From reviews it looks like the Mini 9 should be able to do minor CAD on the road, writing modules specs or reports, etc. Battery life still isn't stellar but better than laptops. Main reason I ask is the (to me) unusual screen format of 1024*600. Not sure if the typical CAD programs can handle that without disappearing and thus inaccessible task bars. I've had that happen in Ubuntu when running 800*600, until I got it to full screen.
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Anyone care to share their experience?
The main things I do on the road are the usual: Pull datasheets and order numbers off Digikey, email, booking a flight on the web, some PDF viewing, schematic viewing and (minor) editing which most likely will become KiCad, and lots of Gerber file viewing. I'd use the one with XP on there.
This could be a sweet little tool, much easier to schlepp along that the usual machine.
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I can't comment on the usability of that Dell, but you might be interested to know that next Friday ("Black Friday") the lowest-end model (512MB/4GB/Ubuntu) will be on sale for $299 rather than $349:
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. Granted, you'd have to add more memory, come up with a legitimate copy of Windows XP, etc. starting there, but it might still be a better deal overall if you have a bit of time available.
Nah, by the time you've added the missing 512MB of RAM and bought a 16GB flash plus an XP licence you'd be up to the $450 or so that they want for the upper end model. Probably even higher.
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Depends on how much shopping you're willing to do on eBay. :-)
Anyway, some of the HP 2133 netbooks have 1280x768 8.9" LCDs... although it doesn't look like HP is selling them anymore, and the ones remaining at, e.g., newegg.com are only offered with Linux or Windows Vista (talk about a good way to kill a low-end CPU...). You might also look at some of the small Sony VAIO or Fujitsu Lifebooks that are often >$1500 news but available for
I cancelled an order for that one when Dell could not deliver in time, so my comments are based on the similar MSI Wind, but the specs are not that different.
I have had no problems doing "light" CAD and Gerber viewing under XP, and the usual communication tasks with the 1024x600 screen. It's not bad. Perhaps surprisingly, you can plug it into a 1920x1200 monitor and it drives it to full resolution (though it's a bit pokey). I use a Logitech Bluetooth laser mouse (disposable AA cells so no worries about charging it) for all but the simplest tasks. There's the odd web page that requires you to scroll horizontally, but it's not that bad (and a tilt-wheel mouse helps with that).
The three cell battery the Wind comes with is great for light weight, but the life is pretty short. I have ordered a 9 cell 3rd party battery which should extend the life to pretty much "whole day" computing, and which adds about 1 pound to the weight. I also ordered a somewhat smaller travel charger (it's already way better than the bulky Dell lapop units) with integral foreign plug adapters that doesn't suffer from having those annoying lumps in the cord (the ferrite common mode filters) nor that bulky line cord. ;-)
Bottom line is that a 10" 1024 x 600 LED-backlit screen is pretty nice, as is the Intel Atom, and under XP with 1G of RAM and a decent HDD you can get a lot done with a machine that weighs not much over a kg.
Oh, and I tested an inexpensive USB-serial cable with a couple of older (2002 ca.) x51 emulator and programmer modules, and it worked flawlessly. Most more modern stuff comes with a USB port anyway. The Bluetooth mouse is nice because it frees up a USB port so you can have an external keyboard and still have a couple ports free.
For more intensive stuff, I really like displays like the WUXGA display on the notebook I'm typing this on at the moment... and a decent processor.. but that weighs a fair bit more (and costs more).
Uh...the link above keeps linking to a computer not made by Asus, and we bought an Asus, and I cannot get links from BestBuy to behave - keep getting redirected from Asus to link above. OTOH, link above is even better deal than we got. [Link above includes Bluetooth, expandable to 2GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet.]
There are several other deals near that link. Looks like best are made by MSI Wind.
Thanks. But it's older technology. With "modern" (a.k.a. bloated) software 512MB RAM and 4GB flash it'll be hard to reach a reasonable CAD productivity. I've also heard that the VIA uP is more power-hungry than the Atom and from the description the battery runtime is about as paltry as on my big laptop. This machine is supposed to replace that for shorter trips to clients, trips where I don't need to do heavy-duty CAD.
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I've read about that, too. Hopefully they have fixed that. Shipping delays do happen on brand new stuff. Dell has a reputation for not shipping until they are really sure the product quality is up to par.
This is encouraging. AFAIK the Mini 9 doesn't have Bluetooth (maybe they do as an option, don't know yet) but that's ok, I don't mind hauling a little USB mouse. It's got three ports.
Dell has a 4-cell. I guess when a larger battery comes out it'll be pricey but maybe an external battery can be connected for even more runtime. As usual, no specs on the power connector. For example whether an external 12V would work or not. On some laptops that does work, it just won't charge the internal battery unless you offer a higher voltage.
On larger assignments I'll just take my trusty DuraBook. It's around two years old now but still state-of-the-art IMHO. Does heavy CAD, SPICE and so on with ease.
Thanks for you summary. That really helps.
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I rarely get excited by consumer electronics...but there is something about these Netbooks that make them very hard to ignore. How many times have each of us beheld some kind of proprietary gadget costing >
$1000US and thought, "What a rip off!...It's nothing more than CPU, some RAM, display, and interfaces..."
Normal laptops have been too big to lug around. But these Netbooks...
For cost of my last Tek toy oscilloscope, I could have had several of these Netbooks plus USB module to achieve essentially same funtion.
I think we should prepare for a tidal wave of these devices, with external mice, of course. They provide so much for so little.
Ok, the Best Buy rep actually called Microstar International, and said that Microstar themselves said that Microstars website is incorrect, that the model number U100-016US is, indeed, 1Gb/s Ethernet, even though Microstars website says it is 100mb/s.
Weird.
I have a hypothesis why this would be done: when you offer a 120GB Windows XP 1Gbs Wi-Fi/Bluetooth-enabled mini-notebook for $400, it starts to raise eyebrows of corporate customers. Very quickly we start getting into "Hmmmmmm...territory.." and "Hmmmm...." is not a word that companies like Microsoft and Dell want to hear regarding Netbooks.
So you say 100mb/s, since Gigabit Ethernet is one of the few metrics by which "home" computers are distinguished from "business" computers, though we know that the distinction is laughably arbitrary and concocted primarily as a non-sensical basis for price stratification.
Claimed to be the seller who is Lee262online (in Hong Kong). We'll see how good it is.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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My one (U100 marked "Model: MS-N011") is definitely 10/100 only. The driver is for a Realtek RTL8102E.
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Later units might be different-- they are changing a bunch of things, such as the touchpad supplier.
Someone has done an BOM analysis of this unit:
If you look at the forums, there are people dropping 500G drives into these things! ($110/free shipping) You *can* take it all with you.
I'm not sure I'd go with even a 32G SDD at this point-- the capacity is still pretty low, and things like MS Office take up quite a bit of space. I was prepared to do so, and worked out the sizes as being reasonable, but things always ending up using more space than you'd expect unless you get ruthless with leaving stuff out.
Nice that MSI supplies an XP recovery disk etc. with the thing (though there's no optical drive built in).
I have been told that Intel has deliberately crippled the Atom so that it can't support HDMI output, which would support the market division thinking you are talking about.
Best regards, Spehro Pefhany
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Just to add to the confusion another highly rated 10 inch notebook is the Samsung NC10. Pros are a long battery life, strong wiFi reception and a keyboard that is 93% of a regular keyboard size. Cons are a short track pad and a tiny speaker. Here is one review.
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Here are some reviews at Newegg.
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Here are some reviews at Amazon
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The Samsung NC10 has only been available in the US for less than a month.
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