ElMikeTheMike

With the eBay/MSN 30% off deal, I couldn't resist. I was going to wait for the dual core atoms to come out, but after much deliberation, I can't see the need for a dual core in a simple netbook. I paid $430 for it, but I'll get $130 back. There's one left on ebay - it's the lowest auction for this netbook.

I went with the Obsidian Black Dell Mini 9 for a couple reasons, mainly its looks and silent operation (no fans at all). I personally think it looks better than any other netbook out there.

Here are the specs:
Intel Atom 1.6GHz
BlueTooth
512MB RAM
8GB Solid State Drive
8.9" LED TFT LCD
.3 MP Webcam
Windows XP Home
Obsidian Black
1 year warranty
Less than 2.3 lbs

I'll upgrade the RAM immediately once I find a cheap 2GB stick and that'll be done. And extra HDD space in the form of a memory stick of some sort might be needed as well.

Anyway, I'm excited. I'll post pics when it arrives!

The Update:

My First Impression: This is the cutest thing I've ever seen.

This thing is really pretty neat, as I'm sure any NetBook is. It's tiny, light weight, and feels very well built - There's nothing flimsy about the Mini at all - Very high build quality. And it's completely silent; I hear literally nothing with my ear right up next to it. Again, this is one of the main reasons I wanted it to begin with.

It took literally over 15 minutes from the point where I turned the computer on for the first time to get to the desktop (given all the setup that was initially going on. Shutting the Mini off and starting back up took only 28 seconds to get to the desktop. My 2GB stick of RAM I ordered hasn't arrived yet, which I feel will make a huge difference in performance (never choose the EggSaver option!) in regular tasks.

As expected, Dell has a TON of bloatware on here as you can see from the pics. All this extra crap shouldn't be installed on such a small SSD. I'd instantly reformat and put XP Pro on here, but since I don't have an external USB drive yet, that'll have to wait. Surprsingly, IE7 didn't ship with XP Home SP3. I thought that was kinda strange.

Typing is definitely different and somewhat difficult. I've been finger-pecking so far. The apostrophe button is near the left arrow button on the bottom row; There's two shift buttons, but the one on the right is tiny and in an awkward spot. Other keys like Tab and CapsLock are also slivered. The Function Keys run down the middle of the keyboard which is just a space saving feature I guess. In some reviews people complained about this, but how often do you need to use the F keys for it to be a problem? Personally, it's a non-issue for me. It is a cramped keyboard; With my hand fully extended, it spans the entire keyboard from thumb to pinky. And I fat finger keys quite a bit.

The trackpad and buttons feel great and work great. It's seems just as respsonsive as my older HP 15.4" laptop. It features 4 directional scrolling using one finger motions in whatever direction you want to move in.

And the 8.9" glossy screen really does look great. The speakers are nothing to rave about. They don't sound great by any means; there's no bass at all. But I guess for a netbook of this size, they sound reasonable.

More performance things I've noticed:

• Under system settings, visual effects: Virtually everything here is already disabled which surprised me.
• Paging file is set to only 200MB. Not sure what to adjust that to just yet.
• System restore is off by default; Hibernation turned on by default.
• Browsing the internet is actually quite fast and responsive.
• Read/Write speeds from my USB drive to the SSD are reasonable.
• The white LED indicating the system is on is bright!

With all the bloatware gone (15 processes killeD), all needed updates, and after running CCleaner:




The Update #2:

The 2GB Stick of G.Skill PC2-4200 finally arrived today. Again, never pick EggSaver Shipping when you want to get your stuff relatively soon. It took forever to get here!

Anyway, here are some pics of the underbelly of the Mini. Switching out the RAM was easy as pie, as expected. Only two small screws to get to the inerds, and the existing stick popped right out.

Pooping^fish

Dang. Good find. If I hadnt of bought my little Acer I wouldve been grabbing one of these things. It does look good for a budget laptop especially for the size. The specs are pretty reasonable as well.
Let us know! Looking forward to the pics. Have fun, with your new baby.

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wheth4400

those actually look really cool, not I can see myself ever needing one, but if all I did was surf the web I would so get one of those.

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phospholipid

LOL 2GB mem is about 35$. excellent deal!

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Redmist

Do some research first and make sure a 2gb stick will work before you make a purchase

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ElMikeTheMike

Already did! It has one RAM slot and supports up to 2GB.

calvin924597

I was thinking about buying one of these as my main computer, but the HDD is just too small

You could get a 8gb SDHC card, plus a couple of flash drives... but that would look a little weird with all the flash drives sticking out

DuckieHo

You can deals on them.... I've seen 2GB SODIMM for $12-20 shipped.

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ElMikeTheMike

Was thinking the same thing. I have a 16GB thumb drive that I could use for trips and things. When I'm home I don't think I'd need the extra space though.

GoOffroad

Good deal. I bought one and then returned it and bought a 1525 from Dell Outlet. It's too freaking small or maybe i'm just too big. LOL