Get a Dell Mini 9 Netbook for $299 shipped

My (new) thinking regarding Netbooks: They have their place in the world, but if you're going to spend more than $300 on one, you might as well spend $400 and get a full-fledged notebook. Anyone who agrees should check out Dell's Inspiron Mini 9, currently on sale for $299 shipped.

Available in Obsidian Black or Alpine White (other color choices are available, but add to the cost), the Mini 9 runs Ubuntu Linux and comes with 512MB of RAM, a 4GB solid-state hard drive, and an 8.9-inch LED display.

Dell gives you a host of configuration options, but as with the aforementioned color choices, any changes you make will bump up the price. (It's probably worth $35 to get the 8GB SSD.)

CNET gave the Inspiron Mini 9 a very favorable review, citing its above-average battery life and overall usability as reasons to choose it over, say, the Acer Aspire One or MSI Wind.

I recently authored a five-part diary-of-a-Netbook-user series for BNET's Business Hacks, which I invite you to read before taking the plunge on any Netbook. If you come away thinking, "Yep, that's just what I need," this is a pretty solid bargain. Agree? Disagree? Speak up in the Comments.

[cnetmart]

Excuse my ignorance, but why don't these netbooks utilize larger solid state hard drives? Memory is cheap. And 8 gigs does not go far. They make 32 gig SD cards, so why not bump up the drives a bit? My guess is that it will only be a couple years before solid state drives are large and cheap enough to replace the use of traditional hard drives in the majority of laptops. Less energy, less head, and more reliable.

[atcj0611]

I think its the price of the larger SSD drives. Their getting cheaper but larger hard drives would have the computers prices running up into the territory of the $400 bargain laptops and PC. The netbooks wouldn't have as much value if for a few bucks extra you could get a full-fledged laptop or PC. The larger drives will get cheaper as SSD manufacturing technology improves.

[phenders]

If they use a generic large capacity SDHC card or CF card, they will need to disable disk swaping aka paging because these media have less than 10,000 writes to each block before the flash memory fails. If disk swaping was disabled, the OS would need to run solely on RAM which will make it slow because 512MB is just not enough for the kernel and apps.

THe smaller capacity flash memory is designed for more wear and swaping can be enabled for the life of the netbook. A 32GB SSD that is swap rated, costs well over $200.

[Seaspray0]

Will it boot to network? That feature would be very usefull for me.

[fbny71]

I had an Asus Eee PC. I loved it overall except for the tiny 7" screen...having to scroll in both directions got old. At least now it has 1024 pixels in width so you only have to scroll up and down- but I'll wait for a full 1024x768 screen resolution. Otherwise, these machines are surprisingly capable. You couldn't do many process intense things but editting a photo in GIMP worked well enough. Besides the screen resolution, I really like these machines.

[loose_screw]

Rick, did you not experience heat generation issues with the netbook, or did you use it primarily on battery power? Due to the poor battery life issue, I had my netbook on a/c power most of the time, and even with light usage it was scorching hot. I couldn't stand it, so I took it back. I'm sticking with my ThinkPad.

[rickbroida]

The Aspire One did run a bit warm, but definitely not "scorching hot." Which model did you have?

[loose_screw]

It was an Eee PC, I think it was the N270. I got it from Best Buy around August and returned it in early sept.

[mishani]

I would disagree that a netbook is a stripped down "real" notebook whose only advantage is the price. The main advantage is take-anywhere portability - a netbook weighs about half as much as most full notebooks and is much more compact, while similar (sub-3 lb) full-fledged notebooks are very expensive.

[JEG2006]

Just remember you get what you pay for. The only hard drive option on the Mini is a solid state hard drive, which it turns out is not much faster than a traditional platter hard drive. I almost bought a netbook with a 8.9" display before realizing how small that is in reality. Consider too that keyboard size is more or less proportionate to the display size. And while we are talking about the keyboard, the Mini does not have a F11 or F12 key, which normally would not be a big deal. However, on a netbook, full screen mode is your best friend and it just so happens that most apps use the F11 key for quickly switching in and out of full screen. Do your own research but I think 10" is about as small as you can go w/ out creating a lot of user frustration (note that Asus has done away w/ displays under 10" and I don't think Acer ever offered anything smaller) 512MB of RAM seems skimpy even for a netbook. And a 4-cell battery does not last as long as you think. Once you customize a Dell Mini w/ a bit more hard drive and memory, you will arrive at a cost on par, or more than a fully loaded Asus 1000H (including Windows XP). I apologize for my brute honesty, but I did a lot of research on netbooks before buying my own and the Mini 9 is just a box of buyer's remorse waiting to happen. Sorry Dell! Make a better Mini!

