I am considering purchasing a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (a pair of them, actually).I have been considering a netbook for some time, possibly as an ultra-mobile coding platform (just web design, nothing CPU hungry). Currently (except for my Dad’s Macbook) all of our home computers are Dell. I have been very impressed with their quality and support (one of the greatest things about their support is that I never have actually needed it (though my Dad has)!).
I am pretty settled on the Mini, but I was wondering about a couple of things. First, has anyone actually run openSUSE on one of these? They ship with Ubuntu, but I’d much rather run openSUSE on one. I’m also considering Archlinux, as I’ve always had a liking for DIY distros, though I wouldn’t want to live without openSUSE on my main machines.
Second, are there other netbooks that would compete well against these specs? Here’s the machine I’m looking at:
1.6Ghz Intel Atom CPU
2GB DDR2 RAM
16GB SSD
$399 (US); could go for less if I went for a Dell Outlet refurb and upgraded the memory afterwards.
Any suggestions? What are you netbook users, ah, using?
I actually use a HP 2133…the good thin on this netbok is the price…you can have it with Linux (SLE 10) for a little price and after you can install openSUSE…
Generally i think that Dells-netbooks are to expensive for a netbook! The hardware is in most of the netbooks the same…it is a full-intel system or a full via system or such a system with a nvidia vga-chip (don t ask my if the compact n-nvidia is supported…i would say, it is not)
For your Dell…the hardware is ok, but only 16GB Memory! Thats not a lot…
My mother’s 8 year old PC is a Dell Dimension 2100 desktop. She keeps it imaculately clean, and if one were to look at its exterior today, one would think it is brand new. It has been very reliable. Over the years I have updated its CD-drive, updated its RAM (from 128MB to 512MB) and updated its hard drive (from a 40GB to 160GB drive). Its a nice reliable (old) PC. It currently triboots between winME, winXP and openSUSE-11.1. (Although on the last weekend, her winME caught a virus, so I disabled the winME boot selection, until my wife and I (who live in a different continent) can figure out how to clean the winME remotely from Europe).
I purchased a Dell-Studio-15 laptop in November. I am happy with it. This Dell-Studio-15 is sold with a Vista version, or a Ubuntu version. I purchased the Vista version and installed openSUSE-11.1 on it. It runs well (I needed an alsa/openSUSE dev help to get headphone working properly), … the only areas I do not have running are HDMI (HDMI video works but HDMI audio does not work), integrated microphones do not work. I have not tested the firewire nor have I tested the bluetooth. I did not get the finger print reader option, so I do not know how that works. But the rest (graphics, audio, headphone, external-mic, wireless, touchpad, external mouse, webcam, usb , sd-reader, touchkeys … etc … ) work ok under openSUSE-11.1.
Hmm … 16GB SSD … A friend at the office has an Acer 1000 (running winXP) with those sort of specs running winXP. Its REALLY NEAT. He has not installed Linux on it (nor is he likely to). He is mainly a Mac user, so I was surprised to see him using the Acer. Apparently it was a gift. It is so small, but nice and functional, that it is causing me to second guess my Dell Studio 15 purchase. But if it was me, I would definitely find the 16GB far far too restricting.
The Acer is also criticised for its relatively low battery life, in comparison to the Samsung NC10. There is a thread here on the NC10: Samsung NC10 - 11.1 RC1 - openSUSE Forums
If it were me, I would take a hard look at the Samsung NC10. I have a couple of acquaintences (MS-Windows users) who purchased an NC10, after considering it and the acer and the dell mini at the same time. They preferred the longer batterlife, and superior specs of the NC10 over the Acer. Some reviews:
Thanks for the suggestions so far. I may take a look at the Samsung oldcpu mentioned.
While 16GB of space sounds small, considering what I’m using it for, I don’t think it’s that bad. Except for a few albums worth of music and maybe some recent pictures, most of what would been on it would be my current web project, checked out via svn. All my digital media is being served via Samba shares over my home network, so when ever I’m home, I have access to all of it. If I’m going to go some where and would like to work while I’m gone, I’d just check out my current project, maybe grab a few music files for the road, and be all set.
