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Dell Mini 9 (Inspiron 910) Review

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So, I’ve had my Dell Mini 9 for all of 5 hours and it is time to put my thoughts about it out there!

I opted for the 8gb SSD over the 16–simple reason–price. But in my deal(off of ebay.com) I got 2gb of ram. Which I will say is a valuable upgrade over the stock 512 or 1gb.
My primary challenge so far is the keyboard. While the A-Z keys are about normal size, most of the rest of the keys are seriously cramped. I’m sure I’ll get the hang of it, I know it will take me a while. They keys are very responsive though and do not feel like a lot of the reports concerning the EEEPC or Acer One.
Why did I choose the Mini 9 over the eeePc or Aspire One? Honestly, the only thing that seemed significant is that current reviews of the Mini 9 said that it didn’t feel “plasticy” or like a toy. Otherwise the other options had larger hard drives(though NOT SSDs–which was also very enticing), more ram stock, and options for larger screens.
I’m happy I chose the Inspiron 910 though. With the stock 512mb of ram it was, well slow. Having more than one program open made it almost unusable. I ran it with the included 512 for about 10 minutes. I upgraded to 2gb(included through my ebay auction at US$400) and it took me all ove 3 minutes–including reboot time!  2 screws, pop out old ram, pop in new ram, and I was done! This is much easier than the upgrade processes for other competing Netbook computers.
The touchpad also has a great response to it as well. It also has a standard button configuration unlike many competitors that have the buttons on either side of the touchpad. The only thing I dislike is that at the top of the touchpad there is no “edge” so that you suddenly slip onto the spacebar. I appreciate that tactile feedback and thus I’m struggling to get use to it.
Pics on top of my HP DV1000 for size comparison

What I like:
  • Extremely portable
  • Fast boot up/shut down
  • Fast response from “standby”
  • Responsive Keyboard
  • Lightweight–2.3 lbs!
  • Pretty good battery life–4 hours–though not as great as some competitors
  • Bright, crisp screen
  • Quiet–no spinning drives or fans to make noise
  • Pretty good sound from a budget Netbook
  • .3mp Webcam streams well and takes decent snappies
Disklikes:
  • Some keys are placed funny, including the apostrophy key which is down next to the arrow keys instead of next to the return key.
  • Lack of F11 and F12 keys
  • Gets a little warmer than normal laptops–lacks any fans
  • Attracts fingerprints like the TP dispenser in a Mall Bathroom
All in all I am very satisfied with my purchase. You will all have to bare with me while I get used to this keyboard and the quirks it has–but I am getting there already(damn… I had a good excuse for my frequent typos).
Expect more to follow!
Posted by on September 29, 2008 • Filed under: Dell Mini 9 • Tagged:
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