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Dell Mini9, suggestions for college kid?

G

gychang

Senior member
My daughter's setup with Mini9 will include, 2MB of extra memory, and 32G USB memory card to use (as data storage, since the unit does not have a HD and no fan). Will try to live without CD/DVD...

Is this setup reasonable? Anyone have it?, which DDR2 memory stick and USB card work well ? (likely will get them from newegg)

thanks in advance.

gychang
 
way too slow imo.

you need more resolution for office 2007 which they probably get for near-zero $$ since they are higher-ed.


the cost differential between that notebook and a larger one is not much but you are going to inflict great pain if you have to noodle on that screen for hours on end.

the mini's cut corners every where possible.

it's like buying a nice bed because it gives you a good night sleep. college kids are on their machines all day (battery life!) facebook'ing in class or whatever.

not trying to dis you or anything i know everyone can afford different things but if there is any way to work a little more conventional laptop in i'd see how.

 
She's gonna want more than that for a main computer. Netbooks such as the Mini 9 make great secondary computers, but for someone who's going to be typing papers, spending time doing internet research, working on PowerPoint presentations, etc., she's going to need an actual laptop. Also, I've heard that adding 2GB of memory to a Mini 9 voids the warranty (at least for now). Coming from a college student, she's going to want/need a fully functional computer, and for a college student, that means a laptop more often than not.
 
do NOT get a netbook as a main pc. esp if its used almost everyday for a few hours.

what is 2mb of extra memory?
i'm pretty sure the Mini9 comes with a HDD and an internal CPU fan... whats goin on?
 
the terms of microsoft allowing the notebook being sold with XP (notice everything else has to have vista now?? [consumer products]) is that you can not sell them with > 1GB of ram.

 
There's no reason a netbok wouldn't work well. Add a desktop monitor, USB keyboard, and USB mouse, and it would be nice and portable on the go, but have full size components when "docked".
 
Originally posted by: lxskllr
There's no reason a netbok wouldn't work well. Add a desktop monitor, USB keyboard, and USB mouse, and it would be nice and portable on the go, but have full size components when "docked".
Click to expand...

This is the plan exactly, portability is the key and she has smallish hands.

I can confirm the mini9 does not have HD and fan inside, comes with 16G SSD to load programs etc, and 1MB of RAM, so was going to up to total of 3MB of memory and use of USB memory stick (32G).

gychang
 
I just bought a traditional notebook for my daughter, tried to talk her into using a netbook, when she realized there was no optical drive and the extra stuff necessary tor it to work to type assignments, she asked for a notebook.

If you daughter is plugging & unplugging accessories frequently, I suspect she'll eventually jack up a connector, one of the more frequent things that goes wrong with notebooks, and netbooks are lighter duty everything. Perhaps a USB hub and leave everything plugged in?

I did buy her an inexpensive notebook and plan on replacing it every couple of years for her.
 
1mb of ram is awfully low for a computer, i wouldn't get it if i were you 😉
3mb is still pretty low 😉

dont be so cheap and get your daughter a real laptop for college. she'll repay you when she graduates
 
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS


dont be so cheap and get your daughter a real laptop for college. she'll repay you when she graduates
Click to expand...

It's not a question of price. Some netbooks cost as much or more than a mid range laptop. You can't beat the portability of the netbooks. It gets tedious dragging a full sized laptop around, especially if you have other things to carry. A netbook will fit in a med-large purse, and they weigh almost nothing. I wish they had these when I bought my laptop. I hardly use the laptop anymore.

 
Originally posted by: lxskllr
Originally posted by: LOUISSSSS


dont be so cheap and get your daughter a real laptop for college. she'll repay you when she graduates
Click to expand...

It's not a question of price. Some netbooks cost as much or more than a mid range laptop. You can't beat the portability of the netbooks. It gets tedious dragging a full sized laptop around, especially if you have other things to carry. A netbook will fit in a med-large purse, and they weigh almost nothing. I wish they had these when I bought my laptop. I hardly use the laptop anymore.
Click to expand...

If you're paying the same amount for a netbook as you are for a mid-range laptop, you're an idiot. You buy a netbook for cheap portability and for basic usage away from your main machine. A netbook is not a suitable replacement for a real notebook.
 
You won't be able to use 3GB of RAM, as the Mini 9 has only one RAM slot. And unless you have a keyboard, mouse, and monitor sitting around not being used, by the time you add in the price for those items, you're looking at the same cost as a mid-range laptop which will be faster and have much more storage. Plus, a 13, 14, or 15-inch laptop is still pretty easy to take to class, and the battery will last long enough. It's a much more viable option than using a netbook as a main computer.
 
get her a real ultraportable notebook for college, like the sony TZ or Ideapad U110

why would u pay for 4 year old technology like the atom processor?
 
I would suggest the Mini 12. I have no idea if it's out yet.

It'll have a bigger screen and higher resolution. There won't be any issues seeing normal programs. It comes with standard hdd, so space won't be an issue.

Speed shouldn't be an issue if she doesn't play the latest games on it. Most here will say it's 'too slow', but we're a tech forum and expect everything to be fast... For web browsing, writing papers, reading and small gaming (not the lastest 3d game) it should be plenty fast.

Of course consider getting external usb cd/dvd drive, for those occasions she'll need to use it.

As always, ask her what she needs to use the computer for and pick one based on those needs.
 
The big problem with the Mini 12 is that it uses an Atom processor to run Vista Basic. And that's not a good idea. Plus, from what I've read in several reviews, the base really isn't heavy enough and it's prone to tipping. At $600 base, it's in laptop range without the decent components of a laptop.
 
Originally posted by: chedrz
The big problem with the Mini 12 is that it uses an Atom processor to run Vista Basic. And that's not a good idea. Plus, from what I've read in several reviews, the base really isn't heavy enough and it's prone to tipping. At $600 base, it's in laptop range without the decent components of a laptop.
Click to expand...


hit the nail on the head. i think its priced out of range for what it does

besides, i think *most* college people would want more functionality than what a netbook could provide

 
yeah i was playing with a panasonic toughbook umpc (big $$$) and well its slow as arse. probably 3000 optioned out laptop with xp and it was a dog!
 
I drag a 17" notebook all day here around campus...never really bothers me. And when I'm done with tests, I can play UT2004 with all the eye candy for about 45 minutes on a full charge while I wait for the class to finish 🙂.
 
go look at the atom benchmarks. its like a pentium-4 1.6ghz. which is butt slow. i think the slowest celeron single core would walk circles around this chip.

painful is a good way to describe the speed. you could probably get her a $79 p4-2.6ghz desktop from geeks that would run circles around this for at-dorm work. no joke.

 
For those who say it would be slow, what would she be doing that would be slow? Assume the Atom is as fast as a pentium-m 1.2ghz. I don't really know how it compares, so feel free to correct me.

OP, what would she be doing on this laptop?
 
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