Bidding Adieu to the Dell Inspiron Mini 9

garyuu — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 10:30:15 GMT

I am looking on the UK site for dell for the current 10inch mini offerings.

What Dell have done is take a product for which you were free to choose Ubuntu with several configuation options and marginalise

it. There is some speculation that Asus was recently offered significant incentives to drop Linux entirely from its product line (allegedly). http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=eee+pc+linux+%22microsoft+pressure%22

Dell are not the only company to be pressured into "Recommends Windows Blah" all over every page of their site - its part of the 'promotional contract' which dominant companies insist you sign so as to get their OS product at discounted rates.

Dell and Ubuntu - it served a purpose.

Now it is just a marginalised 10inch that allows Dell to say 'mini from £199'

Should you wish to upgrade the processor or add bluetooth then you must accept another operating system - how poor.

It is no accident that there is now 10v and 10 - It would not have been possible to marginalise the product so much if they were under a unified product name as was the case with the mini9.

Go on Dell prove me wrong and combine the 10 and 10v into a single configuration screen with a free choice of operating system.

Dell Mini 9: Slight Return

Direct2Dell — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:32:58 GMT

Back in June, some customers were disappointed that we stopped selling the Inspiron Mini 9. For those

wirelessguyNY — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:50:30 GMT

Yeah, I'm not quite buying the Dell marketing either.

Who designed the theory that laptops need to keep getting larger phyisically?

Are we expected to have a 46" laptop one day?

The mini 9 is very portable and the major 'hack' wasn't in changing the OS it was in adding memory (which is why Dell made the 10 with sims soldiered down).

Want a great next-gen netbook? ... kepp em' small, fast, lean & mean.

- W

(Only flaw in the mini 9 was the key layout).

commo — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 02:06:29 GMT

uh, the mini9 owns the mini10

i think the mini9 may have been a loss leader maybe?

AWWang — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 20:10:16 GMT

I love the Dell Mini 9 although I haven't bought one since it seems small compared to my two hands. But still, I bid farewell to the Dell Inspiron Mini 9, hey it would never be forgotten since it is like the flagship of the Inspiron Mini line-up.

rkl — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:27:01 GMT

I noticed that Anne was very careful not to mention the screen resolution of the Mini 10v and I was very surprised to learn that - with a screen more than 1" larger diagonally than the Mini 9 - the resolution of the 10v is *worse* than the 9! It's 1024x576 versus the Mini 9's 1024x600. Is there any official line as to why the vertical resolution has been reduced with the 10v? I'd have thought the 10v's poor resolution compared to both Dell and other OEM netbooks would be a tick in the "Con" column if you ask me.

renchen13 — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:59:18 GMT

is it still possible to order a mini 9 via telephone in germany? i was VERY interested in that product and just decided to buy when i found out that it had disappeared from the online shop...

thanks for any helpful comments.

verena

brainsys — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:43:09 GMT

Luckily I ordered a Mini 9 last week to replace my eeepc.

I am saddened that Dell is following Asus in dropping the 9" factor and bloating the netbook into 10/12" variants. Yes, a 9" system will have a compromised keyboard but many of us have larger laptops for serious work (or could add an external keyboard) but it provided the minimum screen real estate for applications beyond a smartphone. It is taken where no other laptop can be taken. Like my coat pocket (10" is too big) and allows me to pack an extra pair of pants & socks when I'm flying Ryanair.

I have no problem with other people wanting a bigger netbook but it is sad that the size `as well as the cost of computing has grown for those that just don't want it. The early success of the eeepc & Mini 9 showed there should be enough of us. Sad.

somms — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:47:26 GMT

As of today, The Vostro A90 is still avail for order at Dell's US site.

The A90 is the exact same hardware as the now-obsolete Mini9!

zak89 — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:00:17 GMT

Farewell, Mini 9. You will be missed.

But I think this is a good decision. A 9in device is not really as pratical as 10in, and when the price difference is that small, I think the additional model just confuses consumers. I can't imagine that the extra size of the Mini 10/10v is going to be a deal breaker;

But what's with the "v" in 10v? And is the 10 going to be pushed out, as well? I hope not, as the extra screen res. option on the "original" 10 is my favorite feature!