So I finally made the jump and opted to buy a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 – mainly because I know you can successfully install and run a fully working version of OS X on it compared to the spotty compatibility related to Asus, Samsung and MSI netbooks.

Although its not new news, It’s a first for me.

I plan to use my new shiny Dell as a presentation machine – I know the screen is tiny, however my other choice being a 17″ laptop from Dabs, I opted for something that wouldn’t look ridiculous being man handled out of a satchel during a meeting.

Update: The unit arrived last night so here’s a few things you might want to know from first boot:

  • Installation takes AGES
  • There’s tones of bloatware on there which kills your machine when you first hook it up to the net as everything tries to update itsself
  • Its super light and absolutely silent
  • No bag / pouch :(
  • Batteries arrive uncharged but fitted (unlike other netbooks)
  • Sound is OK for a laptop

I did some tweaking removing almost all installed software including MSWorks etc and playing around with themes and services to make sure its as fast as I can get it (use Revo to find all those undeleted files and registry values)

Installed:

  • MS Office 2007
  • Firefox + extensions
  • Artweaver (because Photoshop would kill it)
  • CCleaner
  • 7-zip
  • VLC
  • Winamp
  • XNView
  • Sumatra PDF (compact version of Acrobat)
  • PDF Creator
  • Clamwin
  • Filezilla
  • Notepad++
  • Pidgin

Things ive left on include:

  • Dell Support Center
  • Dell Video Chat
  • Dell Webcam
  • Bluetooth

All this done the boot time is well under 30 seconds and the machine is fast and responsive.

Still to do:

  • Screen calibration – its way too white

Things I don’t like:

  • The 1024 x 600 resolution breaks what id consider to be a standard caveat for web design, that of the fold being at 595px, on the Dell mini its now more like 1000 x 420 (with the fold being at the standard hight for an old style 800 x 600 site)
  • Keyboard layout is very cramped with , / @ ? > all being on really thin buttons, also the delete key is in a weird place and no f11 keys for browser maximisation :(
  • I’ve got pretty acidic skin (ewww I know right) which means the plastic front is going to suffer from acid erosion over time.

Reference sites:

Update: True to form, as soon as I buy something (iphone etc) they bring a new one out a couple of days later :/ Theres talk of a new 12 inch machine on Engadget tho at 12 inch its more like a laptop… I think ill stay with my mini;)

repostus bttn white sml Dell Mini 9 First Impressions
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