Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Reviewed: Refining the Netbook Market
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 4, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Expansion: More than a MacBook Air
Even today, whenever I pull out my MacBook Air I still get people amazed at how small it is, but it's the thinness that gets them - the footprint of the notebook is no different than your standard MacBook. Hold a netbook up to it and the MacBook Air starts to look rather large:
Apple MacBook Air (on bottom) vs. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (on top)
You give up the thin profile of the Air, but you get something that's more comfortable to carry around (despite being more of a pain to type on). A side effect of the thicker chassis is that there's actually room for some expansion on the Mini. You get three USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader (SD/SDHC/MMC/MS), VGA out and built in 10/100 Ethernet.
Unfortunately there's no room for an optical drive, and while Dell offers an external one you're better off saving the money and using the network or USB drives to get data on/off the machine. The hardware is fast enough to watch DVDs, but there's no hardware H.264 acceleration so most high resolution/high bitrate HD content (720p/1080p) is out of the question.
Below is a quick spec comparison between the Eee PC 901 and the Inspiron Mini, as well as the MacBook Air just for kicks.
| ASUS Eee PC 901 | Dell Inspiron Mini 9 | MacBook Air | |
| Dimensions | H: 1.5" W: 8.9" D: 6.9" | H: 1.07 - 1.25" W: 9.13" D: 6.77" | H: 0.16-0.76" W: 12.8" D: 8.94" |
| Weight | 2.5 lbs | 2.28 lbs | 3.0 lbs |
| Screen Size/Resolution | 8.9" / 1024 x 600 | 8.9" / 1024 x 600 | 13.3" / 1280 x 800 |
| CPU | Intel Atom N270 - 1.6GHz (45nm Diamondville) | Intel Atom N270 - 1.6GHz (45nm Diamondville) | Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6 - 1.8GHz (65nm Merom) |
| GPU | Intel GMA 950 | Intel GMA 950 | Intel GMA X3100 (144MB UMA) |
| Memory | 1GB or 2GB DDR2-533 | 512MB or 1GB DDR2-533 | 2GB DDR2-667 (fixed) |
| HDD | 4GB on board SSD + 8GB (XP) or 16GB (Linux) removable SSD | 4GB (Linux only), 8GB or 16GB SSD | 80GB 1.8" HDD or 64GB 1.8" SSD |
| Optical Drive | Optional External USB | Optional External USB | Optional External USB SuperDrive |
| Networking | 802.11b/g/n 10/100 Ethernet | 802.11b/g 10/100 Ethernet | 802.11a/b/g/n |
| Built in Camera | Yes | Optional | Yes |
| Battery | 48WHr | 32WHr | 37WHr |
| Price | $599 | $349 | $1799 |
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mmntech - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
#3 is the most important IMO. While SD drives deliver great speed and load times, 8gb or even 16gb really isn't a lot. Once you get your music and videos on it, that space is going to get eaten up quickly. Carrying around portable HDDs or SD cards defeats the purpose of these systems. I don't understand why they aren't offering a HDD as an option as MSI, Asus, and Acer did.Other than that, this definitely looks like a solid system. Any chance on getting some Cinebench 10 benchmarks? I'd like to be able to compare the Atoms to my current laptop, which is a PowerPC Mac.
JarredWalton - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
A 2.5" HDD is absolutely huge compared to the form factor of these netbooks. At best, 1.8" HDDs are what you should look at, and honestly I think 4-16GB (and future 32 and 64GB probably) SSDs make a ton of sense. No moving parts, less heat, and lower power requirements are all things you want in such a small computer.advillain - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
Nice detailed comparisson. Why wasnt the Acer Aspire One included? maybe i missed an explanation in the article. For the price, the Aspire Ones are very nice. I have one with a 6 cell, and am able to web browse, msn, watch a vid or two, and have the battery last 5.5-6.5 hours (with lcd brighness turned down of course)Anand Lal Shimpi - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
Thanks for the comments :)Unfortunately I didn't have the Aspire, although the Eee PC 1000 is on its way to me. I'll definitely do a followup with the 1000, although it is clearly a larger netbook.
I'll see about getting my hands on the Acer model...
-A
rvikul - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
A netbook round-up would be perfect (pushing my luck?). Thanks for this review.(btw, Chrome is doing funky things with this comment box).
Lonearchon - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
I agree the Acer Aspire One is closer in design to the Dell Mini. They both have glossy screens with LED back light. But the keyboard on the Acer is larger making it easier to type on. It does sacrifice the touch pad to accomplish this.Chadder007 - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
I thought the ASUS had an LED backlight also, I'd like to see the Lenovo thrown in for comparison too though.rvikul - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
Yes, why wasn't it compared with Aspire One which is more comparable to dell mini?I was really looking forward to that.
dsity - Thursday, September 4, 2008 - link
6 cell is 50% more than 4 cell?piroroadkill - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
dear god