Dell Mini 9

And yes, it's a Dell. Mac people and Dell-haters who have nothing else to add other than that can go elsewhere. Thank you.

I need to get a laptop. I have one through work, but it doesn't hold a charge for more than 10 minutes, and my desktop is old and limited on memory. Good for what it does, but I'd like something so I can sit on my couch and surf the net while watching TV.

http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-9?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~ck=mn

So this is the computer I just got an e-mail about. I'm not that technically smart, so I don't know if the most expensive one of these (16GB hard drive, 1GB memory) would do what I need it to do.

Any suggestions? I don't need anything huge and bulky. I'll download my music on my desktop, where everything already is. I basically need something for internet and e-mail and AIM. Any ideas of anything else in this price range?

Thanks to all.

 

Hell, that's not a computer, it's "your new best friend."

 

I'd stay away from the cheapest one, since it's not even running Windows, but a Linux derivative. (Not bashing Linux, but I don't think that's what ijag wants). I've not had any experience with that atom chip either.

It sounds like you could use it to surf the net, and word process (but check to see if it comes with a productivity suite like Office or Works) but that's about it.

 

If you go Dell, surf the web first for coupons. Never, ever pay full price for a Dell. Work the deals well, you can get like 45-55 percent off list.
16 gig hard drive is tiny in a day where average laptops are going 160 gigs or more. 1 gig memory is small too. I say pass

 

FWIW, slappy, my desktop has 512 MB of memory, according to my friend who was visiting. And I've got all my music and like 14 games on here.

 

Memory is different than storage space. But I'd pass on the Mini also.

 

Right, but you want to plan ahead. By the time the shelf life of this laptop is done, 6-8gigs of memory will be the norm.
I think you should always go big on the processor and the memory. My desktop is 10 months old. Two months ago, I helped friends buy one from Dell and they got more of everything at the same price as my desktop (I loaded up on monitor and warranty).

 

But it's not my main computer. That's my point. I just need something for internet. Think of it like this.

I have a 32-inch TV in my living room, and a 13-incher in my bedroom. As a main TV, the 13-incher would suck. As something to fall asleep to? It's perfect.

This would be my throwaway, just use for fun while watching Maury, computer.

 

I gotcha... but I still think you can get something with a little more giddy-up

 

Fair enough. Any suggestions then? Because having just this desktop blows.

 

If you buy a computer with a solid state drive now, you'll regret it later --- and by "later," I mean "December." Solid-state drives (basically big chunks of flash memory) are the new big thing, but look for prices to start dropping and sizes to jump.

Give me a few minutes; I just finished wrestling with the lawn and need a shower and some food.

HP has something like this called the MiniNote. Uses Vista rather than XP though and I think HP is going for a different price point.

 

IJAG - as a gadget maniac, I have dropped a fair portion of my vast wealth on netbooks, notebooks and the like. If you can get one of the Acer Aspire netbooks with XP and the 120GB hard drive, you will have a useful, light and fairly user-friendly device. The keyboard is better than on an EEE, my first netbook purchase, and the regular hard drive gives you much more space than one of the SSD's.

If you get a netbook with XP, 1 GB of RAM is plenty, unless you plan on heavy-duty gaming. The Dell newboy looks pretty good, actually, just haven't had a chance to get my hands on one!