Dell USA Launches Inspiron Mini 9

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?cs=19&s=dhs&ref=homepg' target='_blank'>http://www.dell.com/content/product...=dhs&ref=homepg</a><br /><br /></div><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1220543245.usr1.jpg" border="1" /></p><p>Dell.com has finally launched their Inspiron Mini page, and you can check out the <a href="http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?cs=19&amp;s=dhs&amp;ref=homepg" target="_blank">details for all three models there now</a>. Strangely, the $349 USD version with Ubuntu is only available for pre-order, leaving only the Windows XP-based versions for sale. Equally strange is that the $399 version, equipped with Windows XP, only comes with 512 MB of RAM. Windows XP really needs 1 GB of RAM to breathe properly, so this is a poor choice - especially since many, if not all other netbooks at $399 come with 1 GB of RAM. The good news though is that for $51 more you get bumped to 1 GB of RAM and the 16 GB SSD hard drive. The bad news is that even at $449, you don't get Bluetooth or the 1.3 MP Web cam - Dell wants $20 and $10 respectively for each of those.</p><p>If it seems I'm being a bit hard on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, it's because I had really high hopes that Dell would bring something exciting to the table - either in the form of reduced pricing, great custom configuration options, different colour options, etc. If you don't like black, you can pay $25 for the privilege of owning an "Alpine White" version. Supposedly other colours are coming later, but Dell was so late to the game, why not launch with all guns blazing? Dell is a huge company, and instead of broadening the netbook market and giving the other players something to compete against, they seem to have released an also-ran product. Maybe once I get my hands on one I'll feel differently - perhaps the build quality is excellent, or the battery life is better than Dell says. We'll see...</p>

[Chris Gohlke]

I'm with you, not that there is anything particularly wrong with these, I'm just left underwhelmed. I'll probably pick one up in the next few months, but there was nothing here to wow me enough to order one on release date. I'll let you be the guinea pig on this one.

[Darius Wey]

I'm underwhelmed, too. I'll see how this plays out over the coming months, but right now, the Acer Aspire One and MSI Wind seem like better options.

Oh, and a note to any US readers (http://yourblog.direct2dell.com/2008/09/04/without-further-ado-meet-your-new-best-friend/):
"If you can wait until 6 a.m. Central tomorrow, Sept. 5, you’ll be able to get a Mini for only $99 with the purchase of a Studio 15, XPS M1530 or XPS M1330 laptop through 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9 (U.S. only)."

Even with all the shortcomings, that's a bargain just waiting to be had.

[Chris Gohlke]

That does look like a deal, given that a studio 15 goes for $649.

[onlydarksets]

Way to miss the boat, Dell. 60GB HDD is a minimum for these machines. I really don't get the point otherwise.

[Chris Gohlke]

I'll disagree on that. I've been very happy with the 4GB in my Eee. I can understand that some may want more, but I just keep my data on SD cards. I'd prefer the small size and SSD to a large side and normal HD. But different strokes for different folks. That said an option for a larger HD would be nice for those that want it.

[Joel Crane]

This looks like a very likely candidate for my next laptop. My old Gateway 933mhz PIII is still working fine, but when it dies (As laptops always seem to do) I'll probably go for an MSI Wind of the Dell.

[Jason Dunn]

I'll let you be the guinea pig on this one.

...which I'd love to be, if Dell Canada was selling them! There's still no trace of the Mini on Dell.ca other than a few carrying cases. I called Dell Online Sales and they're not selling them yet either. This sucks! :(

[Jason Dunn]

I'll disagree on that. I've been very happy with the 4GB in my Eee.

Yeah, I think a 4 GB SSD is fine in a lot of cases, but if Dell had made the low-end version $299, I think it would have really rocked the boat. At $349, it seems just a smidge too expensive - although it seems like all the netbooks have been getting more expensive over the past year.
:confused:

[Darius Wey]

...which I'd love to be, if Dell Canada was selling them! There's still no trace of the Mini on Dell.ca other than a few carrying cases. I called Dell Online Sales and they're not selling them yet either. This sucks! :(

Apparently, today's release is only in the US, Japan, and some European countries. Sucks to be Australian or Canadian today. :(

[Jason Dunn]

...I should add that nothing Dell has released her is dissuading me from the MSI Wind. Once they released the black MSI Wind with the 6-cell battery, I'll be all over that. :D

[Jason Dunn]

Apparently, today's release is only in the US, Japan, and some European countries. Sucks to be Australian or Canadian today. :(

Stupid Dell - you don't launch a product like this in a limited fashion...unless of course you know it's not as good as you thought it was going to be. :rolleyes:

[onlydarksets]

I'll disagree on that. I've been very happy with the 4GB in my Eee. I can understand that some may want more, but I just keep my data on SD cards. I'd prefer the small size and SSD to a large side and normal HD. But different strokes for different folks. That said an option for a larger HD would be nice for those that want it.
I can't see this class of laptops being useful other than as a travel laptop. Since there is no optical drive, that means room for video and music, as well as space to backup photos. From that perspective, 4/8/16GB is useless.

