14 DAY TRIAL // Just a few hours ago, the Round Rock, Texas-based systems vendor was finally unveiling its first netbook ever, the highly anticipated Inspiron Mini 9. With all that, reports are coming in saying that it has already been tested and benchmarked, which somehow goes to prove that Dell has had it prepared for quite a while, and has just waited for the right time to roll out its small, easy-to-carry device designed for Internet purposes.
The guys over at NotebookReview are among the first to have gotten their hands on Dell's new netbook system, the Inspiron 9, and to publish a complete review of it. The company offered them a pre-production copy of the netbook, which featured a 1.6GHz N720 Intel Atom, 1GB of DDR 533MHz, and an 8.9-inch WSVGA glossy LED backlit display that could output a maximum resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels.
The system also came with a Ubuntu 8.04 OS, with custom Dell interface (including Open Office), and offered 8GB of storage space on a miniPCI SSD card. In addition, it also sported 802.11 b/g Wi-Fi, Intel's GMA 950 integrated graphics, 4-in-1 card reader, 1.3MP webcam and a 4-cell battery. It measured 9.2" x 6.8" x 1.3” and weighed 2lb 5.5oz (approximately 1.06Kg).
According to NotebookReview, the Inspiron Mini is easier to upgrade than most netbooks currently available on the market. The system's design allows for all upgradable components to be accessed from one simple access panel, which can be easily removed by using a regular Phillips screwdriver.
If compared with the 7-inch and 8.9-inch ASUS Eee PCs, Dell managed to develop a less cramped design as far as the keyboard is concerned but, even so, typing on the Inspiron Mini is hardly a walk in the park, and will require some getting used to. Aside from that, you should know that the netbook's functional keys (just F1 to F10) are placed in the middle of the keyboard and not on the top row, as they usually are.
Unfortunately, NotebookReview was not able to conduct a regular performance test on this pre-production sample, as it was provided with a Linux-based OS. Even so, they recorded the timings achieved by the netbook for some simple procedures, like:
Startup: ~20 seconds
Opening and loading the NotebookReview 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
The 4-cell battery delivered 3 hours and 38 minutes of life, while using the display's backlight at 100% capacity, web browsing wirelessly, and watching several DivX movies.
To sum up, the first tests revealed that the Inspiron Mini is a small and light, easy to use netbook that can easily be upgraded and has a relatively low price. On the downside, as with all the other Atom-powered netbooks, this one also gets a little too hot, while the glossy plastic lid is a fingerprint magnet.