Anyways, the Samsung NC10 looks awful nice, except that for the price ($499), I could get a tricked out Dell Mini 12! Which means bigger screen and better keyboard. Of course, the Mini 2 is not as small as the NC10, but then again, small is relative, and the Mini 12 is still plenty petite compared to our Inspiron and Latitude.
In addition, I like Dell as a company, particularly with their support of linux, and I hear good things about the Mini’s build quality compared to other netbooks (on reviewer said it felt “like a Mac”).
I read this evening a thread in a netbookblog about the new Samsung N20 (12’) with the new VIA nano cpu (1.3)…the benchmark was nice…50% more performance than the intel (1.6)
I have heard less than good things about the build quality of the Asus and MSI, though a friend of mine just got an MSI Wind and loves it (he’s a Mac freak but he runs Kubuntu on the Wind; he’s got a soft spot for linux); maybe I’ll ask him about it. By build quality, I mean things like keyboards that flex up and down, etc.
Hmm, now I’m really leaning towards the Samsung NC10. It’s a bit pricey, but it has a large keyboard for a netbook, with a standard layout (The Dell Mini has a very unconventional layout, which could cause problems when coding), as well as a matte (non-glossy screen), 160GB hdd space, good wifi performance, and great battery life (7 hours with XP, I bet I could better that with linux). CPU and memory specs are typical of other netbooks.
Now I’m really really leaning towards the NC10. It’s looking better every minute! The main hit against it is the “Dell factor”. I know Dell, I trust Dell, and, hey, I like Dell. So I’ll probably feel like a traitor if I don’t get one (not to mention Samsung doesn’t seem to be interested in supporting linux anytime soon). But the pragmatic side of me is really for the “Sammy”. We’ll see.
I understand your Dell views. Some people dislike Dell. Other’s really like Dell. I like the Dell support (for Linux) and their provision of PC’s with Linux as OEM software (even IF I’m not a Ubuntu fan, I still think it great Dell offer PCs with Ubuntu Linux).
I understand the philosophy of “rewarding” Dell by purchasing their hardware. I did as much by purchasing my Dell Studio 15 laptop from Dell in Nov 2008.
But, … having typed that, I did wonder if I would have been better served by purchasing a Samsung NC10 laptop (which is much smaller than the Dell Studio 15 with a much much longer batter life) and with the money I saved, contribute that saved money to the purchase of a much faster and better desktop. … I initially rejected laptop’s such as the Samsung NC10 because of their small screen (Studio 15 has a 15" screen) but having seen the good quality small Acer Aspire screen, I realize now I was a bit precipitous in that rejection (as the Samsung purportedly also has a nice small screen implementation).
Perhaps my only complaint re: the Samsung NC10 (compared to my Dell) is my Dell has a much much faster processor and I find when on vacation and playing with home video processing (creating home videos from newly taken photos/videos) that the faster/more-powerful CPU is really nice. And its for that faster CPU reason that I am still glad I went with the larger and much much more expensive Dell Studio 15. I do a LOT of video processing (as a hobby).
But it all boils down to one’s requirements.
For each laptop you consider, take a hard look at:
a. graphics hardware,
b. wireless hardware,
c. audio hardware
and confirm Linux compatibility.
It appears the Mini 9 works well (although you will need the latest alsa to get good headphone functionality): HCL/Laptops/Dell - openSUSE
Yeah, I figured the Mini 9 should be not too hard to get working under openSUSE, since it is available with another well known linux variant.
On the other hand, the Samsung only ships with WinXP, but from the discussion on this thread from the Archlinux forums, it seems that most hardware issues have been resolved by the last few kernel versions (2.6.28.4+).
The keyboard may clinch it for me, however, (and the 7 hours of battery life is an extra plus). The Mini 9 went for a compromised keyboard that was actually pretty smart. They made the standard “Qwerty” alphabet keys full-size, and relegated the F# keys and less common punctuation symbls (such as "() {} ] | <> \ " to Fn-X key combinations and other non-standard positions. The result is a keyboard that works great for email, writing, and web browsing (the most used keys are big and easy to hit), but as a coder, I’ll need those less common keys!
