Filed under: Laptops

We’re no strangers to rebranded netbooks, but we’re a little befuddled as to why Dell’s rebranding its own Inspiron Mini 9 as the Vostro A90. Sure, we’re digging the stealth looks, but the specs haven’t changed at all, and we don’t think the Vostro brand really has any more cachet than Inspiron — they’re both pretty low end. Even more bizarrely, the A90 is apparently Japan-only for now, and it’s priced at an absurd ¥92,830 ($972) — yeah, you can get three Eee 900As for that price with more or less the same specs. Must be one hell of a paint job.

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Filed under: Laptops

Early Dell Inspiron Mini 9 customers who sprung for a larger drive may want to check their partitions — Dell apparently used a static 4GB Ubuntu image during some initial manufacturing runs, leaving the OS in a 4GB partition and the remainder unused. The problem’s been fixed now, but if you were unlucky enough to get one of the wrongly-formatted units, Dell’s saying that you’ll need to restore from the System Restore disk, but there are some live partition options out there if you’re feeling brave.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

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Filed under: Laptops

We’re assuming Apple will eventually give up and release a netbook of its own, but until then Steve had better get used to seeing OS X hacked to run on all manner of tiny laptops — the latest to make the switch is Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9. Nothing too complicated about this hack, since most of the work was already done for the internally-similar MSI Wind, but you’ll have to dig up some extra Broadcom drivers to get WiFi and sound working. Seems like a fun little project for the weekend — anyone going to take the plunge?

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Filed under: Laptops

Once we all understood that the netbook was more than just a craze to be dominated by ASUS and its Eee brand, it was inevitable that Dell would join in. Sure enough, out popped the Inspiron Mini 9, priced competitively and loaded with hardware good enough to satisfy most in the market. Now that the first wave of machines have hit doorsteps (and subsequently, office desks, airplane tray tables and bathroom ledges), we’re curious to see if Dell’s foray into the already crowded netbook market was a play well made. Are you happy you chose Dell’s option over the others? Are you pleased with the value? Is the keyboard comfortable enough? Satisfied with the battery life? There’s too much competition in this space to let someone get away with a halfhearted effort, so feel free to really spill your guts on this one.

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Filed under: Laptops

If you’re anything like us, the idea of a $99 Inspiron Mini 9 was enough to make you seriously consider picking up a new full-featured Dell laptop, but since the math is a little confusing given Dell’s shady history and the number of promotions on its site, we thought we’d break it down for you. Essentially, Dell’s charging close to full price for the large machine in order to absorb the cost of the Mini — so while a $1,259 Studio 15 with a 1.86GHz processor, 3GB of RAM, a 250GB drive, and a 3 year warranty goes for $699 on Dell’s fall deals page, it’s $1098 with a Mini. Hey, the difference is just about the Mini 9’s $349 list price, isn’t it? Same story with the other Studio 15 and XPS M1330 / M1530 configurations that apply for the $99 Mini deal — you can find cheaper deals, but they’re all about $300 - $400 less than the CTO price, so adding in a Mini 9 essentially washes out. So much for that hot two laptop $700 impulse buy — we’d say it only makes sense to pull the trigger on this if you’re actually in the market for a new full-featured machine. Let us know if you manage to work the numbers any differently — our credit card hasn’t gone too far.

[Thanks, Matt]

Read - Dell $99 Mini 9 promo page
Read - Dell fall deals page

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Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

As if you needed any confirmation that Dell wasn’t just going to abandon the Inspiron Mini 9 all by its lonesome in the marketplace, Laptop Mag spoke with Dell’s Senior Product Line Manager John New, who had some comforting words for the multi-SKU crowd. John confirmed that built-in 3G is in the works, a dedication to cramped SSD drives and a potential six-cell battery. He also said that “As we get into the category, we reserve the right to do more,” which could mean a 10-inch version, though we’re also getting wind of a 12-incher in the wings.

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Filed under: Laptops

Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9 didn’t waste any time going from its formal debut to hitting the review circuit today, and although its basic design didn’t blow anyone away, it seems like an impressively put-together piece of kit for the price. Everyone laments the tiny keyboard, although it’s apparently fine once you get used to it, but Notebook Review flat out says it won’t cut it as a primary typing machine. PC Magazine says the 1.6GHz Atom and 1GB of RAM are enough for most tasks under XP, although multitasking is a chore; the Linux configurations seem similarly capable — Laptop says the custom build of Ubuntu Remix is “smooth” and “sleek.” The four-cell battery averaged around three and a half hours under both XP and Linux, which is decent, but several noticed that Dell hasn’t made an extended battery available yet. We’d expect that to change soon, but overall it’s a minor quibble — could this be the netbook that finally makes you reach for your wallet?

