456 of 518 (88%) customers would recommend this product to a friend.
Customer Reviews for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Quality:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Features:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Value:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:mlheintz Location:
Houston, TX
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Expert
FEATURED REVIEW
Title: Great Netbook
Date: April 30, 2009
ProsI am using this as a travel companion for all my business travel. I purchased it with Unbuntu to get the 64gb SSD, but immediately loaded a retail copy of Windows XP pro. This is the perfect machine to replace a standard laptop on the road.
Pros: - small, light and powerful enough to run standard office applications - hardware is compatible with other operating systems (can't list it here, but you know which one I mean) I have that running on this as well from a retail copy I loaded on a memory stick - 64gb SSD is lightning fast on Linux and other unix flavors Cons- the keyboard takes some getting used to, but it isn't bad even with my big hands (main complaint is the location of the ' key) - as I am using this for business travel, I wanted to get a privacy filter for it. Unfortunately, there is only one maker of this size in the US and it is pricey compared to a standard laptop privacy filter. This has nothing specific to do with this machine, but applies to all 8.9 inch netbooks - SSD is a little slower on XP than other operating systems, but nothing noticeable given the usage of this machine
ReviewI would recommend this machine to anyone looking for a netbook. My only complaint is that Dell are currently not offering the 64gb version any longer. I was looking to buy a second one, but do not want the hassle or expense to swap out the drive myself.
192 of 200 people found this review helpful.
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Review 2 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:bakergirl74
Title: Baby Dell
Date: July 3, 2009
ReviewI bought this for my daughter since she works on a cruise ship and needed something small and efficient for port calls to keep in touch. We love love love it. It is so fast and so amazing.
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Review 3 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:wevetts Location:
Seattle
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Procrastinated awhile but I'm glad I bought it.
Date: June 13, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Music & Movies
ReviewI just waited until I saw the right one for me and snatched it up. I spotted a Mini 9 on Dell's Outlet site. This one was much better configured than most Mini 9's Ive seen while perusing the site these passed few months and the price was great. It came with 2g ram, a 32 gig solid state drive, a web cam, wifi, bluetooth and Ubuntu. Ive been able to stream movies over the Wifi connection, play movies and video from an SD card and am having a great time with it. My advice is to be sure your expectations are in line with the computer you choose. Spend as much as you can afford to and don't be afraid to wait a few months and get last years model.
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Review 4 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
4
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:cyberguy Location:
Quebec
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Expert
Title: Very good product.
Date: May 30, 2009
Pros: buiness, graphic design, communicating with customers, internet and videoconferencing
ReviewVery good product nicely built solid frame, nice keyboard one would regret however the hard drive with a limited capacity, Dell should review its policy and offer a larger hard drive like the competition.
I bought the version with XP and installed Linux alongside. A very good operating system when it was introduced almost a decade ago I feel XP is not up to the task with Netbooks. Though small Netbooks are powerful but XP has too many glitches to make it fun to use.
For instance the main window doesn't resize automatically when you click on the center like in Linux, connecting to the Internet appears fater on Linux as the drivers are in the Kernel now, Windows Explorer is not at all handy on a Netbook far from practical. Internet Explorer nags you with security permission EVERY TIME you want to do something.
We bought 3 Mini at a local store and loaded our own version of Linux : Mandriva Power Pack a wonderful Linux at less than a 100$. It works right out of the box.
Good product with fast shiiping we recommend Dell Mini laptops with your own personal Linux or Ubuntu and XP in dual boot
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 5 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
3
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:AndreCotte Location:
LaSalle, Canada
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Can be a good buy if...
Date: May 28, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Travel, Finances, Presentation, blogs and rss reading, mail
ReviewPro : lightweight, sturdy, good screen quality, price is good too
Con : screen difficult to read outdoor, very very bad keyboard, Linux costier than Windows, an outdate Ubuntu distribution
It will be excellent with a larger and better keyboard and an uptodate Ubuntu.
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Review 6 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:UbuntuRocks Location:
Canada
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Average
Title: Ubuntu Rocks
Date: May 28, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Gaming, Music & Movies, School
ReviewSweet system! Very well engineered hardware platform. Definitely choose the Ubuntu distro! You will not regret it. This linux OS runs very smooth and is pre-configured with care. Has all the productivity applications as well. I bought 2 of these for my children and they adapted to them quite easily (even after becoming slaves to MS Windows at school). Hats off to Dell for designing and building a fantastic system. I hope to see more advancements like this from Dell in the future.
Cheers!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 7 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:kelleyd Location:
vancouver, wa
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Expert
Title: Great Product!
