Dell Mini 9

[james1701]

I found a 20% off coupon on the Dell Mini 9 and was able to pick up a decently equipped model from the Dell Outlet. I picked up one with 1gb of memory, 16gb sdd, and a web cam and Windows XP for 263.99 after the coupon. I just wish I had payed attention to the free 3-5 day shipping. It looks like they are using the post office instead of UPS or FedEx. I got a shipment confirmation but no tracking number. I wish I was not so cheap lol.

After looking at some of the video reviews, I found it will include a lot of bloatware, and some unneeded programs that run on startup. The first thing I noticed, it was running Mcaffee, its gota go. Besides AVG or possibly Avast, is there any other really good anti virus program that has really small system requirement that do not use a lot of memory? As of right now, it looks like AVG will get the nod so far.

The next thing that I will replace is IE. I am not sure what would be better on the mini, Chrome, or Firefox. Both are pretty good, but the last I seen Chrome uses less system resources, is this still the case?

I was thinking about upgrading to 2gb of memory, I always ran 1gb on my desktop until Bioshock was released and I had to get 2gb's. Other than playing pogo, all I will be doing is surfing the web, email and that type stuff. Is there any reason to go ahead and upgrade?

Other than turning off many of the programs that start automatically, is there anything else in particular that I need to look out for?

Has anyone looked into the best carry bag for these type of computers? I see a lot of styles, but really no information on whats the best.

Does anyone else have any particular thoughts on this computer?

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Avast or Antivir over AVG for me.

Opera is pretty light compared to Firefox, but Chrome has always used a lot of memory. (One for each thread, tons for flash plug-ins, etc.) But that's what makes Chrome fast.

Not sure what else comes on a Dell mini.

 

[james1701]

I will check out Opera, I have not used that one yet. Thanks for the tip.

One other reason I thought of for the memory is if I get a bigger ssd, I might try out Windows 7 on it. Its set up better for ssd, turning some of the automatic stuff that is not good for ssd's. It wont however be able to use the Aero interface, just the classic.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Text

Some really good info there, my new Dell Mini is booting up as we speak

 

[Inspector Jihad]

antivir is a pretty good and easy on the reqs.

 

[JWade]

i loaded antivir on my Mrs Mini, she loves it. i also stuck in a 2gb chip as well. it is awesome.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Hmmm, Win7... What size hard drive does the dell mini use? How fast is the default SSD?

 

[SandEagle]

i got mine today and absolutely love it. i had the 3-5 days shipping, but i called DELL right away and asked them to expedite it. They gave me next day shipping for FREE. Call them, they'll take care of you. The tracking info can take up to 3 days after shipping to show up under order status.

I deleted all the bloatware and am running Firefox. System is pretty running pretty smooth. Although I did put an order in for a 2GB memory stick from newegg. 1GB just doesn't cut it for me. I hear you can run HULU and other videos at full screen without lag with 2GB.

Also, I ordered this case from DELL:
http://accessories.us.dell.com...dhs&cs=19&sku=A2048463
It's on sale for $5 off, and you can use this coupon to get another $1 off: 8T?6V2F1MF$GD9
It's not much, but it's the best looking case I've seen so far for the DELL mini.

 

[chedrz]

I'm still hunting for a good antivirus to use on my Mini 9. I'm using Google Chrome and uninstalled most of the bloatware, even though there really wasn't too much on here. I disabled compression and indexing, and that gave me a huge speed boost. I also upgraded to 2GB RAM. My Mini 9 can handle pretty much all the basic stuff at this point (watching movies, word processing, web browsing, etc.). Definitely look at the info in the MyDellMini.com forums. Lots of information, lots of helpful people.

I also got one of the TimBuk2 zip-up sleeves for Christmas for my Mini. They're the perfect size for the Mini, but can't hold the charger or anything else in the case.

 

[Fayd]

i use antivir on my netbook.

also, i might suggest ditching the explorer shell, and going with something a little lighter on sys reqs, or better for usability in that environment.

i went with litestep.

 

[DivideBYZero]

I'm using AntiVir on my new Aspire One 1Gb 120Gb unit. I have applied Rons TinyXP image for rapid boot times and with AntiVir running my mem footprint after boot is a svelte 200Mb or so.

I have tons of extensions in FF, though and that bloats up to 150Mb or so with 5-6 tabs

 

[james1701]

I found that if you order one and its been shipped, you can use fedex tracking to find it. Instead of using a tracking number, you can use your order number. Just go to reference tracking, and put the order number in the comments pane, and put in your country and zip and there is the tracking information. Mine will be here Tuesday.

I found the Dell Mini forum about 30 minutes after the original post and have found some pretty good information there. I was surprised when I found the gaming thread and what games you can run on it.

It looks like Nod32 runs really well on the Mini, but its not free from what I have seen. But I might play around and see what works the best. I think I will go with FF and just not put in all the add ons, and see what it does.

One thing I did notice when looking at memory upgrade, if you buy 800mhz, cas 5 is all you can buy right now from Egg, but if you buy the 533mhz memory, you can get a cas 4 latency, Either of the two are only about 20 bucks from the Egg, and the Mini will only run 533 even if you put in the 800 memory, so I will get the 533 and cas 4 when I order. That should speed it up a bit.

 

[chedrz]

You won't be able to adjust the CAS in the Mini's BIOS, so I really would just get whichever is cheaper.

 

[james1701]

Originally posted by: chedrz
You won't be able to adjust the CAS in the Mini's BIOS, so I really would just get whichever is cheaper.

It should set it automatically.

 

[SandEagle]

is the cl4 memory faster than cl5? i ended up ordering this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820134587

 

[james1701]

Originally posted by: SandEagle
is the cl4 memory faster than cl5? i ended up ordering this one
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820134587

It would be about 5-8% faster. If you are using an SSD with a high read speed, it will open up a little more bandwidth to use on some applications.

If you have already ordered it, I would not worry about it. It would not be worth the restocking fee. If not, I would order the lower Cas latency memory.

You could get any of these.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...%201309121116&name=2GB