seen yet and will change the way we look at this little machine. The official release will be on Wednesday next week. I can get you a sample for Tuesday as long as you get in touch with me ASAP.

Email me at matchoo5050@ gmail.com I put a space in the email to avoid website scraping spammers.

Matt

 

eh. i had many netbooks. and the dell mini 9 is the slowest performance one -.- but it ran my mac osx fine though 100% working except for sd card lol

 

Sorry anyone who bought these ST or MD SSD upgrades may not want to look.

check this out. 1st post

jkkmobile.blogspot.com

somone else post the link to the review I am a nub and can't.