What is your use for it? As a business laptop replacement?

[Chris Gohlke]

Don't think in absolutes, just because it won't work for you does not mean it won't work for others.

Mine is my personal daily carry around laptop and used for travel. 99% of the use is for web browsing. I carry a Zune, so don't need to load music and a 16 GB SD card holds a ton of movies (I've got about 30 hours of video on it now). If I am going on an extended trip where I want to copy off a lot of photos, I've got an external hard drive, but it is normally not needed. I've got plenty of SD cards and as long as I have a network connection can load to Smugmug. So, the only thing the internal drive is used for is OS and applications. I've loaded Ubuntu on my Eee, of the 4 GB built in, I stil have nearly 1 GB left. Frankly I don't want to store data on it, it is a companion device. Everything is on SD and it is easy to just yank it and put it in my other computers to update.

[Darius Wey]

Stupid Dell - you don't launch a product like this in a limited fashion...unless of course you know it's not as good as you thought it was going to be. :rolleyes:

Just did a bit of research. Australia's Mini 9 will start selling today (5th), with orders shipping on the 10th. So, there's hope for Canada. :cool:

[jeffd]

There is absolutely nothing on this thing that you will be doing that will need 1gb of memory. ;) This things like.... a big PDA. Looks like it will tuck away nicely in the corner of your daughters room.

[The Yaz]

Actually, I've been looking at this and the Lenovo S10 Ideapad for my work.

I manage a Foundation where we have fundraising events at various sites. I use a web-based registration product so at each event I usually have 4 laptops rented along with keyboards with the credit card readers built in to handle the guests and the checkout.

I'm considering the mini 9 since for the size and price, I could still run four computer stations but still take up less space at the event. I just need the laptop screen to be legible and the wifi to be stable.

Now I just need Dell and/or Lenovo to agree to lend me a demo model to see if I can make it work before I invest in such an endeavor. ;)

Steve

[Chris Gohlke]

jeffd

If you are running Ubuntu, I'll totally agree with you. I run it on the Eee with 512 and a much slower processor and it is very snappy.

Now if you want to run XP, I think you'd be much happier with 1 GB.

Although I don't think you were serious, I do actually think of these as a big PDA. I used Palm and Windows PDA's for years and most of the gripes are solved by this. I used an N800 for a while (which was the best PDA like experience I've had), but by the time I also carried a Bluetooth keyboard, I found the netbook form factor was not much more space and afforded me a relatively large screen in comparison.

If you are a power user, these will never fit the bill, but obviously, there is a significant market, or these would not be so popular.

[Lee Yuan Sheng]

Oh, there it is. Function keys on the home row + Fn key modifier. Great design!

[Chris Gohlke]

Oh, and a note to any US readers (http://yourblog.direct2dell.com/2008/09/04/without-further-ado-meet-your-new-best-friend/):
"If you can wait until 6 a.m. Central tomorrow, Sept. 5, you’ll be able to get a Mini for only $99 with the purchase of a Studio 15, XPS M1530 or XPS M1330 laptop through 6 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9 (U.S. only)."

Anyone been able to find this deal on the site? Have a friend that wants a laptop, so we might share the deal.

[Felix Torres]

jeffd

Although I don't think you were serious, I do actually think of these as a big PDA. I used Palm and Windows PDA's for years and most of the gripes are solved by this.

I still have (and occasionally use) one of the old IBM HPC Pros and I'm delighted to see this evolution of the PC. They are about the size of a handheld planner and they let you use full Outlook, not just a trimmed down version. They let you use full Word and Excel, not baby versions. They let you bring onboard pretty much any one of the zillions of PC apps available.
Now, if only somebody would add a cheap digitizer and dispense with the keyboard...

