So last week my Dell Mini9 arrived, thanks Michael!! It took long enough to arrive, we ordered 3 of them a day before they were removed from the Dell website. They’ve returned now, a hundred dollars more expensive though… and in white, gah!
Anyway mine arrived safely about 3 weeks after the original order, and it’s an awesome bit of gear.
The mini9 does a great job as a netbook, which is what it’s designed to be funny enough 🙂
it’s far more useful than trying to view web sites on a Nokia smart phone where the browser crashes constantly after loading a few sites and the screen res is so low.
First thing I did was put a 2gb stick of RAM in and at this stage I’ve left XP Home installed. Pretty much the main thing I need is a browser and occasionally few other tools. If I did change the OS I’d probably try the latest Ubuntu on it, apparently it works well.
I also bought a Belkin sleeve for some protection, as I’ve already had the mini9 out and about all over the place 🙂
Things I like.
- It’s super portable, I just grab it off the desk when I leave home.
- It’s quiet, no hard drive or fan noise!
- Decent battery life for what I do.
- Good construction and feel.
Things that could be improved.
- 3G card inbuilt, saves having to bluetooth pair with my phone or use the 3G dongle.
- Get rid of the glossy LCD, it can be pretty annoying.
- On screen feedback when changing brightness / volume etc via the function keys.
- Maybe a better keyboard layout, it’s a bit squished 🙂
In my in-laws back yard, keeping an eye on Luca running riot!
Out taking night photos, sitting in the car waiting for a rain shower to pass.
At the park with the kids, had to quickly do some work 🙂