Dell Inspiron Mini 9 from Vodafone notebook review

Is this the future of connected netbooks?

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 from Vodafone notebook. Hardware, Netbooks, Dell, Vodafone 0

Reviewer: Stuart Miles
Review Date: 6 October 2008
Manufacturer: Dell
Price as reviewed: £dependent on contract
Latest price: compare

Our score

8/10

Full Review

The Dell Inspiron Mini 9 is the latest contender to the netbook throne, but can the inclusion of HSDPA connectivity via a built-in SIM from Vodafone be the masterstroke? We get surfing to find out.

The Dell Mini 9 is, like the MSI Wind, is glossy, small and cute. Build quality, which is better than the Asus Eee netbook range, sees a glossy outer shell and a bright 8.9-inch (1024 x 640) screen on the inside.

Below the screen is as you would expect a QWERTY keyboard with all shortcut keys accessed via the function keys rather than as separate buttons littered around the place. In fact the only other buttons you'll find on the netbook are the two mouse buttons (left click, right click) and a power switch.

Speakers are tucked in under the screen meaning they are facing you and while they are not great, they are certainly enough to listen to the odd episode of Megawhat or YouTube vid. There is of course a 3.5mm headphones jack, which will give you better performance.

For talking to others there is a built-in webcam (1.3 megapixels) above the screen and a mic in socket for improving the audio if you're planning on Skyping people on a regular basis.

Get past the layout of the keyboard, which is small but functional, and the trackpad, again small but at least with the click buttons underneath, and the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 features three USB sockets, an SD/MS/Pro/MMC card slot alongside a VGA and Ethernet in down the side.

The SIM card slot is actually tucked away behind the battery compartment and it's easy to get your SIM in and out, but kept well out of the way of light-fingered commuters when you aren't watching.

Under the hood, the Mini 9 is powered by the now almost standard Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor, and you'll get 1GB of RAM on-board to help Windows XP move along nicely. Storage comes in the guise of a rather small 8GB Solid State Drive, of which almost 4GB will be taken with programmes Dell has bundled on the machine. Get past the mass of Google software it asks you to install (everything from the toolbar to Google Desktop) and you'll be up and running with Microsoft Works and McAfee Security Center.

The lack of storage, certainly against the HP Mini-Note and the MSI Wind is very disappointing and means that you'll be needing to find additional storage space if you plan to do anything other than surf the web and write the odd letter. Start saving images and you'll be filling that space up faster than you can say "Where's all my storage gone?".

There is a 16GB Solid State Drive version available, however not via Vodafone, so those needing more memory will have to bear this in mind. We would recommend if you could stretch the extra cash to go for it, but then you don't get the Vodafone offering. A tough one.

However, that SSD means power usage is reduced, so you'll get about 4 hours from the battery, depending, of course, on what you do with it. Screen full brightness and using the in-built HSDPA offering will pull this figure down, we got about 3 hours from a combination of Wi-Fi and mobile broadband usage.

Of course the whole purpose of the Mini 9 from Vodafone is that you've ditched the need for a dongle sticking out the side. Once the SIM is installed it's just a case of loading the Vodafone Mobile Connect software and it does the rest connecting you in seconds rather than minutes.

The software is the same as you would get if you bought a dongle separately, however, the advantage here is that you don't have to wait for the USB dongle to power up: it's not a big deal, but it will save you a couple of seconds if you are looking to send that email before you jump off the train.

Having been a long-term user of the Vodafone Mobile Connect offering, the reception is very good in and around London (and most of the world for that matter) and we've had very few connection issues getting online due to reception.

For those not familiar with the connection software from Vodafone, the software dashboard allows you to monitor your mobile broadband usage, send and receive text messages and saves you remembering a series of numbers or codes when it comes to getting online. It really is a press of a button.

The Vodafone broadband offering isn't the cheapest on the block for mobile access, but is comparable with the Carphone Warehouse Webbook netbook offering, although with the Webbook you do get a bigger screen and more storage space.

Vodafone is offering the Mini 9 at £25 for 1GB of data a month for 24 months and £30 for 3GB of data a month for 24 months with the laptop thrown in for free on both tariffs.

Compare this to mobile broadband access, and you'll be paying £15 more a month for the benefit of that free laptop in the mix. Top10-broadband.co.uk, a price comparison site for mobile broadband tariffs in the UK currently has a Vodafone HSDPA dongle at £15 a month for 3GB of data for 24 months and this means the laptop will cost you around £360 over the 2 years, a premium of £60 over buying the laptop without the SIM card based on current prices.

Verdict

So, what's the verdict? Well, with netbooks designed to surf the Internet, including the 3G SIM in the unit is a logical one. Yes, you will have to pay a premium for the inclusion of the SIM over the 2-year contract, but at least you get the feeling that this is going to last you 2 years rather than the 10 minutes you get with the Asus Eee offering.

As a netbook offering, the only criticism is that the SSD just isn't really big enough. While you'll gain space in your bag by not having to carry around a dongle, that space is likely to be taken up with a portable hard drive.

