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Dell Mini 9 notebook

A

arock1_3

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jul 6, 2004
Messages
1,141
Hello everybody, i need ppls opinion on this notebook that i want to purchase for my daughter, she is only 12 so is mainly for navigating the internet and some school projects. My only concern is the size of the hard drive is a solid state drive (4 gb) and i dont know anything about this kind of drives. Is 4gb enough space for data and programs? I will think that 4gb in ssd is the same as a 4gb in a conventional hard drive, so i assume that is not enough space. Anyways here is the link and you can see it for yourself, again is the dell mini 9 and i need you honest opinion about it.

Thanks guys,

http://www.dell.com/content/product...CJ&cid=27811&lid=868675&acd=10608617-1440079-
 
Is this a case of "I want it for my daughter but hope she hates so I can get it but still be justified to the wife?" Get your child a real laptop so she doesn't hate when it can't even play hulu videos w/o looking like a slide show. Sorry for being terse...but match the function to the person.
 
Trepidati0n said:
Is this a case of "I want it for my daughter but hope she hates so I can get it but still be justified to the wife?" Get your child a real laptop so she doesn't hate when it can't even play hulu videos w/o looking like a slide show. Sorry for being terse...but match the function to the person.
Click to expand...

no that is not the case, i have my own and very happy with it. my daughter ask me for a mini for x-mas and we are trying to find one, we saw the price on this one and liked it, but since im not familiar with the solid state drive i just want to make sure that im making a wise choice.

Next!!!!
 
Personally I don't think much of the extremely small SSD drive netbooks, especially after you get windows installed plus any other software you may need. Have a look at this netbook, it has a 250gb hard drive & 2 gig of memory.
 
you can install another os on it and it'll run pretty smooth... windows has a lot of trouble with the mini though
 
fg1coupe said:
you can install another os on it and it'll run pretty smooth... windows has a lot of trouble with the mini though
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Isn't that the ultimate compromise? I mean not running the OS it comes with (or that you want/purchased it for) is pretty major.

:p
 
pxc said:
Isn't that the ultimate compromise? I mean not running the OS it comes with (or that you want/purchased it for) is pretty major.

:p
Click to expand...

yeah but if you get one loaded with ubuntu your essentially paying nothing for the OS
 
fg1coupe said:
yeah but if you get one loaded with ubuntu your essentially paying nothing for the OS
Click to expand...

Nope, the price is the same for the Ubuntu or Windows Xp version. Technically the extra money is going to Dell instead of Microsoft if you get the Ubuntu version but then you don't have a cd key to sell on ebay.
 
ZodaEX said:
Nope, the price is the same for the Ubuntu or Windows Xp version. Technically the extra money is going to Dell instead of Microsoft if you get the Ubuntu version but then you don't have a cd key to sell on ebay.
Click to expand...

It's an OEM copy so you're not supposed to sell the key. Isn't it legally bound to that machine?

Anyway, even with the added cost and heft, I think you should get your daughter a proper laptop like the Inspiron 14 (make sure to add Win 7 upgrade for $30 and $30 6 cell battery), total will be $509.
 
ZodaEX said:
Nope, the price is the same for the Ubuntu or Windows Xp version. Technically the extra money is going to Dell instead of Microsoft if you get the Ubuntu version but then you don't have a cd key to sell on ebay.
Click to expand...

they're charging the same price? when i bought my vostro a90 it was a $30 upgrade to get XP but i guess the mini is different...
 
The mini 9 would sometimes go on sale for the same price as the Ubuntu version, but normally the price was $50 higher for the XP version (which included the SSD upgrade and often the web cam).

MS charges netbook manufacturers $15-$25 for XP Home. The mini 9 with XP also includes Works 9. If you don't want works, you can get $15 for it on ebay.
 
PinchedNerve said:
Personally I don't think much of the extremely small SSD drive netbooks, especially after you get windows installed plus any other software you may need. Have a look at this netbook, it has a 250gb hard drive & 2 gig of memory.
Click to expand...
I had no idea AMD was making cpus for netbooks. I love the fact you can use a 64 bit OS, and you can put 4 gigs of ram in it. Thanks for posting this. I have been window shopping for a while now for a netbook. This may be the one I get.
 
OP, i wouldn't recommend getting the dell mini 9. it's not rated very good, and upgrading it is hard. you'll later see that it's lacking a bit in the usability area. if you're looking for a netbook, it'd look into getting an MSI wind or the later asus netbooks. they have higher ratings and overall better reviews. the first step into choosing a netbook is by eliminating all netbooks you see that comes stock with SSD's. first all, the capacity to store data is very low, and you'll run into stuttering problems. get one with a conventional hard drive and if you really want SSD, then upgrade it to SSD yourself, but dont get stock SSD.
 
dkev said:
I had no idea AMD was making cpus for netbooks. I love the fact you can use a 64 bit OS, and you can put 4 gigs of ram in it. Thanks for posting this. I have been window shopping for a while now for a netbook. This may be the one I get.
Click to expand...
A 4GB SODIMM is over $160. :p The CPU is just a Turion X2 with 1 core enabled and scaled down in voltage, core/cache frequency and HT frequency, leaving performance not that great (although mostly better than Atom, especially in single threaded performance). It needs a 6 cell battery to last as long as 4 cell competitors. The brightest spots are the screen and the chipset's video playback acceleration (grrr @ atom's 945GSE).

I did praise that laptop in the thread PN posted above, so don't take the criticisms above the wrong way. It looks like a decent entry into the netbook market at its size, weight and price. But you're comparing it to a laptop that costs nearly 1/2 as much and is over 30% smaller (a good or bad thing ;)).
 
pxc said:
A 4GB SODIMM is over $160. :p The CPU is just a Turion X2 with 1 core enabled and scaled down in voltage, core/cache frequency and HT frequency, leaving performance not that great (although mostly better than Atom, especially in single threaded performance). It needs a 6 cell battery to last as long as 4 cell competitors. The brightest spots are the screen and the chipset's video playback acceleration (grrr @ atom's 945GSE).

I did praise that laptop in the thread PN posted above, so don't take the criticisms above the wrong way. It looks like a decent entry into the netbook market at its size, weight and price. But you're comparing it to a laptop that costs nearly 1/2 as much and is over 30% smaller (a good or bad thing ;)).
Click to expand...
True enough. But what netbook has truly great performance? I don't know what the duel core atoms with the Ions will cost, but I suspect they will be out of my price range.
 
dkev said:
True enough. But what netbook has truly great performance? I don't know what the duel core atoms with the Ions will cost, but I suspect they will be out of my price range.
Click to expand...
The single core ION + Atom are overpriced, so yeah dual core versions will probably be ridiculously priced.

Like I said, the Gateway is a pretty good netbook entry, especially at its current price ($379 at BB). The hype over it IMO is way overblown though. The x1270 is not anywhere near a "good" low end gaming GPU and the mobile Athlon 64 CPU is gimped so much that even Atom (2 in-order int execution units... geez that should be easy to beat using 5x more power) can beat it in some tasks.

Ideally i'd like a lighter version of my 4.5 lb 12.1" tablet (I don't care too much about the tablet features):
dual core Turion 2.1GHz CPU
2 DIMM slots
12.1" LCD
built in optical bay
better battery life
closer to decent IGP

Get that down to an 11.6" LCD form factor with a slower dual core (1.4GHz X2 or Core 2 ULV would work) and HD 3200 or 9400M graphics in a 3lb package at a resonable price and i'd buy.
 
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