Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Reviewed: Refining the Netbook Market
by Anand Lal Shimpi on September 4, 2008 12:00 AM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
Finally Fanless!
The first time I saw an Atom motherboard running it was actually at Intel's design center in Austin, where the Atom processor was first conceived. The most impressive part of the demo? The entire platform was running air cooled, literally, no heatsink, no fan, nothing. It was running Windows Vista and Unreal Tournament 2004 and the CPU was cool enough to touch.
But every time I take apart a system that uses the Atom processor I always find a damn fan.
The power hungry GMCH
Part of the problem is that none of the Atom netbooks/PCs shipping are using Atom's low power Poulsbo chipset as I mentioned earlier. That didn't, however, stop Dell from completely passively cooling the Inspiron Mini.
While ASUS' Eee PC 901 has a fan just like any other notebook, the Inspiron Mini 9 relies on the heatspreader and unforced convection to dissipate heat. The heatspreader is actually a thin metal shield underneath the keyboard, responsible for carrying heat away from the CPU, GMCH and ICH on the motherboard.
Heatsink? You're looking at it.
Yes, that's its heatsink
Without an internal fan and thanks to Dell's use of a SSD, there are no moving parts inside of the Inspiron Mini - making it an unusually durable notebook, the biggest things to worry about breaking are the screen and physically cracking any of the chassis. The Inspiron Mini will take a lickin and keep on tickin (yes, I just wrote that).
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Woodchuck2000 - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
...It's priced at £299...Would anyone pay $600 for one of these, and am I alone in feeling ripped-off?
bigben - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
I, for one, thought that was brilliant.I would give that guy a job...
Baked - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
Do a review on that too. Or better yet, get your hands on all the netbooks and do a round up comparison review!Gnyff - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
Nice one. Now we just need to break the cursed trend of glare screens... I like to see what's on the screen - not my self, windows, lights and other reflections. It might add a bit to the fun to be able to see the photographer on a picture like the shown - but that's the first positive thing I've found for "glare" screens :-PCheers,
Anders (Still looking for a 17" 1900*1200 notebook with good anti-reflex coating, seems only Apple and HP are sensible those days. Who would ever have guessed ;-)
Sunrise089 - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
Dell has simply created two price points, one for the deal and for everyone else. For example:You can price a studio 15 for $699. So add a full-price mini 9 to that and you get $1048.
With the e-value code and the $99 'promo', you get the exact same studio 15 for $999 and the mini 9 for $99 which is $1098!
Pjotr - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
You do not mention Bluetooth anywhere in the article. The Asus 901 has Bluetooth and it's a show stopper for me if it's missing. I need to use Bluetooth to use my unlimited surfing via my 3G mobile phone subscription. Acer One doesn't come with it.piroroadkill - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
Bluetooth is an option on the Inspiron Minipiroroadkill - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
Is bullshit - we get one choice, and it has to be black, comes with XP. Fail, epic fail.psychobriggsy - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
However for that single specification, it is a good deal (taking VAT into account) compared with the US price.Jeff7181 - Friday, September 5, 2008 - link
How much free disk space is there on the 4 GB version? Just curious how much room there is for additional applications, updates, etc.