I've had my Mini 9 for about 3 weeks now, and am very happy and impressed with it. I was a little concerned about the 16 GB SSD, but after cleaning out some of the pre-installed bloat, I have most of my can't-live-without programs installed (including WB and ODock) with a lot of space remaining...plus I have a 16 GB SDHC which I leave in the SD slot for additional storage. Bootup is relatively quick, and launching apps as smooth as my desktop.

Big plus is the fact that the Mini is very upgrade-friendly. Dell advertises the max memory is 1 GB, which I have, but it can be upgraded to 2 GB (and has been by many)...and the SSD can be easily upgraded once higher capacities become more available and better priced. It's a versitile little thing...people have already installed other Linux distros, XP Pro, OS X, and even Windows 7 beta. Battery on the 4-cell lastst 3-4 hours, and Wi-Fi has decent range and steady connectivity. Doesn't make any noise, and does not heat up...and the power adapter is small, no brick like most standard laptops.

I'm just happy to have a full-featured netbook that doesn't weigh a ton, less than 2.5 lbs, and is small enough to carry in my purse or small backpack.

May i ask what OS you are running?  The start bar looks like Windows, but not a version i am familiar with. Or is windows a no go, and it is Linux?    Thank you,

-Teal

That is Windows XP Home, came installed on the Mini. I'm running Windowblinds, OpusOS, by Snidely Whiplash.

For the Mini 9, there are currently two choices of OS...Linux Ubuntu 8.04 or Windows XP Home. Dell just launched the Mini 12, with a 12.1" screen...but be forewarned, the 12's RAM is not upgradable beyond 1 GB (it's integrated), and the drive is not an SSD but a standard hard drive (slow at 4200 rpm).  Interesting, because the Mini 12 offers a Vista option, even though the onboard graphics card is Intel GMA 500 (vs. the Mini 9 Intel GMA 950).

It's interesting to see now, more and more big names are coming out with netbooks, which makes for a nice variety to choose from.

I own 3 Acer Inspire ONE's (all with the 120GB HD and XP Home).  I use mine almost on a daily basis (it fits so nicely into my briefcase......no more carrying a briefcase and a notebook bag..hehe) and the 2 ONE's my kids are using are seeing a lot of use ranging from wireless internet access (browsing, chatting, etc.) to gaming (my oldest plays games like starcraft etc. on his ONE....I'll have to get him to try SINS on it! )

I chose the Acer ONE's after considerable research at the time (this was back in July-August.....before the Dell Mini was actually available), however I have had a chance to play around on a DELL since I purchased the ONE's and still find I made the right choice for me going with the Acer.

IMO......the Acer ONE has the most "solid" build feel and for me that's a big plus.  The wireless adapter performance (ie. range etc.) also seems better on the ONE as opposed to some of the others (MSI Wind, EEE PC, Mini) I've played around with.  The MSI Wind has the best keyboard of any netbook on the market at the moment.  The rest of the netbooks all have their own individual keyboard "quirks" (keys being sized much too small, or keys being re-arranged!)....which may not be important to some but I found especially annoying on the Asus EEE PC and the DELL Mini.

The one major drawback to the Acer (again....IMO) is that nothing is really accessible (in terms of opening the thing up etc.)  If you ever have to open the Acer for any reason whatsoever, make yourself a cup of coffee and a sandwich and settle in for an adventure.....hehe

The Acer has 2 SD memory slots (one is set up to immediately augment your available storage) this is however a moot point with the ONE's I have as they're already the 120GB hard drive version.

The second not so hot thing about the Acer ONE's is battery life.  Unless you spring for the 6-cell battery (which is also a tad heavier/bulkier you won't be getting much more than 2hrs of battery usage out of your ONE while using the wireless and moderate hard drive usage.  If you were to keep the wireless disabled, your screen turned down to low (it's still bright enough on low for most occasions) and the hard drive usage to minimal you might squeeze 2.5-3.0 hrs. out of your battery if you're lucky!

I'm sure as time goes on the offerings from all vendors will be eclicpsed by other products but for now....... I love my ONE! 

the Monk

Great info, thanks very much. 

I love my Acer Aspire One. Mines linux version with 1 gb ram, 8 gb SSD and giant 5 hours+ batteries. I love it!

I tried quite a few other models including eeepc901 and msi, but those didn't have good keyboard for me. Acer only have problems around arrow keys, but otherwise types just like smallish regular keyboard.

Of course I installed ubuntu over the original Linux os so I can do homework on same OS as college computers.

In short Acer, IMHO, is one of best netbooks out there. I don't know about Dell Inspiron Mini 9 though...

Thank you, interesting and very nice. I like spare desktops, and your picture looked beautiful. Perhaps i will have to try windowblinds myself if it looks that nice.    Take care,

-Teal