Netbook

I jumped into a relatively new wave of technology...the netbook. When the Asus Eee PC came out in late 2007, it seemed like a novelty. Something smaller than a standard laptop, yet larger than a hand-held PDA, and definitely quite a bit cheaper than either! With a 7 inch screen and a tiny (2 or 4 gb) drive, I just didn't feel it was for me...but I continued to watch its development and evolution into what would become a new class of portible computing.

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.

Upgrading

I've been a little behind on this...been busy getting things installed, one program at a time. I took out both of my old drives, the original 20 gig that came with the Gateway, and my 120 gig master. I put in a 300 gig SATA, then installed Vista HP-32. Waiting for the external enclosure to arrive, so I can transfer some files and apps from the 120.

It certainly wasn't a smooth and headache-free experience so far. My mobo apparently sucks rocks...or at least parts of it, as I had a hell of a time getting the new drive installed. Installing the new SATA in conjunction with the new OS probably wasn't *the* smartest thing I've done in a long time, but oh well. So it's done, and this next phase is long and grueling...almost like beta testing. Through this, though, I'm finding some good apps and some pretty crappy ones. I'm just glad that I can finally say I am Symantec-Free. No more AV bloat-ware...no more bringing my poor system to its knees. It feels lighter and happier (same goes with my laptop).

Unfortunately, for every smart move I make, I invariably make another move or decision that sets me back a little. I've used Nero (5 and 6) with XP for a few years, and actually like it a lot. It's easy to use, and is NOT bloatware. I especially like the backup utility...to the point where I actually was backing up my data on a semi-regular basis. Okay, so Nero 5 or 6 does not support Vista, which bites, as I really didn't want to have to upgrade. Nero 7 was "made for Vista", in fact it is certified, so it can't be that bad can it? Ugh. I installed it using Custom install, explicitly directing it to only install 5 of the dozen "modules", and definitely NOT install any toolbars, be it Google, Ask.com, or whatever. Anyway, couple days later BitDefender finds a baddy in Nero's directory, something from ask.com. I hope that is a one-time thing.

So, not all of my XP programs will be reinstalled, but I'm finding that a lot of the old ones actually do install and work just fine. I had a small problem with Apophysis when first installed. It would not run most of the included scripts. I finally uninstalled it, then reinstalled it, but to a different directory. I have been reading that some programs have problems running from the Program Files directory in Vista...so I installed it in my user directory. Cool, now it works, and so do the scripts and the hack versions (JF's and Zeuk's). Hopefully, I'll have a few new ones to post here....soon.