Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Reviewed: Refining the Netbook Market
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 4, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Performance & Battery Life
The Inspiron Mini 9 is designed to be used as an appliance, a box that can give you access to email, the web and applications. It happens to be a computer, but that's not the focus. Performance in any of its individual tasks such as web browsing or document editing is acceptable on the Mini. The Atom processor is fast enough and with 1GB of memory you can keep a couple of applications active without running into any slowdown.
Boot time is the only area where the Mini really falls short compared to the ASUS Eee PC 901. While the 901 can start from an off state and take you into its Xandros OS in 27 seconds, the Mini needs 40 to do the same. I'm not sure if this is an Ubuntu issue or a Mini hardware/BIOS thing at this point.
While the Eee PC 901 has a 6-cell battery (48WHr), Dell cut costs by using a 4-cell 32WHr battery in the Inspiron Mini 9. I scripted a quick web/MP3 playback test, similar to what I’ve used in some of our Mac coverage. With the display set to never shut off (simulating a real browsing scenario), looping through a bunch of locally stored MP3s, I had both the Eee PC 901 and the Inspiron Mini surf through a bunch of webpages (over the local WiFi network) designed to forward to one another after pausing for 20 seconds (simulating "reading time"). The web pages were predominantly text and images, there was no Flash but the system isn't given any breaks other than the 20 second pause between pages - for a netbook, this is pretty much a torture test.
| ASUS Eee PC 901 | Dell Inspiron Mini | |
| Boot Time | 27 seconds | 40 seconds |
| Battery Life (Web Browsing + MP3 Playback) | 287 minutes | 178 minutes |
Dell claims that the Inspiron Mini should be good for over four hours of battery life, running the test I just described it ran for 178 minutes, just two minutes shy of the 3 hour mark. If you lighten your load I'd expect that hitting 4 hours could be a reality, but for all intents and purposes I'd expect the Mini to be good for 3 - 4 hours of usage.
ASUS' Eee PC 901 did a bit better as you'd expect; with 50% more battery capacity, the Eee PC lasted for 287 minutes , nearly 5 hours of continuous use. Here's where positioning really comes into play though.
I honestly couldn't find myself using either notebook all day, they aren't ergonomic enough and they are still far from pleasurable to type on. Dell views the Inspiron Mini much like I do the iPhone, it's a device to carry with you when you're out to a quick meeting, class, lunch, etc... and happen to be away from your more, um, normal sized computers. If you use it as intended, I believe Dell's battery life tradeoff is a nonissue. If the Inspiron Mini is going to be more of a constant-use machine for you however, the longer battery life of the Eee PC may tempt you away from the Mini's stunning good looks.
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Klug - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
Thanks for the review.Maybe I misread but I could not find any info about the external PSU... How fat is it?
I currently use a M1330 and the external PSU is a pain (big, heavy, thick cable, etc).
Netbook is nice but when used "on the road" (ie: train, meetings, etc), it needs to be carried with its PSU. If the PSU is fat, that's bad.
benlen - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
I missed this my self. An is a important information an a netbook.I found the answer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M37j5BnERw">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M37j5BnERw
about one minute in.
I am happy with the type.
They say it is 2.6 lbs with the psu so the psu should be about 0.4 lbs.
But I still havent found a picture on the UK psu. I hope it will be a travle type where you can change the plugs/connectors
I am by the way selling my M1330 to only have a mini 9 and a stationary
strafejumper - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
i've been researching lappys for a week trying to buy my first one.found one i love from lenovo 15.4" but the one problem is all 15.4" lappy's that i've been looking at seem to have the exact same florescent lcd and when i went to circuit city to look at some they all looked very dim because of the vertical viewing angle.
Then i was in a local shop and they had a macbook air and it was totally different, many times brighter and still bright even at angles. Looking for a cheaper laptop than the macbook air now that has this good an led lcd. May have to wait a while.
wvh - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
Looks interesting, especially the passive cooling... But as someone who works in several countries, I think they made a mistake with their peculiar keyboard layout. It's not easy to get used to all the different international layouts, laptop- vs. full-sized keyboards, model-specific multimedia- and function-keys, and having manufacturers come up with their own proprietary layout on top of that makes their product much less appealing to me.
JoshuaBuss - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
nice carpet, anand! :)alpine18 - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
The dell sounds interesting, but I'll keep my eeepc 901 for now. I love this thing.It is great to see so many new netbooks in the market place. When they come out with a new netbook with the dual-core Atom, I'll probably buy one.
I differ with the article author's view on battery life and use. My eee 901 has effectively replaced my full size Gateway laptop. The thing sits at home since I got my 901, little more than a glorified portable desktop. I use my 901 all day without having to recharge, take it to meetings so I can act like I am taking notes when I am actually catching up on other work.
For me, the deal breaker for the Dell would be the battery life and 1GB memory. I have 2GB of memory in my 901 and need the 5-8 hours of battery life. If the Dell had the same battery life as the 901 and was upgradeable to 2GB, I'd seriously be thinking about getting one.
MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
Glossy Screen? Why? So I can see what's behind me better than what I'm working on? Especially for a portable computer that just might be used outside, a reflective screen is dumb.I know glossy screens sell better in brick and mortar stores, but people are dumb (ooh, shiny!)
Nice to have a choice I suppose, so those who like it can get the Dell and I can get something else. But that's my point really, I'd get something else.
abakshi - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
Dell seems to have done better than I expected, but I'd be curious to see how you'd compare with the HP 2133 Mini-Note in terms of build quality, keyboard, screen, etc.I have a Mini-Note (C7 1.6 / 2GB / 120GB 7200rpm / Vista Business), and while granted, most configs are priced higher than the average netbook, the design is awesome and it's built better than any HP/Dell/etc. laptop I've ever seen. More importantly, the keyboard's light-years ahead of the EeePC and all other netbooks I've encountered thus far, and with a nice bright 1280x768 screen, it's a pleasure to work with on the go.
Roy2001 - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
1. Dual core Atom.2. Power saveing Poulsbo chipset + HD decoding feature.
3. Smooth HD/BD movie play back.
4. Has at least 8GB SSD built in and a SDHC slot so I can insert a cheap 32GB SD card (some day) as 2nd HD.
5. Has mini-HDMI output.
5. Built-in camera should be standard.
6. 1GB RAM should be standard.
7. 10" LCD with 1280x800 resolution.
8. Bluetooth built in so I can use a wireless mouse/keyboard without a dongle.
The more I can dream is touch screen, wireless USB hub, and more...
Matt Campbell - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
I'm really impressed with what Dell has done with the Mini, they struck a great balance with price/features and it looks fantastic. Thanks for the suggestions - the Wind, Aspire and Lenovo S10 are on my review wish list as well. Keep your eyes peeled for an upcoming HP 2133 Mini-Note review. Hopefully between Anand, Jarred and I we'll cover everything eventually :)