Dell's
Inspiron
Mini 9 is a lightweight mini laptop that crams a Windows PC into a tiny
package that can be carried almost anywhere.However, because of factors such as its small size, the Inspiron Mini is best
regarded as a companion to a desktop PC or for users whose computing needs are
light.
Available now, the Inspiron Mini is at the smaller end of the mini laptop or
netbook spectrum, roughly the same size and weight as the Asus Eee PC 900 and
smaller than HP's rival 2133 Mini-Note PC.Coming from Dell, this model is likely to attract more interest from business
buyers, and seems to exhibit a higher level of build quality than some mini
laptops we have seen. It has a fairly clean design and, at just over a kilogram,
is easy to carry around.However, businesses should be aware that the Inspiron Mini, like others of
this type, ships with either Linux or Windows XP Home edition. The latter cannot
be joined to a corporate Active Directory network domain, unless the system is
upgraded to XP Professional.We looked at the Windows version of the Inspiron, and found it reasonably
responsive. Its performance as measured by benchmarks is not good, but this is a
secondary consideration for such a portable system as this, and we found it
perfectly acceptable for running productivity tools, browsing the web and
accessing email.
The Inspiron Mini 9 is based on Intel's 1.6GHz Atom processor and ships with
1Gb of memory and either a 16GB Flash solid state drive (SSD) with Windows, or
an 8GB Flash SSD for the Linux version. It has a four-cell 32WHr lithium-ion
battery pack that can be removed from the system by sliding two catches.To the left side of its sloping wedge-shaped case is the power connector, two
USB ports and a Flash memory slot that takes SD Card, Memory Stick Pro and
Multimedia Card Flash storage. The right side has an Ethernet port, VGA output,
a third USB port and audio jack sockets.To test performance, we used the Winstone 2004 benchmark suite, which is now
somewhat old, but with which we have tested many Windows XP systems. This
returned a score of 7.8, which is low for a laptop and lower even than systems
such as
OQO's
model e2 ultra-mobile PC.Battery life is perhaps more important than performance on a device like
this, and the Inspiron Mini 9 is largely in line with other mini laptops at
lasting for just a few hours.Using the Battery Eater test tool, we found it lasted for two hours and 39
minutes when simulating productivity use, and around three hours and 29 minutes
when in 'reader' mode, simulating the user simply viewing information.In use, we found the Inspiron's keyboard reasonably good for typing, although
many of the keys are smaller than on a standard laptop, such as the right hand
shift key, the cursor (arrow) keys and the return key. The row of function keys
on a normal PC are also missing.The system's 8.9in display is clear and easy to read, but because of its
hinge design the screen points more towards your chest than your face if you use
the Inspiron placed on your lap. It seems to have been designed to give an
optimal view when sitting on a desk.We also found its 1024 x 600 resolution a little cramped for accessing some
web-based applications, but this did not cause us any real problems.One issue did we did encounter is with the Inspiron's 802.11g Wi-Fi adapter.
We were unable to get a wireless connection, and Windows reported that it could
not find any wireless networks within range.We eventually discovered that we had to turn on Wi-Fi using a wireless select
switch which for some reason was not loaded into the notification area at
startup, but was instead hidden away in the menus.Dell ships the system somewhat cluttered with tools and utilities. As well as
McAfee Security Center, Dell's WebCam Central, Dell Video Chat and Google
Desktop Search all load at boot-time.The Inspiron Mini 9 also includes a copy of Microsoft's Works basic
productivity suite.
Taken from here
