Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Review

by Jerry Jackson

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Last year, the world of budget notebooks was turned on its head with the introduction of the ASUS Eee PC: A 2-pound laptop with a 7-inch screen and a starting price below $300. Prior to 2008, &quot;budget notebooks&quot; were bulky, overweight 15-inch laptops while &quot;ultra-portable&quot; notebooks commanded a premium price well above $1,000. In no time at all terms like &quot;budget ultra-portable,&quot; &quot;subnotebook,&quot; and &quot;netbook&quot; became part of the techno-geek vocabulary. Every notebook manufacturer on the planet (even some that you might not know) scrambled to create their own &quot;netbooks&quot; ... and Dell has finally joined the party.

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is an 8.9&quot; netbook with a $349 (Linux) or $399 (Windows XP) starting price and some impressive features. Dell was kind enough to supply us with a pre-production copy of the Inspiron Mini 9 so that we can conduct in-depth testing and let you know if this netbook really is &quot;your new best friend&quot; ... or just the weird kid you try to avoid on the bus.

Our pre-production Inspiron Mini 9 features the following specifications:

• 1.6GHz N270 Intel Atom Processor
• 1GB DDR2 533MHz (1 DIMM)
• Ubuntu 8.04 Linux with Custom Dell Interface (Includes Open Office)
• 8.9&quot; 1024 x 600 WSVGA glossy LED backlit display
• 8GB miniPCI SSD card
• Intel GMA 950 Integrated Graphics
• 802.11b/g Wi-Fi
• 4-in-1 Media card reader
• 1.3 Megapixel webcam, Dell Video Chat application, Dell Support Center
• 4-Cell 32Wh Li-ion battery (14.8V)
• Size: 9.2&quot; x 6.8&quot; x 1.3&quot; (including feet)
• Weight: 2lb 5.5oz (with 4-cell battery), 2lb 11.6oz (with battery and AC adapter)
• Price: $434 ($474 with Windows XP)

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Build and Design

The design of the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is quite similar to other netbooks we've seen in recent months. The exterior is covered in glossy plastics with smooth lines, rounded edges, and a style that looks like it's trying to strike a balance between &quot;fun&quot; and &quot;functional.&quot; The look is pretty basic, almost like a miniature version of the Inspiron 1525 notebook. Glossy plastic is found on the top of the screen cover as well as around the entire LCD and palm rests. Matte black plastic is used on the base of the netbook and on the keyboard. Overall, the look is quite nice, but the glossy LCD lid is a magnet for fingerprints and makes the new netbook look a little tarnished after just a few minutes of use.

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The build quality of the Mini 9 is amazingly solid for a subnotebook of this size and weight. The construction is mostly plastic but all of the plastics feel strong enough to handle being tossed around inside a bookbag. Even the glossy plastic surfaces seem to resist minor surface scratches. However, the most impressive build quality element in our pre-production unit was that the inside of the chassis is reinforced with magnesium alloy in at least one location (behind the keyboard and in front of the battery). This helps the Mini 9 withstand much more abuse than a typical all-plastic netbook.

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In terms of upgradeability, the Mini 9 is much easier to upgrade than most netbooks currently on the market. Many of the netbooks we've seen to date require complex disassembly in order for you to get to the storage drive, system RAM, or wireless cards. Even worse, some other netbooks have slots for upgrades but no connections on the motherboard so it is impossible to upgrade them. This is not the case with the Mini 9.

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Dell engineers were wise enough to place all key upgradeable components in one area directly beneath a simple access panel that you can remove with a regular Phillips screwdriver after removing two screws. The Mini 9 uses standard notebook DDR2 RAM (800MHz underclocked to 533MHz), standard wireless mini cards, and a mini PCIe SSD card.

Operating System and Software

As mentioned, Dell offers the Mini 9 with either Windows XP or a customized Ubuntu Linux operating system. Our pre-production unit came equipped with Ubuntu, and the Dell-developed custom interface is point-and-click easy and acts similar to Windows ... only easier (if you don't try to install new applications).

The Mini 9 comes preloaded with dozens of useful applications for everything from work and email to listening to music and watching movies. Unlike the many free applications that come preinstalled on Windows-based computers, almost none of the applications on the Ubuntu operating system should be considered &quot;bloatware.&quot; In fact, almost every application on this netbook is both useful and easy to use.

