Dell Launches 10" Inspiron Mini
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 15:45 UTC
Hardware, Embedded Systems Like so many other manufacturers, Dell has entered the 10" netbook market this week with the launch of the Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Despite the machine being fairly standard in its hardware specifications, it does make a few peculiar choices - especially when it comes to its resolution.
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HD content
by poundsmack on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 16:07 UTC
poundsmack
Member since:
2005-07-13

the Intel GMA 500 can power HD content. Just thought i would let you know.

Reply Score: 6

RE: HD content
by Narishma on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 16:24 UTC in reply to "HD content"
Narishma Member since:
2005-07-06

Yeah, it's not like the poor GMA950 that's in the other netbooks.

Reply Score: 4

RE[2]: HD content
by spikeb on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 17:52 UTC in reply to "RE: HD content"
spikeb Member since:
2006-01-18

might be able to power it under windows, but nobody has done shit with the linux driver in ages

Reply Score: 1

RE[3]: HD content
by poundsmack on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 18:37 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: HD content"
poundsmack Member since:
2005-07-13

dont give up hope yet: http://www.mail-archive.com/xorg@lists.freedesktop.org/msg02786.htm...

but the current state is more like this: http://www.happyassassin.net/2009/01/30/intel-gma-500-poulsbo-graph...

It is being worked on though. Tungsten Graphics doesn't have a time line for when it will be finished but they are activly working on it and devoting a ton of time. I would guess a month, maybe a bit longer but no more.

Edited 2009-02-23 18:38 UTC

Reply Score: 4

RE[3]: HD content
by Knuckles on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 20:47 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: HD content"
Knuckles Member since:
2005-06-29

Yeah, people wanting to put linux in these beware of the GMA 500:

"Intel's Poulsbo Driver A Bloody Mess?" --
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzAyOQ

Reply Score: 3

The resolution
by Eugenia on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 21:23 UTC
Eugenia
Member since:
2005-06-28

They promised a 720p screen, and 1024x576 is not that. That's a 576p PAL widescreen screen, not 720p HD. I hope DELL offers us what they promised.

Reply Score: 2

RE: The resolution
by Eugenia on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 21:40 UTC in reply to "The resolution"
Eugenia Member since:
2005-06-28

And I just read on Engadget that the Mini 10, like the Mini 12, won't be upgradeable beyond 1 GB of RAM.

I had high hopes for this model to replace my Acer Aspire One, but I won't touch it now.

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: The resolution
by Jagged-Loser on Tue 24th Feb 2009 15:32 UTC in reply to "RE: The resolution"
Jagged-Loser Member since:
2009-02-24

I was waiting for the Mini 10, but GMA-500 graphics and non-upgradable RAM are deal killers for me. I went ahead and ordered the Lenovo S10 I had been eyeing.

Reply Score: 1

RE: The resolution
by MechR on Mon 23rd Feb 2009 22:05 UTC in reply to "The resolution"
MechR Member since:
2006-01-11

The summary got me hoping the vertical resolution would be a little taller than the usual 600, but instead it's shorter. Dagnabit, people use computers for more than just watching movies! Cutting vert res to 576 not only hurts text-editing and web-browsing, but also shuts out all the low-power games that otherwise could've run at 800x600 fullscreen.

At the other extreme, 720p makes stuff too small on anything below 13", IMO. I understand there's some demand for it though.

Reply Score: 2

RE[2]: The resolution
by DigitalAxis on Tue 24th Feb 2009 00:08 UTC in reply to "RE: The resolution"
DigitalAxis Member since:
2005-08-28

I agree! My current laptop has 1280x800 16:10 widescreen, and I'm finding the 800 pixel height to be about the minimum of what I need. I wouldn't want to go to 600 pixels high, much less 576.

Reply Score: 2

Attack of the spelling police...
by Dryhte on Tue 24th Feb 2009 06:30 UTC
Dryhte
Member since:
2008-02-05

Still, it's less then other netbooks...

Still, it's less than other netbooks...

Sorry, but I felt this needs to be said. OSnews is one of the few sites on the web I still expect to live up to certain standards ;)

Reply Score: 2

Thom_Holwerda Member since:
2005-06-29

Sorry, but I felt this needs to be said. OSnews is one of the few sites on the web I still expect to live up to certain standards


Mmm, I rarely make that mistake. Will get it fixed. Reminder, though: English is still not my native tongue.

Reply Score: 1

sb56637 Member since:
2006-05-11

English IS my native tongue and I still make that mistake. ;-)

Reply Score: 2

maydaytx Member since:
2006-04-17

I never make that mistake...and I don't have a tongue.

Reply Score: 1

Keyboard backlight
by nighty5 on Tue 24th Feb 2009 10:18 UTC
nighty5
Member since:
2005-12-18

When will these netbooks release a backlit keyboard?

I've seen a few 'hacks' but these aren't the real thing.

I want something from the factory.

Reply Score: 1

RE: Keyboard backlight
by t-eighty on Thu 26th Feb 2009 04:01 UTC in reply to "Keyboard backlight"
t-eighty Member since:
2006-12-07

You could learn to touch-type in the meantime.

Reply Score: 1

Comment by Kroc
by Kroc on Tue 24th Feb 2009 12:17 UTC
Kroc
Member since:
2005-11-10

And only 1GB of RAM thanks to Microsoft. Cheers for that Microsoft, love you lots - enthusiasts everywhere -x-.

Reply Score: 2

RE: Comment by Kroc
by de_wizze on Tue 24th Feb 2009 14:00 UTC in reply to "Comment by Kroc"
de_wizze Member since:
2005-10-31

What do you mean?

Reply Score: 2

RE[2]: Comment by Kroc
by Kroc on Tue 24th Feb 2009 16:12 UTC in reply to "RE: Comment by Kroc"
Kroc Member since:
2005-11-10

It has only 1GB of non-upgradable RAM because Microsoft only permits XP on netbooks if they have <=1GB of RAM.

Reply Score: 1

RE[3]: Comment by Kroc
by steogede2 on Wed 25th Feb 2009 13:50 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: Comment by Kroc"
steogede2 Member since:
2007-08-17

It has only 1GB of non-upgradable RAM because Microsoft only permits XP on netbooks if they have


More specifically, the licence for the cheap cut-down netbook version of Windows XP only permits 1GB of RAM, and the software only utilises 1GB of RAM. If you want to use more RAM and Windows on netbook that was supplied with the netbook edition of Windows, you need to upgrade Windows.

Perhaps they did it for anti-trust reasons, i.e. they can't very well offer a cheaper version of Windows just because it is in a sector where the competition are very successful - so they offer a cheaper version which is more limited. Or perhaps I am being paranoid, perhaps they just wanted to protect their revenue streams - offer cheap Windows for netbooks, but not offer something that would be useful on most other PCs (otherwise, what is to stop Dell putting the netbook edition of XP on all their machines, making it cheaper as well as better* than Vista).

http://www.techspot.com/news/31996-microsoft-retains-1gb-ram-limit-...

* whether XP is better than Vista is debatable, personally I don't think so, but I know many do.

Edited 2009-02-25 13:53 UTC

Reply Score: 1

But
by vitae on Tue 24th Feb 2009 16:25 UTC
vitae
Member since:
2006-02-20

Is it a better value then the Mini 9?
http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=dncwxa1&c=us&...

Honest question. New to the netbook thing.

Reply Score: 2

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