$299 Dell Inspiron Mini laptop due out in August ...

eodtech · **on:** August 13, 2008, 07:42:22 PM

Whoey · **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2008, 08:49:14 PM

I read about these... I very nearly bought an Acer Aspire One this past weekend with basically the same specs... they didn't have any left in stock tho, just the display model... altho it was 299eur...

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2008, 09:42:09 PM

I was interested in the Acer as well, but if Dell is doing the same thing cheaper...

Def

Whoey · **Reply #3 on:** August 14, 2008, 04:23:05 PM

Another alternative : http://www.slashgear.com/medion-akoya-mini-e1210-unboxed-0112340.php
(Medion Akoya) basically the same as the Acer with 120gb and winXP... goes for 400eur here, saw one today, as well as the Acer Aspire One, got to play around a bit with the Acer, it boots in about 15-20sec... smooth, looks great. I think I'll hold out for the 6 cell linux edition with 120gb hd and 1gb ram vs the current 8gb SSD, 512mb ram 3 cell model, the 6 cell supposedly gets 7 hours from the battery... (winxp version gets 5.5h)

things are going to get interesting on this front...

Whoey · **Reply #4 on:** August 21, 2008, 09:37:23 PM

Some friends of ours picked up the 280eur Asus EEEpc 4G with WindowsXP... I have it for a few days to install some stuff and tune it a bit... will give some feedback when I'm done.

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #5 on:** August 21, 2008, 09:56:35 PM

That's the 7" version?

Def

Whoey · **Reply #6 on:** August 21, 2008, 10:55:30 PM

yup, after mucking about with it for a bit, the screen is too small... plus windows keeps reminding you everytime you reboot that the resolution is very low (800x480) which is really annoying... most dialogs drop below the bottom of the screen which means you have to drag the window up to click ok... it does have a 800x600 mode where you can scroll up and down the screen, which is almost just as annoying...

Another funny thing is the support DVD that comes with it (there is no cdrom...) I'm sure for an extra 10eur they could have made it a usb disk...

I would not recommend getting anything lower than 9inch for a UMPC... ideally one that does 1000x smth... I'm still rather keen on the ACER Aspire One... especially the 120Gb model...

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #7 on:** August 21, 2008, 11:21:37 PM

Acer Aspire One is 8.9", but I guess that's close enough?

I'm looking at one of those too, but I think I'll leave it running Linux. Of course that Dell's stats look pretty close to the Acer's, and significantly cheaper. I like significantly cheaper...

Def

Whoey · **Reply #8 on:** August 22, 2008, 12:17:00 AM

Can't wait to see the Dells in the wild... if they actually produce what they've been pitching, it'll sell like crazy

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #9 on:** August 22, 2008, 12:25:38 AM

Especially at about $80 less than the Acer, which is several hundred dollars less than the comparable HP and ASUS models!

Def

Neil · **Reply #10 on:** August 22, 2008, 03:34:36 AM

I find this out after getting an eee 901. That's life $:-\$

Still musn't grumble, its nice to be finally using something not made out of the guts of multiple scrap machines. I'm really liking the battery life as well; around seven hours for surfing

Neil

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #11 on:** August 22, 2008, 03:46:51 AM

That's the biggest problem with my laptop- I am lucky to get an hour out of it in power saver mode, doing little more than word processing. It's not terribly portable when you are jumping from one power outlet to the next. And, an extended battery will run almost as much as a UMPC.

Def

Whoey · **Reply #12 on:** August 22, 2008, 09:35:37 AM

consider turning off a lot of the eyecandy in vista... also, check for updates... I think they fixed some of the power eating features built into vista... that might extend the battery life a bit... also turn down the screen brightness as much as you can stand, but it's still usable...

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #13 on:** August 22, 2008, 12:07:07 PM

Done, done and done, which is why I get a whole hour out of it.

Word to the wise, when buying a laptop, NEVER get the entry level battery. Splurge for the better one, as it costs a fraction of what it would to buy the better battery afterwards.

Def

Offroad · **Reply #14 on:** August 22, 2008, 05:32:16 PM

I have a Acer aspir one with XP comming my way, due to arrive tomorrow, looking forward to test it.

Whoey · **Reply #15 on:** August 22, 2008, 05:47:05 PM

they have the one I want on tigerdirect.ca (120gb harddrive, 6 cell battery, xp) and it would be a little more than they go for here, except they only have the 8gb, 3cell, linux version... I wish they delivered here, but I know they'll nail me with duty fees at customs. Guess I need to plan another trip to Canada...

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #16 on:** August 22, 2008, 05:49:25 PM

Make sure to let us know what you think of it!

If there was some way I could ship the Aspire to Spain and slip it under the radar, I'd do it in a second!

Def

Whoey · **Reply #17 on:** September 05, 2008, 12:05:47 PM

http://laptoplogic.com/news/dell-finally-releases-atom-powered-inspiron-mini-9-netbook-5403

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #18 on:** September 05, 2008, 08:49:59 PM

Looks good- I wonder if it'll be able to measure up in person?

Def

Whoey · **Reply #19 on:** September 09, 2008, 09:56:54 AM

http://gizmodo.com/395586/hp-elitebook-6930p-one-badass-business-laptop

some quotes of interest:

Quote

Toughened to Mil-Spec 810F against extreme temperatures, humidity, dust, bumps, and other torture, it also has DOD-grade file deletion. HP got rid of the Vista-only SideShow app launcher QuickLook from last year's laptop in favor of building its own startup OS. QuickLook 2 runs e-mail and other apps without starting the full OS, and it boots in just 10-12 seconds. (It runs on XP too.)

Quote

the HP EliteBook 6930p provides up to 15 hours(9) of combined battery life with optional Ultra Capacity battery.

I highly doubt it will be in the $299 range though... maybe $2999...

Splat · **Reply #20 on:** September 13, 2008, 05:14:32 AM

Dell Inspirons aren't what they used to be. I'd pass on that but YMMV.

Whoey · **Reply #21 on:** October 24, 2008, 05:16:20 PM

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/10/24/dell-inspiron-mini

nice little review...

Quote

The Inspiron Mini 9 is based on Intel's 1.6GHz Atom processor and ships with 1Gb of memory and either a 16GB Flash solid state drive (SSD) with Windows, or an 8GB Flash SSD for the Linux version. It has a four-cell 32WHr lithium-ion battery pack that can be removed from the system by sliding two catches.

Quote

Using the Battery Eater test tool, we found it lasted for two hours and 39 minutes when simulating productivity use, and around three hours and 29 minutes when in 'reader' mode, simulating the user simply viewing information

dunno if that's helpful? I think there is also a 6 or 8 cell battery for it...

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #22 on:** October 24, 2008, 05:18:52 PM

To completely trick it out with all that fancy stuff raises it to just over $500. The Acer comes similarly equipped for about $400.

Probably going to order the Acer today.

Def

Whoey · **Reply #23 on:** October 24, 2008, 05:35:50 PM

nice, I'm still on the fence... I do think a desktop upgrade is still my priority...

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #24 on:** October 24, 2008, 06:41:49 PM

Just ordered the Aspire One... with taxes, shipping and an upgrade to a 16g SSD it came out to about $500. It's got the 6 cell battery, so I'm assuming with the solid state drive it should last a good while between charging.

Def