The thing to keep in mind with this category of portable is that, like most home-use laptops, portability is not as critical as it is for road warriors. (That's why even the models with the 3-cell batteries sell respectably.) A lot of people are buying them because they can attach a USB keyboard and mouse and a cheap LCD flat panel and have an ultra compact desktop computer that they can occasionally carry around the house or take on vacation.

As for drive size, even Windows can live off a 4GB SSD, for this particular market especially when supplemented with SDHC cards which are cheap, fast, and abundant. No, you're not going to be loading up on HD video torrents or running video editing software and you're not going to be playing anything more demanding than Bejeweled or Tetris. But there are literally tens of millions of customers out there who don't do those things anyway.

That said, so far, the MSI wind and the Acer One are the two standouts for me; mostly because of value. The Acer One at $349 because of the RAM and the comfy 120GB drive and the Wind because of the screen, keyboard and Drive. Haven't seen the Wind in "the flesh" but the Acer looks very solidly built. I'd be all over it except I'm waiting to see if they do a dual core version for XMAS...

[Jason Dunn]

There is absolutely nothing on this thing that you will be doing that will need 1gb of memory.

It's been a while since I've used XP heavily, but if memory serves the OS itself needs about 512 MB to start with, so I disagree with you - 1 GB is the minimum for any Windows XP computer to not be constantly thrashing the hard drive for swap space, netbook or not.

[Jason Dunn]

Just did a bit of research. Australia's Mini 9 will start selling today (5th), with orders shipping on the 10th. So, there's hope for Canada. :cool:

Indeed - they're offering it today, so I'm in the process of ordering one. :)

[Jason Dunn]

From that perspective, 4/8/16GB is useless.

The original Eee had 2 GB to 4 GB, and it sold like gangbusters, establishing this entire catetory - so obviously not everyone thinks like you do. ;)

[Jason Dunn]

Now I just need Dell and/or Lenovo to agree to lend me a demo model to see if I can make it work before I invest in such an endeavor.

Dell has a great return policy on all home products (and this is a home product): 30 days satisfaction policy. If you don't like it, return it. That's what I've done several times with products ordered through Dell.

[Jason Dunn]

Haven't seen the Wind in "the flesh" but the Acer looks very solidly built. I'd be all over it except I'm waiting to see if they do a dual core version for XMAS...

Today I'll be publishing my article on the MSI Wind with my first impressions video - it's a really, really nice product. And yesterday I bought an Acer Aspire One - so watch for a video on that as well. Oh, and I'm ordering the Dell Inspiron Mini today... :D

[onlydarksets]

The original Eee had 2 GB to 4 GB, and it sold like gangbusters, establishing this entire catetory - so obviously not everyone thinks like you do. ;)

You left out the first part of my post, which gave the context for that statement.

[onlydarksets]

Don't think in absolutes, just because it won't work for you does not mean it won't work for others.
My post said "from that perspective" - that's clearly not an absolute.

Mine is my personal daily carry around laptop and used for travel. 99% of the use is for web browsing. I carry a Zune, so don't need to load music and a 16 GB SD card holds a ton of movies (I've got about 30 hours of video on it now). If I am going on an extended trip where I want to copy off a lot of photos, I've got an external hard drive, but it is normally not needed. I've got plenty of SD cards and as long as I have a network connection can load to Smugmug. So, the only thing the internal drive is used for is OS and applications. I've loaded Ubuntu on my Eee, of the 4 GB built in, I stil have nearly 1 GB left. Frankly I don't want to store data on it, it is a companion device. Everything is on SD and it is easy to just yank it and put it in my other computers to update.
Again, though - the laptop in itself isn't doing it for you, add-ons are (SmugMug and assuming a net connection, SD cards, which is extra cost, albeit relatively small). Also, you are running Ubuntu, which has less overhead than XP. I didn't see the low-end Dell had Linux, so I'll grant you that 4GB for Linux is sufficient if you are using it as an internet tablet.

However, for the use I specified, which I think is a relatively common use, 4/8/16 just doesn't cut it.

[Chris Gohlke]

However, for the use I specified, which I think is a relatively common use, 4/8/16 just doesn't cut it.

Maybe I'm missing something, I don't see in any of your posts a mention of a specifc use that you stated that the small SSD does not cut it for. Hence the reason it was taken that you mean it wasn't good for anything other than maybe a travel laptop as you said.

[onlydarksets]

Maybe I'm missing something, I don't see in any of your posts a mention of a specifc use that you stated that the small SSD does not cut it for. Hence the reason it was taken that you mean it wasn't good for anything other than maybe a travel laptop as you said.