Date: May 27, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Travel
ReviewI just got my Dell mini 9 3 weeks ago and absolutely love it! I purchased mine with xp and bought the red color. Very vivid screen, easy to read. I travel alot and use it quite a bit. I have no trouble with the keyboard. It took a little adjustment, but now I am typing away. I use it in my work quite a bit, and it is very easy to travel with. I purchased a broadband plug in Internet so I can use anywhere, and it is great.
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Review 8 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
3
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:cham1158 Location:
N.J., U.S.A.
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Newbie
Title: ??
Date: May 27, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, wanted to use while traveling
ReviewI purchased a mini dell netbook 8.9 with windows xp as the operating system. The size is good, the weight & the portability. But I don't know why did I have to pay an additional $49.95 to be able to connect to the internet wirelessly while at home (which I had to - just after receiving my netbook from the mail)and now I have to pay an additional $59.95 to be able to connect to the internet using a public wifi (not realizing that I couldn't, thought that was also part of what I paid for). I was confused on what to do or spend again, I told the rep from delloncall im not pursuing it anymore this time since I have to pay again...he hung up!!
2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 9 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:GrandPrixMan99
Title: best netbook
Date: May 26, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Music & Movies, School, Finances
Reviewi've used it for a few weeks. the battery life is great. the keyboard is fine with its 92%size but you're not gonna write a book on it. great with wireless networks and great size to bring anywhere. dell puts you in control letting you custom build yours how you want it. i'm very happy
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Review 10 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
4
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:mauichas Location:
Virginia Beach
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Nice litttle computer
Date: May 24, 2009
Pros: Travel, Finances, outlook e-mails for my business
ReviewI really like my little netbook Inspiron Mini 9.It's the bomb!
0 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Review 11 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
4
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:HankDennemann Location:
Cincinnati, OH
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Expert
Title: Good system with one HUGE exception
Date: May 22, 2009
Pros: Travel, remote desktop
ReviewPros:
Faster performance, fewer system hangs, nicer keyboard feel, and better build quality than Asus and Acer netbooks. Touch pad is very responsive, and its flush design makes it far more effective than the touchpad on my XPS M1530. Screen brightness and clarity appear better on this system than on an Acer Aspire One that I own. The Acer system hangs frequently when performing routine tasks (like clicking on the My Computer icon), a problem I have never had with the Mini 9. Streams music and video very well despite the weak integrated graphics chip.
Cons:
Only one, but it is a biggie: The keyboard is smaller than a standard keyboard--obviously--but Dell chose to allocate most of the space to the main keys and cut off keys at the periphery. In some cases, the keys are still there but they are half the size of the other keys (the left tab and right shift keys, for instance).
In an unforgivable design blunder, though, Dell chose to lop off the apostrophe key from the middle row and place it instead in the spacebar row, two rows down, leaving the semi-colon key in place in the middle row. And, since the apostrophe key is normally off to the right of the semi-colon key, touch typists will invariably overshoot the semi-colon key for the key next to it--which happens to be the Enter key. So, every time you go for an apostrophe, you get a hard return instead, and you are left forever hitting the backspace key and hunting for the apostrophe key on the bottom row.
How this system managed to escape testing with this design I will never know. You do not realize how many more apostrophes you use than semi-colons until you sit down and try to put together an email on this sytem. It will drive you absolutely insane, and the design failure is SO obvious, and SO annoying, that every time you encounter it you are left asking yourself whether Dell employees any engineers who touch type, or if they all just plunk out correspondence with their index fingers.
That said, Microsoft makes a utility that allows you to remap the keyboard, although it is not user friendly and the remapping does not carry over into all programs.
Aside from the keyboard, though, the system is solid, and I would recommend it over an Asus or an Acer. Note, however, that Acer figured out how to leave the apostrophe key in the middle row. If you are the kind of person who cannot deal with nettlesome issues like this, buy a different netbook.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 12 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:AtlQ Location:
Atlanta, Ga
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Love My Mini!
Date: May 22, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Travel, Music & Movies, School, Finances, Presentation
ReviewHave had my mini for 3 months now and can't imagine traveling without it!. Quick boot-up to XP, silent, and fits in the smallest travel bag...I have the 16GB SSD and by storing my photos and documents at Box.net, have plenty of storage space...The keyboard takes a little while to adjust to, but after a couple of weeks you should have no problems. Battery life is good...I have streamed a 3 hour film on a charge...the only negative was the time it took to ship...but all is forgiven!..
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 13 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
2
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:GaryX Location:
Oklahoma
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Expert
Title: Not quite up to expectations
Date: May 21, 2009
Pros: Travel, email
ReviewI have mini 9 with 1GB of memory and 32GB SSD. Performance is very choppy. Either the SSD is a dud or the system as a whole is. Either way it has 15-30 second pauses (frequently) where nothing happens.
I got the SSD planning for longer battery life. But so far, battery life isn't better than the big heavy laptops.