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Click on the &quot;Web&quot; icon and you can select from one of multiple bookmarks or just open the Firefox web browser. Click on the &quot;Productivity&quot; icon and you'll have instant access to the Open Office application (compatible with Microsoft Office) or Adobe Reader for PDFs. Click on any standard movie file and the video plays in either the Media Player application or inside Firefox ... you don't need to spend hours searching for video plugins and codecs, the movies just play. Don't waste time downloading iTunes. Just plug in your iPod and the Music Manager detects the music player and begins importing the songs. It's all part of the beauty and simplicity of Linux. Things just work.

On the other hand, if you ever find that you need an application that isn't already installed in Linux then you need to be familiar with the console and typing strange lines of code like &quot;sudo dash&quot; and &quot;apt-get.&quot; In other words, it's not as simple as just downloading a Windows program installation file from a website and clicking &quot;install.&quot;

If you're concerned about Linux, don't worry. Dell is also offering the Mini 9 with Windows XP, so the Microsoft faithful can breathe a collective sigh of relief.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Most low-priced, full-size notebooks currently on the market feature poorly built keyboards that show significant flex/bounce when typing pressure is applied. Thankfully, most netbooks have remarkably firm keyboards due to the fact that the chassis is so small there isn't much empty space inside the notebook for the keyboard to flex or bounce.

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The keyboard on the Mini 9 is less cramped than what we've seen on the 7-inch and 8.9-inch ASUS Eee PCs, but the Dell keyboard is still very compact. Even though I've gotten used to typing on netbook keyboards, the first few hours I spent typing on the Mini 9 were quite frustrating as the small footprint and tiny keys require you to use a &quot;hunt and peck&quot; style of typing rather than traditional touch typing methods. This means that passwords get mangled, emails look like gibberish, and playing games that require keyboard commands becomes quite aggravating.

Of course, once I got used to typing on the tiny keyboard the keys felt just fine ... but this keyboard isn't designed to be used as a primary/main computer. For users who would buy this notebook as their &quot;main computer&quot; in their home or office, a full-size keyboard and external mouse are recommended.

The only &quot;major&quot; complaint I have about the keyboard on the Mini 9 is that the function keys are all located in the middle of the keyboard rather than the top row. Also, there is no F11 or F12 key ... which is bad for people who use F11 to maximize their web browser window or use F12 as a programmed shortcut key. Please, Dell, give us F11 and F12 on the next generation of this netbook!

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The touchpad design is surprisingly nice for a budget netbook. The surface isn't exactly &quot;large&quot; but it is larger than what we see on most netbooks. The touchpad in our pre-production unit was a Synaptics touchpad with excellent sensitivity, responsiveness, and smooth tracking. The touchpad buttons are located in the correct position and have nice, deep, well-cushioned presses with no annoying &quot;click&quot; when pressed.

Display

The glossy LED backlit display on the Mini 9 is nice and vibrant with rich colors and good contrast. The white levels are very clear, leaning towards the slightly warm/orange side. Colors look excellent with the glossy screen, but at the cost of increasing screen reflections and glare. The screen might be bright enough to view outside, but with all the bright reflective surfaces outside, the screen is nearly impossible to view comfortably. Indoors the reflections are not a problem at all.

Horizontal viewing angles are good, so you and a friend won't have trouble watching a movie on the 8.9-inch screen at the same time. Vertical viewing angles are acceptable, but colors do tend to wash out from above and become inverted when viewed from below.

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Ports and Features

Port selection was better than average for a netbook, with a multi-card reader, three USB ports, Ethernet/LAN, VGA, and audio jacks. There isn't much to complain about here, although there might have been enough space in the chassis design to support an additional USB port or Firewire. Here is a quick tour of what you get:

Front: No ports.

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Rear: Battery

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Left: Security lock slot, power jack, two USB ports, and a 3-in-1 card reader

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Right: Headphone/Mic, USB, VGA out, and Ethernet

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Performance

Our regular selection of performance benchmarks can't be used with the pre-production Inspiron Mini 9 given the fact that it is a Linux-based notebook. We will be publishing a follow-up in the coming weeks with details of how Windows XP performs on the Mini 9, so please keep an eye open for that.

