Posts tagged computers

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 – the netbook with Vodafone

Dell is a late bloomer in the growing trend of mini laptops with its 8.9-inch Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (with a mini-major '12' also included in the series). She looks a lot like any other Dell laptop – functional – and as it is. There is nothing radically new on the Mini 9, it has what most other 9-inch laptops have, in short, Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 8.9-inch screen with brilliant resolution of 1024×600.

Size wise, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is often quite impressive. Hair is a breath longer than the original Eee PC 701, and thin enough to weigh a little over a pound. This is lighter than the Eee PC 901 – our mini laptop # 1.

Connectivity has the usual bells and whistles, Bluetooth and 802.11b / G Wi-Fi, although the inclusion of HSDPA is a big advantage. The only problem is that you are bound to a contract with Vodafone – there is "unlocked" Advent 4213 as an option, until now anyway. More than later …

The battery life, although better than the 3-cell MSI Wind, is quite poor in comparison with competitors 6-cell Eee PCs and the likes. Dell promises battery life around 4 hours, reasonable, but not a patch on the same size Eee PC 901. In an attempt to keep the compact laptop, the battery come at the keyboard, eliminating the full range of keys F1-F12, and letting the depth of the keys quite superficial. The keyboard does not extend the right to the edges either, so it is great as it seems. In general, both the battery and keyboard are a little compromised. The touchpad is good, but with the mouse buttons underneath, not to the side as the HP Mini-Note and Acer Aspire One

Look again disappointing, as with most Dell computers – or is it boring? The interface seems boring and apart from slight fade to the edges – is a box. And it's available only black in the United Kingdom. Smart maybe, but for the consumer, something more imaginative would certainly be appreciated! This is particularly unfair, since some mini's 9 are appearing in the Dell Studio 15esque schemes. Surely they went down a success – a success in any way compared to the black, black, black. Rumor has it a white is a way though.

At £ 299 for the 8GB model XP (or £ 269 for the 4GB Linux) is a little expensive considering what they are selling for Acer but thanks to Vodafone, you can get it free on contract. The cheapest contract, the date of publication, is £ 21.27 per month for 24 months – to be free marketing and undo soft Vodafone – your "free" Dell will cost you a straight £ 600.

Oh, and this is only for 1GB of bandwidth wide, enough (claim Vodafone) to download 60 large attachments and 30 video clips, send 600 e-mails and surf for 30 hours. And do not you dare try to take your Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Vodafone International – $ 9.99 per 24 hours or $ 4.99 per MB, maybe put the money to better use.

On the subject of mini laptops contract, there are many companies that offer fewer services – the Carphone Warehouse, for example. Currently, the rates seem relatively terrible, even if you do chip in the computer first and compared to download speeds. Expect this to improve as more and more companies enter the market.

Storage solid-state passive cooling system (for example, the fan) to a machine very quiet, a nice feature. The storage system itself is a little on the small side, 8GB for the XP version – half that for Linux, especially after the Windows and pre-installed programs are taken into account.

Look, keyboard and battery life problems aside, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is a very good computer. As far as we beat Dell, they are a trusted brand and family – that can only be a good thing when downsizing everything. But beyond the Vodafone contract, there are other 9 "netbooks that are worth considering, and even 10 inchers in the price range same, namely:

– Asus Eee PC 901 – Our mini laptop # 1

– Acer Aspire One

– Samsung NC10

– HP 2133 Mini-Note

The choice of Vodafone is certainly worth a look if you want Internet, where and when, even if the download speeds are quite restrictive. If you can make it work moneywise, then it is an excellent option. It is important to bear in mind that, before signing away for 24 months that several laptop manufacturers (Sony and Apple are two different) and cellular providers are still on the bandwagon to hitch netbook – better for netbooks with 3G, 'unlocked', can be around the corner.

Dell could go and have a big brother to the Inspiron Mini 9 – the Inspiron Mini 12. It is already in Japan, soon to hit the United Kingdom with Linux, Windows XP and Vista. The problem is that they are trying to run Vista with 1GB of RAM and the same Intel Atom – clumsy move – Asus have their high-end N10 netbook 10-inch Atom, N20 with it's big brother on an Intel Core 2 Duo Processor.

HP 110 Mini Note!

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