It is cute and slow.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Review 14 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
3
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:GotLotsOfDELLs Location:
WI
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Lacking in RAM and Solid State Storage
Date: May 20, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Travel, gps, browsing
ReviewThe RAM should be doubled for use with XP. The little iPod is available with more solid state memory. I have my wife connected to a NAS. She primarily uses it for E-mail and internet browsing for recipes and such. She likes the size for portability. I use mine mostly with a USB GPS.
0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Review 15 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:WGMI Location:
Michigan
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Expert
Title: Super Computer
Date: May 20, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Travel, Music & Movies, Presentation
ReviewI purchased this computer in the Fall of 2008 to have a lightweight, compact and easy-to-use computer on the road. The white is nice for no fingerprints. 16 g. of HD works fine because there are three USB ports for flash drives. XP Pro is loaded without a problem. I take it whenever I need the computer away from the office or home. It does everything my Vostro will do, without the weight and bulk. The CD/DVD drive I bought separately still packs away nicely and is lightweight. We watch movies in the car/on the airplane. Video slide show presentations for my art group at an artists' reception are a breeze. Fonts can be adjusted for size, if a person has difficulty reading smaller print. I would highly recommend this computer to anyone because of its' portability and value for the cost.
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Review 16 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:lisag2 Location:
Maui,HI
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Great Deal
Date: May 20, 2009
Pros: Connecting with Friends, Travel, School, Finances
ReviewGot this one day before my trip to Canada. What a life saver.....changing hotels,getting around re-booking,etc. Help so much. The nite I got it I went to Ross' to shop for something totally different and found a case for the mini 9"....a bible carry case!!! Fits great-had pockets on outside and inside. It's ideal and zips right up...$8 out the door!!
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.
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Review 17 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:Inspiredmini Location:
Texas
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Expert
Title: Excellent Product Exceeds Expectation
Date: May 20, 2009
ReviewBeautiful mini laptop and easy to use.
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Review 18 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
4
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:malaka08 Location:
Florida
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Expert
Title: Dell mini 9
Date: May 20, 2009
Pros: Travel
ReviewI have been waiting for the Pandora Project for more than a year, several delays made me try this computer. I am really happy with it. I hope Dell make more PCs and Servers with Linux pre-loaded in the future. Only one concern, the SSD drive is too small, there is no much choices out there to replace it. Runcore or Runcore. But the PC is really good, so far in my 3 weeks of use.
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Review 19 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:DGSC Location:
Toronto, ON
Duration of product use:
Months
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Great Product
Date: May 17, 2009
Reviewextremely light and portable - I take it everywhere - easily fits in a small knapsack. bright sharp screen. very good battery life for weight and size. keyboard has some compromises but quite reasonable for a 9 inch netbook. decent sound. good 1.3mp webcam. 16 GB solid state drive is ample for XP and important apps. I keep documents and images on a thumb drive.
for the critics who want a bigger screen, bigger keyboard, 6 cell battery, big HDD -- what's the point? you end up with a "netbook" more than 3 lbs and might as well just lug around a regular laptop. I hope Dell continues to offer a 9 inch netbook for some time.
I would purchase this product again.
7 of 7 people found this review helpful.
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Review 20 for Inspiron Mini 9
Overall:
5
[RATINGOF] 5
Reviewed by:olybey55 Location:
St Louis, MO
Duration of product use:
Less than a month
Level of expertise:
Good
Title: Great little laptop
Date: May 14, 2009
Pros: internet browsing, email, messaging
ReviewOverall, the mini 9 is exactly what I was looking for. It's small, light, has a very nice display, and good battery life. Durability seems good as I have dropped it a couple of times. No moving parts!
I had been using a desktop and a large laptop in the past. Here are some things to be aware of if you select the mini 9:
1. The mini keyboard is different. The keys are smaller, particularly the ones that are non-letter/numbers like the shift and tab keys. Even so, it is very usable for touch typing. After 3 weeks of use, I can type on it almost as fast as a standard keyboard. The biggest learning curve for me, by far, is that the quote/apostrophe key is moved to the right of the space bar. My fingers think it should be the next key to the right of the colon/semi-colon key. Actually the Enter key is there, so I end up typing (it Enter s) instead of (it's) quite often.
2. The lack of a fan and hard drive makes it tricky to know when the mini is suspended or off. It takes a few seconds to wake up from suspended mode, so I often hit the power button and ended up shutting it down. I learned to look at the LED light on lower left to be sure.
3. I bought a refurbished model with 8GB flash to save a few dollars. It had windows, MS works installed. I added anti-virus, printer software, acrobat, and skype and now have about 1.7 GB free. So, if you're going with Windows, you may want to go with more hard drive storage if you want to save a lot of files on the flash drive.