Read - Laptop (3.5 out of 5)
Read - Notebook Review (”…fabulous netbook… [but] only ‘your new best friend’ if you’re willing to overlook a few flaws.”)
Read - Washington Post (”… isn’t perfect, but it does offer a terrific design and a good price.”)
Read - PC Magazine (3 out of 5)

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Filed under: Laptops

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/gadgets/Vodafone_to_offer_3G_equipped_Inspiron_Mini_9′;It’s still not quite a standard offering from cellphone carriers, but it looks like the 3G-equipped netbook is fast headed in that direction, with Vodafone now following T-Mobile’s Eee-centric lead by offering a mobile broadband-friendly version of Dell’s brand new Inspiron Mini 9. Unfortunately, there’s no word on pricing or country availability just yet (that’s promised in the “coming weeks”), but the 3G-equipped Mini 9 will apparently be available by the end of the month, and the deal is exclusive for Europe, so it looks like any other European carriers interested in hopping on this particular bandwagon will have to make do with one of the other 9,000 netbooks currently on the market.

[Via Xataka]

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var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/hardware/Official_Dell_s_8_9_inch_Inspiron_Mini_9_netbook’; Dell doesn’t take its site down when it introduces product unlike some laptop peddlers. The result, however, is shots like this of early pre-release gear like the Inspiron Mini 9 netbook as Dell spins the product up for retail. $449 full spec’d just like we heard with 8GB SSD, 1GB memory, Bluetooth 2.1, Windows XP, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. We still expect to see a lesser spec’d $349 model running Ubuntu. Shipping on the 16th of September in your choice of white or black though white will cost you a $25 premium. Dell seems to have taken the link down already but we’re sure they’ll get the site sorted out in a few hours. For now, happy URL hacking as we dig for more details.

Update: Here’s the $349 model running Ubuntu.

[Thanks, Shon]

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var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/hardware/Official_Dell_s_8_9_inch_Inspiron_Mini_9_netbook’; Dell doesn’t take its site down when it introduces product unlike some laptop peddlers. The result, however, is shots like this of early pre-release gear like the Inspiron Mini 9 netbook as Dell spins the product up for retail. $449 fully spec’d just like we heard with 8GB SSD, 1GB memory, Bluetooth 2.1, Windows XP, and a 1.3 megapixel webcam. We still expect to see a lesser spec’d $349 model running Ubuntu. Shipping on the 16th of September in your choice of white or black though white will cost you a $25 premium. Dell hasn’t officially announced the product yet but we’re sure they’ll get that sorted out in a few hours. For now, happy URL hacking as we dig for more details.

Update: Here’s the $349 model running Ubuntu — the Inspiron 910u. The top-end $449 XP configuration pictured after the break.

Update 2: Starts at £299 in UK and €369 in Germany.

Update 3: Oops, looks like someone broke a press release embargo making all the specs and prices listed above extra, super official and in sync with the exclusive we had back in June. In addition, the take home price also includes a free, basic Box.net plan offering 2GB of remote storage. See the full release after the break all you tweens and tweeters.

Update 4: Direct2Dell — Dell’s official blog — says you can get the Mini for just $99 with the purchase of a Studio 15, XPS M1530 or XPS M1330. Offer ends Tuesday, September 9th. Not bad if you’re already gearing up for a back-to-school Dell anyway.

[Thanks, Shon]

Continue reading Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9 pops official — Ubuntu starts at $349 (Update: $99 with purchase of 2nd Dell)

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s everything but official, but hopefully the image above will enable you to rest easy knowing that you’ll soon be able to order yourself a Dell netbook starting at $349. The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (we’re assuming that’s the final moniker) will apparently weigh in at 2.28-pounds, boast an internal WiFi module and pack an Intel Atom N270 processor. The baseline model ($349) will include Ubuntu Linux 8.04, 512MB of RAM, a 4GB SSD and a black or white paint job. For $50 more, you’ll get an 8GB SSD and a 0.3-megapixel webcam, while the $449 version throws in Windows XP, 1GB of RAM and a 1.3-megapixel webcam. C’mon Dell — you’re only fooling yourself at this point.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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