Full tags

Hardware, Netbooks, Dell, Vodafone, Dell Inspiron Mini 9

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Comments

Could you not use an SD card to increase the size of the storage? Posted by Bob, uk
You're right Bob you could, although it's just another factor to have to think about. Posted by stuartmiles, United Kingdom
I had a brief try out of this device at lunchtime today and initial impressions were solid build and an excellent display. Keyboard was a little cramped compared to say the MSI WInd but the trackpad was superior to the MSI Wind and also the Acer One I have been looking at. The device did connect instantly to the web. The laptop included Microsoft Works but I didn't get chance to check the storage capacity and a little disappointed if your report of 8gB rather than 16gB is correct. Overall very impressed and considering purchasing one for my home business Posted by Martin, Scotland
Nice but for an XP machine you need a hard drive and for Linux they should be selling it with a bigger SSD. Additionally, built in 3G is only available with a contract and with the way prices for 3G bandwidth are falline the offer is flawed.

A 12 month, 12G contract free deal from 3 is available for £97, so after buying 2 of these and e-baying the free dongles for £30 each you have 2 years worth of mobile connectivity, albeit not heavy usage for £134 and a netbook like the Advent 4213 onsale online for £250 means that your total outlay would be £384 for 2 years. The Mini9 from Orange would cost you £600 over this period. Posted by Jasebabe, United Kingdom
ive got one of these and im not at all happy with it, even though its light looks very classy (as my son told me 1st time he saw it), ive had loads of problems with it, over heats quite quickly even when im sat infront of the patio doors (wide open) the battery goes down very fast when you do any work, for the battery to last the hour you cant do alot, memory is very small cant hold alot of my work on it till i was done i find i had to print things off before its complete, ive had to have it sent back to dell for a few things like monitor just went off, it was firing up but you couldnt see the screen at 1st i was using my spare monitor which you can connect up ( which is a good thing if you cant cope with looking at the tiny screen, (i find my eyes hurt after awhile reason why i use the monitor) then it just stopped working, turned it off as normal and when i went to use it on the night it wouldnt work) which resulted in me loosing everything that i had done, pictures and the kids opening there xmas prezzies videos my son lost his homework which he had spent most the weekend to do (which is rare for him to do, he always waited till day before, mind you homework at the age 10 and some the things they do i even have to look up on the net as im cluesless on some of it) and the lastest problem i now have is a blue error (also named the death error) has come up, ive tried all the things it says on dells support site but its having none of it the only way it would work was in safe mode using networking, i went to do a restore and its swtiched off (its already set that way) but it advises you that it takes up 12% of the memory to have it on, and now i cant even use it on safe mode as the blue error pops up straight away, and yet again i'll have to send it back to dell, where credit is due they were rather quick in returning it, was a week last time but i think it will be longer this time, and yet again more work lost (just glad we havn't taken picture or videos) you can transfere anything onto a disk unless you go to pcworld and they charge you but for the little space and memory im not going to even bother sending it back to dell as it seemes to be 1 thing after another going wrong and all the time you have your cover its ok but 1 it runs out its not going to be worth the price you pay in the end (i know as mines all paid off and do wish i listened to my son and brought a normal laptop (least you get a floppy disk drive and a dvd/rw with them,) i can truly say that the only good things about this is that it fits in my handbag for when im traveling (unless its mileage then it aint)its easy for the kids to use, and they cant upload games or anything as the space soon fills up. i have only added msn live, winrar for my files and updated windows everytime they popped up (which is alot) and i was getting low on memory space so had to delete msn and then i got the error which has shut it down and is looking like a kids fake toy laptop. i have been looking for 2days for spare parts as a friend gave my son theirs as there nephew was abit heavy handed and got the power button stuck and when he took the back of he found he had snapped the circuit board for the power button.. he nor i have yet found anyone on the internet who sells the part, and he also needs 2 get a new keyboard as its worn when he used it at collage all the time and there are parts for all the Dell Inspiron apart from the mini 9 and the 910 (why ? not as if they are unbreakable or solid... its flimsy metal between the keyboard and the motherboard)
sorry for going so long but i have been going out of my mind looking for bits on the internet via the libary when i have wireless internet at home for the notebook and i cant even use it but i still have to pay for the internet as i have only just signed up for 12mths !!!
i dont mean to put anyone off i just wanted you to be aware that its not all as good as the adverts say.. the signal was great always strong never disconnected... but if you go over your browsing limit it does become exspensive (i always went over as i was always engrossed in my work and not clock watching, i dont even think i ever checked my limits) its fast searching the net for what ever your looking for, it has the modern look its slim easy to use ( the small buttons are hard at 1st if your used to a keyboard) takes awhile before you suss the Fn keys (all ya short keys like F1, stand-by, print screen etc) thats another bad point because when your notebook the keys are not as they say the @ is shift 2 and whats ment to be the @ is " so you will need to work them out (think its just afew thats out) you can go onl the dell support site and read what the keys are and how to work them... you must always press the blue Fn button to work any of the short keys, took me awhile to remember it. i cant think of anything else to say good about it or bad but will would like to say if you do buy one it might be wise move to buy a fan for your motherboard as i dont think there is one (dont remember seeing one in the one i have to fix) due to being quite warm when i used it and also after a short charge it would be hot.. i always turned it upside down when charging as the air vent for the motherboard is underneath. Posted by nicola mcdonald, United Kingdom