a review by
taniagail
Jan 10, 2010
Dell Mini
A line of subnotebook/netbook computers designed by the American multinational technology company Dell. ... see full wiki
The Dell Inspiron Mini Series is a line of subnotebook / netbook computers designed by the American multinational technology company Dell, Inc. The series was introduced in September 2008 amidst the growing popularity of low-cost netbook computers introduced … more
3 reviews about Dell Mini
taniagail's Review
Love is: Dell's Green Swirl Netbook
Rating:
+4
Dell Inspiron Mini 10 Netbook - Green Swirl limited edition
Dell netbook with a bold green swirl cover design by Mike Ming. My netbook is #1450 of 6300 - I feel special. To make this more authentic, I'm writing and researching information for the review using the Dell netbook itself.
Why purchase this model? I've owned Dell laptops for the past 3 years and am well acquainted with the devil in the details of Dell laptops. Professionally and personally I've found myself increasingly attending conferences and workshops. In doing so, lugging around my laptop, photo gear and assorted items tends to get in the way of my work. To alleviate the problem, I've been researching options to minimize my gear without sacrificing quality and technology.
Basic specs on this netbook are as follows:
- Intel Atom 1.6 GHz
- 10.1 widescreen display
- Windows 7 Starter
- 1 GB DDRD SDRAM (synchronous dynamic RAM)
- 160 GB 5400rpm SATA (serial ATA) HD
- Wireless 802.11g mini card
- 6 cell battery estimated to give around 8 hours of work time.
- Built in Webcam and 10/100 ethernet connector
Netbooks are quickly becoming powerful mobile tools thanks to their size and technical power. Before purchasing one it is wise to know a few key ideas about what is packaged in a netbook. You want to consider SDRAM, the type and speed of the processor, the Operating System and battery life. This netbook is not a replacement for your desktop or laptop computer, but a powerful mobile assistant.
I've owned the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook for approximately 24 hours. This is a truly fresh out of the box review of the netbook. I was attracted to the Dell for its light weight, battery life, digital card reader and its aesthetics. The green swirl design is way cool! First impressions are how small it is in comparison to my laptop,. You can see the size difference in the photos provided for this review. The touch pad is unique and works in a similar manner as an iphone. After a few minutes working with the touch pad, I installed a wireless Logitech mouse.
Pros:
Brilliant, sharp display - better that I expected a 16.9 aspect ratio. Use the touch pad to easily zoom in on a document for easier reading.
Decent responsiveness with multiple programs open - I did notice some but not considerable lag time.
Lightweight and small - this netbook easily fits in my briefcase and purse.
No problems linking up to my home network or printer.
The notebook likes IE, but I managed to get Google Wave installed.
The netbook cover art is quite attractive.
3 USB ports and an HDMI port - WOW!
Keyboard feels solid, with the keys well spaced.
The machine is very, very quiet.
This Dell is green - and I'm not talking about the cover art! This model is Energy Star certified.
Decent responsiveness with multiple programs open - I did notice some but not considerable lag time.
Lightweight and small - this netbook easily fits in my briefcase and purse.
No problems linking up to my home network or printer.
The notebook likes IE, but I managed to get Google Wave installed.
The netbook cover art is quite attractive.
3 USB ports and an HDMI port - WOW!
Keyboard feels solid, with the keys well spaced.
The machine is very, very quiet.
This Dell is green - and I'm not talking about the cover art! This model is Energy Star certified.
Cons:
The ball of my hands rest naturally on the Touch Pad causing deletion of words or moving the cursor somewhere else on the screen. I have to constantly be aware of the position of my hands while typing.
8 hours of battery life - I'm very skeptical and at this point have not done any testing of that claim on this netbook. I speak only from experience.
No ability to increase RAM - conservation is the key, then again, this is not meant to be a full fledged laptop. 160 GB HD is acceptable and you can always backup your files to external storage.
1.3mp webcam - forget about it and continue to use the Canon Vixia HG10.
Battery packs make for a non sleek silhouette.
8 hours of battery life - I'm very skeptical and at this point have not done any testing of that claim on this netbook. I speak only from experience.
No ability to increase RAM - conservation is the key, then again, this is not meant to be a full fledged laptop. 160 GB HD is acceptable and you can always backup your files to external storage.
1.3mp webcam - forget about it and continue to use the Canon Vixia HG10.
Battery packs make for a non sleek silhouette.
In summary, this netbook makes for a robust addition to your computing needs. It is powerful, compact and lightweight. A great mobile netbook that does not leave you lacking in computing power when you are away from your home or office network. I'd suggest this model for professionals who travel, bloggers, vloggers, and new media consultants. Individuals who have limited needs for a computer but want to keep up with this technology will also benefit from the cost and performance Dell's Inspiron Mini 10 netbook.
Disclosure: I've not received any financial or material compensation from Dell in exchange for this review.
Great review - the mousepad in the way of the keys is such a dumb design problem and I've had to adopt "hovertyping" to avoid the issues you mentioned. I think the built-in camera is also pretty low-spec (but amazingly helpful when you get stuck at the airport and need Skype!). Otherwise they're pretty neat machines.
On January 13, 2010
Reply
Thanks for the review -- you touched on the two items I've been concerned about when considering a Netbook -- the spacing of the keyboard keys, and the performance. I was thinking I'd have to go down the Linux pathway to really get the most out of a Netbook, but you've been happy with the Win 7 performance?
