Get a refurbished Dell Mini 9 Netbook for $178

If you can live with the low-end specifications, you won't find a better deal on a Netbook. Probably ever. Through Dell's outlet store, you can find this well-liked Inspiron in white or black.

by Rick Broida

January 30, 2009 4:56 AM PST Follow @cheapskateblog

Dell Inspiron Mini 9

These won't last, so I'm going to make it quick: Dell's outlet store has the Inspiron Mini 9 Netbook on sale for as low as $178 shipped.

That price is for the low-end model, which features the 1.6GHz Atom processor, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB solid-state hard drive, and Ubuntu Linux. It's available in Alpine White or Obsidian Black.

Once you land at the outlet store page, click Outlet Laptops, then Inspiron & Mini Laptops, and then Inspiron Mini. Under Inspiron Mini 9, click Continue, then Check Availability and Prices. In the ginormous list of recertified models that appears, click the Price column to sort low-to-high. You should see the aforementioned Mini 9 models for $209. Add the one you want to your cart, then apply coupon code $C$TXXP1CT3BLC to bring the price down to $177.65.

To Dell's credit, refurbished ("recertified") Netbooks get the same one-year warranty and 24-7 tech support as new units.

Wow. That's a seriously low price on a Netbook, especially one that CNET Reviews liked. The specifications are actually OK for a Linux-based system, though the limited storage is likely to be problem for most users. Ah, well. You can always pop in a cheap 8GB SD card to triple your available space.

Update: Alas, it appears the coupon code is already dead. So what do you think: Is this deal still attractive at $209?

Update #2: Users are reporting that the coupon is working again, so perhaps Dell extended the deal. Get it while you can!