In August, I worked at a county fair for my office. During one of the breaks, I wandered over to some vender booths to see what they had to offer. There was a small-town computer builder/servicer displaying the 7 inch Eee PC, as well as the then new 9 inch models. After chatting with one of the techs, and actually getting to hold one, I really felt that I could probably justify acquiring one of these...or at least something like it. I travel (by truck) for work on a regular basis, and occasionally fly to vacation destinations. My current laptop, Dell's Inspiron 6000, is a great system, actually spec'd out fairly nicely, and I've taken it with me numerous times on the road. But bottom line, it's just too big and heavy! It is well over 6 lbs, and even though it sports a 15.4 inch screen, the body of the notebook is quite a bit larger. I considered taking it with me to Hawaii in August, but I couldn't bring myself to settle for lugging it through airport security at the various airports...so I left it home.
Early September...I am home after a long day at work, surfing the web. Something, somehow, made me go to the Dell website, just to see what was new. Lo and behold, something in the flash banner caught my eye...what's this? Meet the Dell Mini 9? Curiosity got the better of me, and I had to click. Dell had announced the imminent launch of their entry into the netbook market with the Dell Mini 9 (910). This was exciting for me, as the Mini had some decent specs, looked great, and knowing the quality of build, was a solid piece of technology....and the price was right! Over a couple of days, I kept revisiting the Dell site, reading up on the specs and the customizing possibilities. I also found a few reviews online for the Mini, including a video presentation at notebookreview.com. I watched that several times, and was really taken by the "cuteness" of the Mini. A couple days later I got on chat with a Dell sales rep to ask a few questions, mainly regarding upgradeability. I was convinced, and I finally caved, and ordered one! woot!
My white Mini 9 (not completely white, only the lid) has an 8.9 inch screen with a resolution of 1024 x 600, I can live with that. The configuration I opted for has 1 gb of DDR2 RAM, a 16 gb SSD drive, 0.3 megapixel cam, no bluetooth, and Windows XP SP3 installed. The rep said the RAM max is 1 gb, but I have since found out it is upgradeable to 2 gb, yay! Like my 6000, the Mini offers easy access to the upgradeable parts, another yay! I have since joined up with a great forum at MyDellMini.com, and have learned quite a bit there. One thing I have learned is how well the Mini can stand up to modding. People have already replaced their Windows XP or Dell-branded Ubuntu operating systems with other Linux distros, XP Pro, Vista (!), OS X, and even Windows 7! Not to mention the hardware modding these folks are putting their Minis through! I've had my sights set on upgrading the RAM to 2 gb, and the SSD drive to something bigger, and eventually to Vista. I have ordered my 2 gb stick (along with an upgrade kit for my 6000) and those arrived today. The SSD drive is an interesting situation, as the availability for a compatible drive was almost nothing. Drives for the Eee PC were carrying hefty pricetags, and that was something I was not willing to cave into. Well, recently, a vendor that caters to netbook SSDs teamed up with a manufacturer to produce higher capacity SSDs specific to the Mini 9. They are offering 16, 32 and 64 gb drives, and at very affordable prices. They also mention 128 gb for the future. Of course, the 32 and 64 drives have been on perpetual back order due to everyone wanting one. They are having a hard time keeping any in stock! I will end up ordering a 32 gb drive from them, but I'll give them some time to cool down. :)
For now, I'll be installing the new RAM, and having fun getting to know my Mini.
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