On January 11, 2010
Reply
Ahh, Linux! Way back in the day, I converted a windows 2000 box to a Linux Mandrake box. Stunning how much Linux offered in an operating system. This model does come preconfigured with Unbuntu if you request it when ordering the netbook. I picked this netbook off the shelf at Best Buy and had no say in which OS to install - Windows 7 was the only choice. The netbook is running on Win 7 starter - not the full package. So far, so good - all I can say now regarding the OS - it is NOT Vista.
On January 11, 2010
I gave up trying to buy a Dell in Canada but ended up with Toshiba instead due to being taken on a ride with its customer service. Hopeless! But Dell is a fine product. I have had a laptop in end 2008 which has a great screen as you mentioned (although I still prefer my Sony Vaio). Anyhow, glad you like it!
On January 11, 2010
Reply
Yes, I am well acquainted with Dell 'lack of' Customer Service. I am happy with the resolution of the display, and am still checking out its capabilities.
On January 11, 2010
I was given a free world tour with its outsourcing, you know, long distance for free but getting nowhere. It's kinda like a cruise to nowhere & imagine doing that to a VTer ;-) Hehe, may be in recent times I'm desperate when it comes to traveling but hey, not THAT desperate!
On January 12, 2010
Cheesy, but I'm green with envy for your green swirl netbook! I actually looked into getting this a while back, but I haven't really travelled so much in the past year. When my travelling picks up though, I just might! I'd be curious to hear how long the battery actually lasts. I have gigantic clunker of a Dell laptop, and it has about a two hour battery life. Pretty impressive for a larger machine. Thanks for the breakdown, Tania Gail! :)
On January 11, 2010
Reply
Did forget to add the processor - it is the N450. I've my eye on the tablets as well. I'm quite impressed with this netbook, with the understanding of its limitations.
On January 10, 2010
Reply
All 3 reviews
Dell Mini: I am in love
Rating:
+4
I always love the PC versus Mac debate, with each side getting hot under the collar and throwing extreme but absolutely true facts at each other, such as:
- PCs are wildly unstable.
- Macs are wildly overpriced.
- PCs are great gaming platforms.
- Macs are great in the media business.
- PCs are used by everyone.
- Mac owners are the sort of people who bought Betamax in the 80s.
All true. But we're rapidly hitting the point of who cares? I first tried Linux last year, having avoided it for almost a decade, and my fear was largely based upon nerdy and frankly obstinate Unix administrators I'd worked with in the past, who absolutely hated regular people...
Anyway, I played with Ubuntu Linux (ridiculously unmarketable names are all the rage in Open Source, apparently) and it was easy. I didn't have to pipe my grep or tail any log files or any of that nonsense and it quickly brought an old laptop back up to speed. I promptly that donated to my mother, and it didn't have endless updates, scanners, viruses and monitoring tools that typically confuse and worry the hell out of her, and result in many calls to the only technical member of the family. She managed to use it straight away for checking email, using Skype and all the things the crazy silver surfers do.
So fast forward a few months to heady days of December 2008: I bought a new Dell and got one of those crazy deals where $800 got me a super fast new PC with a monitor that redefines photorealism, and a free Mini thrown in. And this is very much like the first free hit the drugdealer gives you because I've been hooked on it ever since. The PC and Mac people have no idea what they're missing.
The Mini has no hard disk, it's tiny and - drumroll - it lasts 5 hours on plane without needing a charge. I run almost my entire life in a browser, as part of a challenge to get to web 3.0 before anyone else, and when all you need is Firefox, this little computer is the way forward. It's the only computer I've ever owned where people ask me about it, and I've started to become one of those cloud computer/open source evangelists that bore the living crap out of anyone who will listen. You should ask me about it sometime when you a day free.
So if the PC is the funny guy from The Daily Show, and the Mac is the trendy kid from Live Free and Die Hard, I guess the Netbook is more like the TX from Terminator 3 - small, nimble, under the radar, and going to start taking over other machines.
Great Buy!
Rating:
+4
Dell has been a great place to custom build a laptop or PC, and with the addition of the Dell Mini 9 and 10 inch netbooks, they have rounded out their product line.
The Dell Mini is fully configurable, and uses the latest technology to bring customers a light-weight, responsive and enjoyable netbook.
What is a netbook? How is that different from a laptop? Most laptops are desktop replacers. They have enough hard drive space, and are powerful enough to replace most desktops--with the exception of high-end video editing and gaming.
A netbook, on the other hand, is a barebones computer. It's small enough to travel with, and just has enough power to do the essentials--web browsing, and your day-to-day word processing and other office needs.
The Dell Mini weighs in at a featherweight 2 lbs. That's as light as a 3 subject notebook.
It's configurable to either Windows XP or Ubuntu, and if you have the know-how, you can dual boot to both.
One of my favorite aspects of the Mini is that it comes with a solid-state drive, and that's standard issue! A solid state drive is quieter and faster than the normal hard disc drive. The only caviat is that the technology is still in its early years--meaning, the capacity is a lot smaller. But that's OK... it's a netbook, which is made for portability.
I've been using my Mini for note-taking, web browsing and communications. The video chat works well and boot up is done in less than 20 seconds--from the time you push the power button all the way up to the Windows Desktop screen.
Bottom Line: If you're looking for a powerhouse, the Mini is not for you. But if you're looking for something to take with you on the go, for word processing, communications and web browsing, then the Mini is just the thing. $300 and up.
About this topic
The Dell Inspiron Mini Series is a line of subnotebook / netbook computers designed by the American multinational technology company Dell, Inc. The series was introduced in September 2008 amidst the growing popularity of low-cost netbook computers introduced by competitors, and now consists of the Inspiron Mini 10v, Mini 10 and Mini 12; with the numbers representing the diagonal screen size in inches.
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