You responded to it, so I assumed you read it! ;)
http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f303/dell-usa-launches-inspiron-mini-9-a-90498-2.html#post691008

[Chris Gohlke]

I can't see this class of laptops being useful other than as a travel laptop. Since there is no optical drive, that means room for video and music, as well as space to backup photos. From that perspective, 4/8/16GB is useless.

Sound like your point is that with only 4/8/16 GB and no optical drive, you think this is useless as other than a travel laptop. Sounds pretty absolute. I know a few people with these who have them in the living room for a quick web search or e-mail without having to fire up their normal PC.

[onlydarksets]

No, that was not my point, nor is that my entire post.

[Chris Gohlke]

I can't see this class of laptops being useful other than as a travel laptop. Since there is no optical drive, that means room for video and music, as well as space to backup photos. From that perspective, 4/8/16GB is useless.

What is your use for it? As a business laptop replacement?

OK, that is your entire post. Don't see the relevance of the last two sentences as they were questions to me (which I answered), not statements of your opinion.

Lets just agree to disagree. Although I'm still not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with me or exactly what your point is, but here is mine. Netbooks with small drives are not for everyone but can be extremely useful for a variety of users for a variety of reasons.

[onlydarksets]

OK, that is your entire post. Don't see the relevance of the last two sentences as they were questions to me (which I answered), not statements of your opinion.

I said I only see one realistic use that this is the best solution for.
I explained how the use I could see wasn't met with 4/8/16.
I asked what the other uses could be.
You concluded "those are absolute terms and you are not open to any other possibilities".


Lets just agree to disagree. Although I'm still not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with me or exactly what your point is, but here is mine. Netbooks with small drives are not for everyone but can be extremely useful for a variety of users for a variety of reasons.
I think you are reading my posts as isolated statements. If you click back through the links in the QUOTE tags and read our conversation as a dialog (not isolated posts by me), maybe it will read a little different for you.

[Darius Wey]

Today I'll be publishing my article on the MSI Wind with my first impressions video - it's a really, really nice product. And yesterday I bought an Acer Aspire One - so watch for a video on that as well. Oh, and I'm ordering the Dell Inspiron Mini today... :D

Is it Christmas already? :eek:

The Aspire One is the one I'm really interested in. Although, Linpus doesn't really do it for me, so if I had one (er... or One - excuse the pun), I'd probably replace it with Ubuntu.

[Michael Knutson]

... Ordered the black 1GB, XP, 16GB SSD yesterday, and got a ’sept 19′ ship date from Dell. But, today (a rep from) Dell called and said that I’d be getting it ‘the middle of next week,’ so good news. And, upgrades seem to be a no-brainer with the access panel on the bottom freely available. Question though: since XP OOTB supports 4GB (really ~3.5GB), can I add 2GB in the open slot, or are there BIOS restrictions or something? Michael

[Jason Dunn]

You responded to it, so I assumed you read it! ;)
http://forums.thoughtsmedia.com/f303/dell-usa-launches-inspiron-mini-9-a-90498-2.html#post691008

I read that post and I still don't understand what you're talking about - maybe you could just explain what you meant?

You say it could only be useful as "travel laptop" - by that do you mean it couldn't be used as someone's sole PC? Sure, I agree with that - but I can't imagine anyone (except for perhaps a Web-based teenager that stores *everything* online) using it as their sole PC.

But, for instance, we're using my Futjisu P7010D laptop in our TV room, and other than the install space for XP, there's virtually nothing on the hard drive. We browse the Web 99% of the time, and if we need to access any of our media, we do it over the network. Local storage isn't much of an issue. As Chris pointed out, with SD cards being so cheap, if you want to store movies on it, you just slap 'em on a storage card.

So basically I still don't understand what you're talking about. :)

[Chris Gohlke]

Anyone been able to find this deal on the site? Have a friend that wants a laptop, so we might share the deal.

BTW, I did eventually find the "deal" basically a no go on the cheaper models and then the prices are pretty much bumped up from yesterday to cover the difference of getting it for $99.

[Jason Dunn]

I think you are reading my posts as isolated statements. If you click back through the links in the QUOTE tags and read our conversation as a dialog (not isolated posts by me), maybe it will read a little different for you.

Respectfully, I think this is a good example of why it's best to simply speak about what *you* like or don't like and how *you* would use or not use it. No one can argue with you about your own uses. :)

[onlydarksets]

I'm going to bow out of this one now - there is something that is getting lost in the translation, and I've explained it the best I can.