In the meantime, we can measure the time it take to perform a number of simple procedures in order to give you an idea of how the Mini 9 performs. Please keep in mind that the speeds listed below will vary depending on the number of applications you have open at any given time (multitasking always slows things down).

• Startup: ~20 seconds
• Opening and loading the NotebookReview.com website in Firefox: ~3 seconds
• Starting playback on a 700MB AVI video file: ~3 seconds
• Starting the Open Office application: ~5 seconds
• Opening a 3.84MB PDF document: ~3 seconds
• Opening a 2.51MB PowerPoint presentation: ~10 seconds

For those interested in the speed of the 8GB SSD, hdparm benchmarks the SSD buffered read speed at 26.91MB/sec. For comparison, the 4GB SSD in the ASUS Eee PC 4G performs at 21.78 MB/sec. Meanwhile, a Lenovo ThinkPad T60 with a fast 7200rpm Seagate hard drive has a buffered read speed of 54.62 MB/sec and a Toshiba Tecra A9 with standard 5400rpm hard drive has a buffered read speed of 44.87 MB/sec.

While the Mini 9 won't win any awards for performance within applications, startup is quite fast and overall performance is fast enough to keep most users happy.

True 1080p HD video content might be out of the question based on the specs of the Mini 9, but the pre-production unit used in this review was able to handle up-scaled standard-definition video with stable frame rates and smooth sound.

Speakers and Audio

While we're on the topic of sound, the speakers on the Inspiron Mini 9 are reasonably impressive for a budget netbook. While the two tiny stereo speakers located beneath the screen can't compete with the audio quality found on larger multi-media notebooks, the speakers are perfectly capable of playing short video clips or system sounds. As long as you don't make the mistake of trying to listen to old-school hip hop on the built-in speakers you might never notice the lack of bass.

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The only strong negative I have against the built-in speakers is the fact that the maximum volume level doesn't get as loud as I like without distortion creeping into the sound.

The headphone jack on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 works well with the three different brands of earphones I used during the test. No static or other noise was noticed through the jack besides imperfections in the audio source itself.

Heat and Noise

As we continue to see in our labs, nearly all of the Intel Atom-based netbooks produce a reasonable amount of heat while running. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is no exception to this rule. Under normal conditions such as surfing the web, typing a document, or downloading email attachments, exterior temperatures remained at acceptable levels. The hottest spot on this netbook was the area around the wireless card, so if you're on a flight or away from a WiFi connection it might be a good idea to turn off the wireless card to keep temperatures even lower. The external temperature readings below (listed in degrees Fahrenheit) were recorded while browsing the Web and watching an AVI movie file for approximately 30 minutes:

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In terms of noise, our pre-production Mini 9 is quite remarkable in that it makes literally no noise. There are no cooling fans or spinning hard drives to bother you (or the people seated next to you) while you work. Of course, the fact that the Mini 9 lacks a cooling fan is likely why the temperatures on this netbook are slightly higher than what we've seen on some other Atom-based netbooks. Still, the Mini 9 never becomes unacceptably warm, so we accept this minor heat increase in exchange for absolute silence.

Battery

Under normal use, backlight at 100 percent and using wireless for web browsing and watching several DivX movies at 75 percent volume, the Mini 9 managed to deliver three hours and 38 minutes of battery life. This is similar to what we've seen from Atom-based netbooks with 3-cell batteries, but we were hoping for more given the 4-cell battery in the Mini 9. Hopefully battery life will improve when we test Windows XP on this machine. Still, even with only 3+ hours of battery life, the Mini 9 provides a reasonable travel experience for a netbook priced below $400. Lowering the screen brightness and turning off the wireless card should provide enough battery life for prolonged use.

