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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
Frenchbread
Location:
Los Angeles
Duration of product use:
5-6 months
Level of expertise:
Expert
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Title: A winning design
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Date: November 2, 2009
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Product Uses: internet and email, listen to music, manage finances, watch movies
Review:We purchased a Dell Mini 9 for our trip to England and Scotland. This allowed us to keep tabs on our finances and lodging arrangements while traveling. It performed famously well for this purpose.
Shortly after our return, our home computer broke and the Mini 9 became our de facto main computer while we shop for a new one. By using a wireless mouse and an external monitor it has served this role surprisingly well!
The Mini 9 is so small and light that it allows you to bring a computer places you otherwise wouldn't. It's about the same size and weight as a book, so it fits in any bag.
The screen and keyboard work well for most things. (I am a touch typist and find the built-in keyboard fine for email.) We prefer a wireless mouse to the track pad. If you have work that requires a larger screen or full size keyboard, you can plug those in and it will behave like a desktop machine.
I have used the machine with XP, Ubuntu, and Fedora. XP and Ubuntu worked flawlessly.
Pros:
Light (same weight as a book)
Silent (no fan)
Nice display (use Fn-Z for full screen browsing)
Keyboard has high quality feel
SD card reader is convenient
Runs XP and Ubuntu well
Cons:
Track pad can get hot (use a wireless mouse)
Screen small for some tasks (use an external monitor for those)
Keyboard small for writing a novel (plug in a larger keyboard for that kind of desk work)
You'll want an external DVD drive for the purpose of loading software.
We also recommend the small protective sleeve from Built NY. It is airport security friendly and keeps it light enough to put into any bag.
The Mini 9 works well on an airplane. There is room on the seat tray, even in coach, to have the Mini 9 out with a travel mouse and a drink.
Another nice thing, at home, is doing the finances on the kitchen table with a cup of coffee. It reminds me of the old days of sitting there with the bills and a checkbook. It's a happy little machine!
18 of 21 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
CougarKev
Location:
Pacific Northwest
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Good
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Title: I'm in LOVE
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Date: September 3, 2009
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Reviewer Images
(click to see full-size image)
Product Uses: Connecting with Friends, coffee shop flirting, listening to online audio feeds, listening to music, email im tweets etc.
Review:The Mini 9 caught my eye because of the form factor and solid state HD. I ordered a WinXP configuration with an extra GB of RAM and the 8 GB flash HD.
PROS:
Easy 4 hours of useful battery life and a snappy recharge.
Three USB ports, a Cat 5 connex and WiFi.
Fits in my overcoat pocket.
Great for taking to company meetings - barely noticeable at the conference table.
Great for client meetings, minimal presence.
All for way under $300.
CONS:
Keyboard and touch pad take some getting used to, but so did my touch screen smart phone.
Small HD means the standard approach of installing every application you might need is out of the question.
Small screen and screen form factor not compatible with certain uses.
A bit of a pokey boot-up, probably because the solid state HD reads a bit slower than a SATA HD.
After the usual wonderful Dell purchase experience and speedy delivery, I literally squealed like a little girl when I opened the box and first saw the Mini 9. I defy you to not speak in a falsetto voice when you first pick up one of these little dolls. So much computing power, in the palm of my hand, for under $300 delivered to my door - it's great to be alive in 2009! After installing my customary suite of downloaded essentials (probably similar to yours - Avira, Firefox, IM client, image editor, etc.) I was left with about 4 GB of HD space on the Mini 9's 8 GB internal drive.
My first test usage of the Mini 9 was at the local espresso and WiFi cafe and I was thrilled at the user experience. Plenty of room on the table, all the computing power I needed and a whole lot of fun. Hopping on the cloud, I pulled down some of my Google docs and edited a couple of reports, checked email at the office and popped in the earbuds and listened to ESPN. Did I mention these little netbooks are chick magnets? It's better than taking puppy to a park because you don't need a scooper.
Touch typists should probably pass on the Mini 9, the non-traditional QWERTY layout will drive you crazy. Also useless for large document, large graphics and spreadsheet work - save that for the 20" flat screen on your desk.
A delightful partner for a digital camera and smart phone, easy to move files between them and a great way to manage all that stuff. Just for fun, I connected the Mini 9 to my Terabyte backup external drive, a desktop monitor and an external keyboard and mouse, and the Mini 9 worked perfectly as an emergency CPU. The long battery life and great processor architecture means that with the WiFi and a selection of online audio sources, the Mini 9 makes a cool "WiFi portable radio" and it's perfectly fine for watching video news clips, youtube vids and the like.
The Mini 9 is by no means a substitute for today's monster notebooks but it's an incredibly sweet little helper for the 75% of the PC work that most of us do that fits so well within the Mini 9's capabilities.
107 of 110 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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5
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
Skyblue
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Title: Mini 9 is Wonderful!
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Date: September 3, 2009
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Product Uses: Connecting with Friends, email, internet browsing, even watching tv!
Review:I have a Dell Inspiron 1720, and had so many people on my computer, that I thought it best to buy a Mini 9 for my oldest son. It turns out that the Mini 9 is wonderful and runs with almost all the same features as my 17" Inspiron! The biggest, most obvious difference is that there is no internal CD drive, which is easily corrected by purchasing an external one. I was so impressed that I purchased another Mini 9 (refurbished) to carry in my purse.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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| Overall: |
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4
[RATINGOF] 5
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Reviewed by:
MichaelW
Location:
West Virginia
Duration of product use:
Less than a week
Level of expertise:
Good
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Title: Nice Netbook for under $200 before shipping
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Date: August 28, 2009
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Product Uses: Connecting with Friends, web
Review:I bought this Mini 9 netbook in the Alpine White from the outlet as a certified refub. Worked out of the box with no apparent problems. Ubuntu is a nice OS for a change of pace. Have not attempted to connect to the internet yet but will give it a try once home with the mini. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars currently is for presentation alone. While this item may have been purchased certified refurb some sort of glue type substance was on the white part of the mini which took some time cleaning it off. I would think Dell would want all their items cleaned up looking as if they were brand new including the refurbished ones. My review could still change for the worse based on internet connectivity.
9 of 12 people found this review helpful.
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