So the Mini may still be a better netbook, but not as good of a mobile coding platform.
Hmm, now I’m looking at the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE. Among other things, it’s keyboard is only a hair shy of the Samsung’s in quality, and it claims more than 9 hours of battery life. And a slightly faster CPU to boot. I have heard less than good things about the build quality of the EeePC, but all three reviews I have read of this model claim that it has been dramatically improved, keyboard is solid, panels don’t flex like the older models, etc. And it’s available for only $379, as opposed to $449 for the Sammy.
I guess it’s good to look around. I just got tipped off to the EeePC by a post on planetkde.org. Apparently it runs KDE 4.2 very well. Which is somewhat important for me, as I am a KRunner addict.
What has turned me off from the Dell Mini 9, though, is they keyboard. Somebody got one and brought it to the Linux SIG meeting and I liked it, and thought I’d get used to the keyboard.
Now I am thinking I’d prefer the fuller keyboard that many of the netbooks are coming out with. The Dell keyboard feels good, but is cramped and I kept hitting the “Enter” key rather than the “’” because it’s located a row below.
If it was going to be plugged into an external keyboard and mouse when working on it then that would be alright (and still have the portability to bring it to clients to show them or the such).
zak89 wrote:
> Hmm, now I’m looking at the ASUS Eee PC 1000HE. Among other things, it’s
> keyboard is only a hair shy of the Samsung’s in quality, and it claims
> more than 9 hours of battery life. And a slightly faster CPU to boot. I
> have heard less than good things about the build quality of the EeePC,
> but all three reviews I have read of this model claim that it has been
> dramatically improved, keyboard is solid, panels don’t flex like the
> older models, etc. And it’s available for only $379, as opposed to $449
> for the Sammy.
>
> I guess it’s good to look around. I just got tipped off to the EeePC by
> a post on planetkde.org. Apparently it runs KDE 4.2 very well. Which is
> somewhat important for me, as I am a KRunner addict.
>
>
My father purchased a Lenovo S10 which he should be getting today. It is
the XP version but after I play with it a bit I’ll let you know my thoughts.
I have an Eee 1000, and though I can’t directly compare it to any of the other named machines, I do love it.
One thing that tipped my choice in its favour is simply the market presence - you know if there are thousands of them around, drivers / hacks will be written quickly.
No problems with build quality - though I have heard talk about them. The keyboard is nearly full-sized, but has a short right shift key. You get used to it pretty quickly, but it’s a nightmare for a touch-typist until they’re familiar with it.
I bought it, however, just on the cusp of the netbook explosion, and I can see how you are having trouble choosing with so many around now.
I just saw that a couple days ago. Very interesting. Though the wide screen turns me off a bit. However, the keyboard looks excellent. Saw a video of it on laptopmag.com. I’m wondering about it’s other specs, however. Like battery life, etc.
Currently I am looking at the MSI Wind (U100). It is a close second to all the Samsung’s specs, and the refurbished 6-cell version is going for $339. Through in a extra GB of RAM for twenty bucks and I’m still at $360 mark (with free shipping on all of it). Hard to beat that price. And openSUSE seems to work well with the Wind; found a couple of good wiki pages on opensuse.org and msiwind.net.
I have a friend who uses the Wind and loves it (and he’s a Mac user!).
I feel kind of silly with all the jumping around I’ve been doing, but then again, I’d rather play fickle now rather than after blowing $300-$500!
I have found that the gateway or the dell are the two best mini’s the gateway is as reliable and offers a 160 gig hard drive and the solid state drive is not as reliable and they are slow for some reason.the dell can be ordered with a 160 gig drive as well and if you are doing web development as i do i need the larger drives i am running and testing open suse on a gateway mini using wine and running macromedia mx 2004 suite and it works great i will not run any other os other than SUSE i am running 11.1 and i can do everything on this machine.
"it is actually for a customer who had VISTA and hated it!
Thats not a lot…