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Conclusion

Dell wants you to believe the Inspiron Mini 9 is &quot;your new best friend.&quot; Well, kiddies, the Mini 9 is a fantastic mobile companion that helps you stay connected and makes your life easier without breaking the bank. However, I can't shake the feeling that the Mini 9 is more like &quot;the kid you're friendly with at the lunch table, but isn't your BFF.&quot;

Yes, the Mini 9 is a great netbook. Yes, it has a great price. Yes, it will probably sell very, very well for Dell. No, this won't change the world as you know it. The truth is that at least a dozen other manufacturers have released or announced similar netbooks before the new Inspiron Mini 9 arrived. Dell had all the time in the world to develop something that slaughters the competition in a way that only Dell can. Unfortunately, while the Mini 9 is great, it still suffers from a few of the same problems we've seen in other netbooks (heat, annoying glossy plastics, bad keyboard, and a small battery that could have been bigger without sacrificing much size or weight).

Ultimately, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is a fabulous netbook that is sure to end up on many Christmas lists this year ... but it's only &quot;your new best friend&quot; if you're willing to overlook a few flaws.

Pros

• Small and light
• Easy to use
• Very well built and durable
• Responsive Synaptics touchpad
• Easy to upgrade RAM, SSD, and wireless cards
• No noisy cooling fan
• Low price for an ultraportable

Cons

• Gets a little hot
• Glossy plastic lid is a magnet for fingerprints
• No F11 or F12 keys, other function keys in strange location
• 4-cell battery is nice, 6-cell battery would be better

 

WoOT...Thank's for the review, and pic's supplied Jerry!

I have been waiting and looking forward so much for the release...and now am just a bit stuck *in the middle of road* per se, as to what I want to do.

When it was released without the additional colors pictured in many online news sources...I was a tad dissapointed...The *red glossy* was always the model color featured, and yet today...we only have the choice of Black or White.

Also, the pricing points...I was under the assumption that it would be starting at $299, not the price points being show today upon release.

I think I can deal with the placement function of the keyboard..as it would've/could be my *little portable*. The battery life doesn't seem so bad for a *portable* either....

Well, maybe after this first wave of sales go thru...additional colors, etc. will be released

Thanks again for a really good review!

Cin

 

once again thanks for the great review.

if this was a pre-production model, does that mean you actually had the mini for a few days already?? if so must have been tough to keep silent about it.

by any chance, got a centrino 2 xps 1330 pre-production also lying around??

 

Did this version of Ubuntu include the Synaptic Package Manager, or are you limited to using apt-get?

 

Jerry cross-posts too
Nice review though
Is the Acer one still lying around there? Perhaps a side-by-side comparison would be nice.

 

http://yourblog.direct2dell.com/2008/09/04/without-further-ado-meet-your-new-best-friend/

Only $99 with purchase of another notebook (limited time deal)

 

Thanks for the review Jerry! That 3 hours 38 minutes battery life isn't bad at all relative to the Acer Aspire One which only got 2.5 hours, especially given what it was being used for during the testing there.

I was hoping this would be the first netbook with a really good keyboard, but it's starting to become apparent that it might just be an impossibility for that on a netbook. I haven't come across one yet that doesn't feel like you wish you were 3 feet tall and a kid again equipped with small fingers so that the keyboard were easier to use.

It will be interesting to see how this goes for Dell. I'm very curious to see where this market is in 2-years and whether people buy these things as a companion PC and then find they don't really use them, or if it becomes the type of device that people use and come back to buy another.

 

It's ALWAYS difficult to stay quiet, particularly when blogs like Engadget and Gizmodo leak information early. However, the fact that we keep our mouths shut is why we're able to get our hands on review units before the official release so that we can bring our readers reviews the same day as the release.

Oh, and we don't have any other pre-production notebooks in the office ... at least none that I'm going to talk about.

 

wow, great offer, I think Dell sees this as a companion PC device and is marketing it as such with that type of deal.

 

This may have been mentioned somewhere else but I just read for the first time a couple of hours ago that you can buy one of these for $99 if you purchase choice full sized laptops from Dell for the next couple of days.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/04/dells-inspiron-mini-9-pops-official/

Edit: Beat to the punch lol I type so slow and have so many windows open lol...

 

Yes, our Mini 9 comes with the Synaptic Package Manager ... so it isn't completely horrible installing new applications ... but I felt my comments about "sudo dash" and "apt-get" are fair because newbie Linux users should know what they might be dealing with.

 

Agree with you completely. I just wanted to check.

 

I like that custom Ubuntu install they have going. I am still on the fence about buying this consider the offerings by the Acer Aspire One. I guess I'd like to see them both in person before I buy.