[mishani]

"note that Asus has done away w/ displays under 10" and I don't think Acer ever offered anything smaller"
Asus still sells several 8.9" models, and Acer does not yet have a 10" model for sale - its netbook has a 8.9" screen.

[unwritten_law9]

Anyone know of a good wireless router deal. I'm thinking wireless g would be enough but I would splurge on a good wireless N deal.

[jasonschlachter]

seems like a crippled system for $299 when you can get much better specs for only a little more if you don't get a Dell. I'd consider a full featured version for $299

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&q=acer+netbook&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=13539739046189729241&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&resnum=2&ct=result#ps-sellers

[phenders]

Yes, the Acer Aspire one was the top selling notebook this Black Friday. The specs are superior all round, and you can get integrated WIMAX or 3G GSM adapters and comes with an amazing 120GB spindle HDD.

[akaybeyond]

Anyone know of a good wireless router deal. I'm thinking wireless g would be enough but I would splurge on a good wireless N deal.

[bombzombie]

Rick,
To my mind, the MSI Wind is far and away the best thing going. At our local MicroCenter here in Houston one can be had for just under 4 bills. It has a 160 gb, b/g/n wireless and a 6 cell battery running XP. My times of operation are always around the 5 hour mark! It is the bext deal by far and it doesn't get fry-daddy hot on you either!! You really should check out the latest version of their netbooks. They really are flying off the shelves. Cheaper than HP with almost as large a keyboard and more robust than a Dell in features. With the n wireless, it edges out Acer and Asus units that I saw. Dell had the namebrand, but SSD drives are still a bit premature for mainstream and 512 on the RAM means you are constrained to Linux. The Wind is like a full laptop with half the heft, twice the power and very durable.

[dctech08]

good for a kids first time computer (laptop) . as for me personally... i need power.

[urr_quasdim]

Costco has both the HP Mini1035 and the Acer Aspire One. It doesn't take long to realize that the $350 Acer is a much better choice than the $500 HP. How about twice the HD memory, twice the memory card readers (incl. a 6 card-type reader vs. HP's 2-in-1), more USB ports, a LAN port, a sharper screen (same resolution on a slightly smaller screen), and the rest of the specs same for both? No wonder the Acer is the No. 1 selling netbook (currently 38.3% market share vs. Asus' 30.3%).
As for the Dell, it doesn't come anywhere near the Acer!

[mishani]

I would count the larger screen as a plus for HP - easier to read at this resolution, and it has longer battery life. The Acer is a nice machine too.

[veruslite]

The fact of the matter is that a lot of these points are completely valid but only from a standpoint of looking at the dell mini 9 from a pre set configuration. The advantage that the Mini 9 has especially over other netbooks with similar specs, is that its in fact highly configurable. U can easily swap out the SSD's for higher capacity and better performing ones. Dell now offers an option to have a built in 3G card to access cellular data networks without having to have an extra dongle sticking out of ur netbook. Plus having the ram maxed out at 1GB is merely a contractual obligation, u can have more than 1 GB ram Dell just cant offer it with more than that in order to sell the systems as is. Netbooks have to meet certain specs to legally be considered Netbooks when being sold as such. if u know a thing or two about computers and arent afraid to do some very simple tinkering these are actually very capable machines. The Dell mini 9 is anyways, im not so sure about some of the others

[lumpoco]

As of today it is still not easy to upgrade and customize a Dell Mini 9. Sure a few people have used a solder iron and a dremel to install a larger and faster SSD. But that's a far cry from what you had intimated. Also, some Dell Mini 9's have some funky soldering work done on the main board that prevents the average pc user from installing additional memory. Dell really should make it more user friendly. Because if I could fully customize a Dell Mini 9 to accommodate 4GB of PC6400 RAM and a super slim 160GB SATA drive I'd buy 30 of them to give out to members of my youth group. Oh well! Looks like Dell has just lost a $13,500 sale from me. Does Dell even have a marketing department? They just lost a lot of customer equity from me and they don't seem to realize that there are alot of people out there who think like I do. We want to be able to easily customize and upgrade our Mini 9s and turn them into pocket rockets. :)