The Fisher-Price ‘Baby’s First Laptop’ a.k.a. The Dell Mini 9

// April 8th, 2009 // Technology, Thoughts

Last month I finally bit the bullet and purchased a portable computer.  Specifically, the Dell Mini 9 netbook.  The Mini 9 isn’t the most powerful creature in the computing jungle, but it’s what I’ve been looking for:

  • small – 9″ screen, ~9″x7″x3/4″
  • light  - less than 2lbs, easily carried in one hand

I can throw this little guy into my bag and take it damn near anywhere.  Upgraded to 2GB of RAM, 1.6 GHz Intel Atom Processor, 8GB SSD (small, I know, but the Mini 9 includes a card reader, so I can expand, and there’s always the option of installing a larger one), even a tiny integrated webcam for Skype. All of this for the modest price of $260. [mine was a refurbished model, though there have been numerous sales on new ones as of late to clear out stock to make way for the Mini 10, Mini 11, and Mini 12 models]

Currently I’m running Ubuntu 8.10, or ‘Intrepid Ibex’ as the cool kids say. One of the most popular flavors of Linux currently out there, it worked right out of the box, aside from a few kinks that were easily straightened out thanks to the active Ubuntu Community and fansite UbuntuMini.  Boot-up averages around 45 seconds to just under a minute, which isn’t too shabby.  Many of the programs I used on my Windows desktop PC exist within the Linux environment, such as Firefox, VLC, GIMP, and Pidgin .  Using Mozilla’s Prism extension, I’ve created a number of SSB (single-site browser) applications (GMail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Reader, music-streaming service Lala.com, financial management site Mint.com, and other web-apps)  all of which are only a few context-sensitive keystrokes away thanks to the absolutely fantastic application launcher, GNOME-Do.

Getting used to the Mini 9 takes a little while.  The keyboard is significantly smaller than a full-sized one, and some of Dell’s choices in key placement are little unusual, to say the least.  I’ve often accidentally included semi-colons where they were not welcome, as well as unintentional taps on the Enter key.  The trackpad can be overly-sensitive at times,  but that’s just a matter of adjusting the settings.  After about a week or so of regular use I get by fairly well typing thing out messages and emails, but don’t expect to write the Great American Novel on it; maybe a few pages here and there, but leave the heavy workload for the desktop and a full-sized keyboard.

The Mini 9 is a great little machine, for a decent price.  If you’ve been considering a second (or third, in some cases) computer, good for couch-surfing, hotel stays, and general internet use, you could do a lot worse than the Mini 9.

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