 

Here is the ASUS Eee PC 4G (7" screen), the Mini 9 (8.9" screen), and Acer Aspire One (8.9" screen).

 

Jerry...do you happen to know anything regarding more potential color choices?
Also, did they give you any *accessories* to try out, with it??
I was just curious...because I saw the bags made to hold it online.

 

I don't think this beats the Acer Aspire One. I got the One for $350 with better specs than what Dell has to offer for that price. Equivalent of my machine minus the bluetooth would be about $450 in Dell's Mini. Any thoughts?

 

Did you buy it online? Or, at at B&M?? I am actually perusing the thought of checking it out tonight after work... I think there will be others looking at the Acer A1 also! What were your specs?

Cin

 

UK ubuntu Version available from 22nd September
(I asked an online chat rep person, no info about the price tho)

Mike

 

Does the card reader read SDHC cards?

 

Ill wait till they make one with the dual core amd processor and IGP chip

 

The only color choices that are currently available are black and white. Of course, that is subject to change.

We didn't get any accessories but hopefully Dell will send us some when we get one with Windows XP to try.

Oh, and to answer someone else's question about SDHC, the built-in card reader works fine with SDHC.

We have a video that we'll add to the review later today, but we had some trouble with the video hosting so it won't be up until later today.

 

Yes, hoping there are more colors choice available...the sooner than the latter!

I would love to see the accessories when you get Win XP!

Look forward to the video!

Cin

 

Is the maximum amount of RAM supported 2GB?

Thanks for answering all of my questions by the way.

 

I bought my One online from Amazon.com, although Best Buy has it but is sold out in ALL STORES that I called in to check, as well as Bestbuy.com. It comes in blue, 9'' screen, 1.6ghz Intel Atom, has 1gb of ram, 120g hard drive, and Windows XP. To be fair, I bought i for $369 but with a $30 savings for opening a new Amazon credit card. Best Buy has it for $350 which is why it is sold out. I

 

After all these years they finally produced another fanless laptop -- but I can't see the advantages over the fine, fine Dell X1.

 

Micro Center has the Aspire One if you have one near you. I want to go check it out sometime. Maybe they'll carry the Mini too. If not on campus they sell Dell stuff, so I am sure it'll appear there too eventually.

 

The first netbook with a good keyboard has been out for awhile, the HP Mini-Note.

I think Dell really missed the boat on this thing. It's under specced, and over priced.

 

The answer is yes and no. Let me explain.

The chipset and BIOS supports up to 2GB of RAM in the single DIMM slot. However, the customized distro of Ubuntu in our Mini 9 is NOT able to see/use more than 1GB of system memory. So, even though the BIOS says there is a 2GB DIMM in the notebook, when you check the system resources in Ubuntu it says you have 1GB of RAM (actually, just over 800MB since the RAM is shared with the integrated graphics).

If you get Windows XP on the Mini 9 it will work fine with 2GB.

This is the exact same situation as what the ASUS Eee PC had with their customized Xandros Linux distro ... the BIOS can see the full 2GB of RAM but the Eee PC with Linux could only use 1GB. Of course, if you're using Linux you don't need more than 512MB or 1GB of RAM.

 

The statements regarding the command line with Ubuntu aren't true; the CLI is only one way to install programs, not a necessity as the review implies. There's more than one way to get the job done.

You can double-click on Debian packages the same way that you would double click on Windows installers.

Or, the better option is to use Synaptic or some other APT graphical program. I didn't see any of these more common (and easier) options pointed out in the review.

 

See my response (#11) above.

 

What about Vista? Would it work on this laptop?

I like how beautiful it looks compared to the other options available. Other than the HP Mini Note this is the first laptop that combines both function and form to create a nice looking laptop.

However I'd love it even more if it had Vista on it. Plus I hear the price is a lil much for what's underneath the hood.

 

As long as you have at least the 8GB SSD model (and an external CD/DVD drive) then you can install Vista on the Mini 9. Our previous testing has shown that Atom-based notebooks actually perform quite well with Vista ... it's just that Vista takes up more storage space.

Windows XP or Linux is the best choice for netbooks with Intel Celeron processors or VIA C7-M processors, but the Intel Atom processors are pretty friendly with Vista.

 

Why does it have to be an external CD/DVD drive out of curiosity. Sorry I'm not a noob when it comes to this part of technology.

 

Because there is no optical drive on the computer.

 

There isn't a drive on the notebook, so if you want to use the CD/DVD to install you will have to use an external. Otherwise you need to load it onto a USB drive.

 

Because the Vista installation DVD needs a drive ... and the Mini 9 doesn't have an optical drive (because it's so small).

You can also do a "network install" but most people don't have an IT guy who will do that for you.

Of course, there are also less-than-legal ways to install Windows without a DVD ... but that is illegal and we won't EVER talk about it because it should NEVER be done.

Edit: I see several others already responded while I was typing slowly and working in the office.

 

Nice review! Tnx!
So based on what you are reporing and the purpose the mini is called to fulfill, I can take for granted that it will run without problems (and without going fror the speed record) Office 2008. Or not?

 

can you replace the SSD with a HDD?

 

wow,i like this one

 

Being an owner of the One, I'm finding it difficult to read all the negative posts about the AAO's 3 cell battery life. Let's be honest here, nobody should really be buying the 3 cell model anyway when they can have 6 cells for $50 dollars more.

I have the 6 cell battery (which Dell doesn't offer yet), better specs, paid less money than the comparable Dell, and can get almost 6 hours battery life with careful usage. If we're really comparing fairly, I'll take 6 hours over Dell's 3 hours and 38 minutes any day.

 

Still seems to run a little too hot for my tastes ...

The Acer netbook looked better comparison wise (except for those wierdly placed mouse buttons ).

Still ... nice to see a better battery life.

 

Having owned the HP Mini-Note, I can tell you, you get used to the mouse buttons pretty quickly.

 

can you tried to install XP and do some benchmark compare with other netbook for us plz???

 

I agree, in the pictures, it looks pretty uncomfortable to use but I got used to it pretty quickly using an Aspire One at a store for 15 minutes. One benefit is it saves space and makes the body of the notebook shorter, smaller footprint which I like.

 

Well, with XP or Vista (if you do a custom Vista installation) the Mini 9 should handle Microsoft Office without any problems at all. With Ubuntu Linux, Open Office works wonderfully and is compatible with MS Office.

No. The Mini 9 is too small to contain a hard drive so the only storage options are the SSD, an SDHC card in the multi-card reader, a USB flash drive, or a USB external hard drive.

 

This is exactly what I'm talking about! The Aspire One actually has better battery life and for less money!!

 

i was reading the acer aspire review this morning, returned to the forum this evening and what do i see? the long awaited dell inspirion 9 review.

great review boys and girls, and thank you.

but i mst say the review has left the sour taste in my mouth.

now it seems both acer and dell, wasted their chance to make their netbook the real answer to the eee.

i jsut dont get it, the experiments with the pads and keyboards. i mean, whats next? they'll be putting enter on the left side of the keyboard????

no function keys, mouse buttons vertically????

if it aint broken, dont bloody fix it! i was looking at this picture:



on both acer and dell there is plenty of room left to put normal looking and normal functioning keyboard and pads. i know that you can get used to it soon, you all say that, but i just dont like it, its unnatural.

and then, dell specs and the review - i was expecting something special, instead i have something that doesnt fit me, im dissapointed.
both the acer a1 and the dell inspirion 9 dissapointed me.


i think ill just buy another eee 701, its the only one thats good for me.







and it even has all function keys in the propper place

 

"Wait and see" is all I can say without getting into trouble.

The netbook market still has a few surprises before Christmas. A few of them may be MUCH more appealing than the old Eee PC 701 ... depending on your personal preferences.

 

With all the time to tweak the Mini 9 after seeing all the models from competitors, I have no idea why Dell still can't offer a decent netbook. With all the space on top of the keyboard, enough room for a row of function keys, Dell just try to save money to get rid of the function keys. So far, I think the keyboard layout from HP and Acer are the best, they maximize the keyboard from edge to edge on the body, no waste space. I particularly like the Acer dedicated page up and down buttons, and a real useful right shift key. I really don't like the black on silver color combo on this Dell, as it really compromise a lot of space on the keyboard.

 

I am jealous, looks really good