Mini laptops - Dell gets it right!

[gator]

http://gizmodo.com/393815/exclusive-del ... ini-laptop

You gotta agree that it looks great ... the best attempt at a mini notebook till date in my opinion.

[mattbiernat]

sorry i don't mean to be pessimistic here but it opens like a mac book and i really don't like that kind of design.
everything else looks very nice thou

now what makes me wonder is whether X200 will be 11" or 12"... cause the size of this dell looks like an 11", and I quite like it.

[ryengineer]

Design wise it looks exactly like HP 2133 Mini-Note which in my viewpoint is the best attempt at a mini-notebook so far, in SFF's market it's more you pay less you get sort of deal though especially with that VIA chipset.

[iamdmc]

I still think Mini/micro notebooks are basically useless. Get an older X series ThinkPad for the same price, and I guarantee you'll get longer battery life, faster CPU, and better functionality.

... but "it's shiny!"
Meh

[gator]

True Ryan, it does look like the HP mini note. I am not a fan of silver finishes (as I have ranted and ranted in the past) and the red metallic finish (hopefully that pic is not a render ) but knowing Dell the pricing will be better than HP ...

Ah, if only IBM has continued to keep the S30/31 or the 240Z alive - those were true ultraportables . Ofcourse one can argue that they won't not cheap, but all the ASUS EEEpc/OLPC inspired designs (including these two) will look crappy in 6 months ... thinkpads, well, the longer it gets the classier they look!

I still think Mini/micro notebooks are basically useless. Get an older X series ThinkPad for the same price, and I guarantee you'll get longer battery life, faster CPU, and better functionality.

... but "it's shiny!"
Meh

That's exactly my take too, esp wrt battery life. I'll take a X3x anyday over these ...

[pianowizard]

Design wise it looks exactly like HP 2133 Mini-Note which in my viewpoint is the best attempt at a mini-notebook so far

But I like the Dell more because its display bezel is narrower.

[pianowizard]

It's now available for sale! It looks pretty, though I'm disappointed that it doesn't use the 1280x800 screen that the HP 2133 uses. On the good side, it's lighter and cheaper than the Ideapad S10.

[joester]

You know...
This has almost the same specs as my 700M. The main difference I see is the SSD instead of the standard HDD.

$75 to upgrade to 16GB? I think I'll wait. SSD's will come down in price before I'm tired of my 600's, T21, Averatec 3220, HP 4805, Dell 700M, ect.. and need to buy new.

Joe

[schen]

Like several people have already pointed out; nothing you can't get in an older X. But the one thing that none of these mini-notebooks have that will continue to keep me from considering them.... the missing TrackPoint!

I believe both Sony and Fujitsu had mini-notebooks with TrackPoints (or whatever they called them) a few years back on their sub-notebook offerings before these things became all the rage. I don't recall the model numbers though. Maybe something, something C1 on the Sony with a built-in camera?

[qviri]

Like several people have already pointed out; nothing you can't get in an older X.

That's a nice soundbite, but unfortunately, not necessarily true. Things some (not all) subnotes have that older S or X series machines don't include:

- 2.5" SATA drives for much nicer upgrade paths
- DDR2 which can be upgraded much more easily/cheaply
- USB 2.0
- 802.11g with internal antenna
- screens smaller than 12" (S30 and 240 do have 10" screens, but they're too expensive for what you get IMO)
- weights less than 2.5 lbs

But the one thing that none of these mini-notebooks have that will continue to keep me from considering them.... the missing TrackPoint!

Agreed. If any of S10, Mini-Note, or Mini 9 had a trackpoint, I'd have plopped down the money already.

[JHEM]

That's a nice soundbite, but unfortunately, not necessarily true. Things some (not all) subnotes have that older S or X series machines don't include:

- 2.5" SATA drives for much nicer upgrade paths
- DDR2 which can be upgraded much more easily/cheaply
- USB 2.0
- 802.11g with internal antenna
- screens smaller than 12" (S30 and 240 do have 10" screens, but they're too expensive for what you get IMO)
- weights less than 2.5 lbs

The X31 and X32 come very close to meeting your wishes. They take any 2.5" PATA HD, uses cheap and commonplace PC2100 or PC2700 memory, internal USB2.0, internal 802.11a/b/g. Admittedly the 12" screen is all that's available and they're a bit heavy at 3.5Lbs, but they're very, very reliable machines.

[qviri]

I've used an X31 for over a year, so I know it well. PATA and DDR are - unfortunately - still no SATA and DDR2 - DDR is almost twice as expensive per gigabyte than DDR2 is. More importantly, however, although small in comparison to mainstream 14"-15" notebooks, they are not really in the same class as the 9"-10" subnotes.

The footprint of the X31 is 27% larger than that of the S10 (which is by no means particularly small as far as subnotes go). The X31 is also 45% heavier.

I'm not saying that the subnotes are somehow better or worse; they're a different kind of a machine, and saying older X series are equivalent is a large stretch.

[Jagoop]

After I acquired an X32 a few months back, my much more powerful T61 has seen very little use. To me at least a good light notebook is the best compromise .... But I still want more toys, like the new Dell - how come I always wan't just one more PC/Laptop/Toy/Gadget?

[schen]

At issue in this category is that notebooks of the X Series size down are going be of limited utility anyway (at least for most people). Therefore, when you get into discussing the capabilities of one of these things and the ability to add a SATA HDD as well as RAM beyond the commonly found and cheap 1Gb; you get into a "glilding the the lilly" area.

The target market of the vast majority of these machines is for folks that like to be connected at all times with something a little easier to use than the iPhone, hence the sub-$500 price-point. Which gets me back to my original point; in that market and for those sorts of utilizations, an X Series is a perfectly adequate solution for less money, not to mention other benefits such as ThinkPad build, far better keyboards, as well as (at least for me) the all all important TrackPoint.

I'd venture to say that (at least for me), I'll put up with a little larger footprint and weight as well is virutally identical pricing by maxing out a X31/32 with a 250Gb HDD, 2Gb of RAM, than one of these pink or silver purse computers.

[tselling]

For some of us the allure of the mini-notebooks/netbooks is the battery life along with the small size. If my X61 could get 5-6 hours with wifi on the standard 4-cell battery I would be very happy....but it doesn't. I have to add the 8-cell battery to get that and it makes the footprint too big. My new eeePC 1000h with 6cell battery gets 5-6 hours with wifi on and screen brightness at half (half brightness on it is pretty close to 100% brightness on my X61). If the 1000H had a trackpoint it would be perfect. I hope Lenovo decides to make a mini-Thinkpad.

[schen]

For some of us the allure of the mini-notebooks/netbooks is the battery life along with the small size. If my X61 could get 5-6 hours with wifi on the standard 4-cell battery I would be very happy....but it doesn't. I have to add the 8-cell battery to get that and it makes the footprint too big. My new eeePC 1000h with 6cell battery gets 5-6 hours with wifi on and screen brightness at half (half brightness on it is pretty close to 100% brightness on my X61). If the 1000H had a trackpoint it would be perfect. I hope Lenovo decides to make a mini-Thinkpad.

Yup, I'd be happy to have a modern successor to the 240x/z.

[BigWarpGuy]

How does it compare to the Lenovo Idealpad s10?
http://www.google.com/products?btnG=Sea ... deapad+s10
Froogle results.
http://shop.lenovo.com/SEUILibrary/cont ... AEBC064493
img]http://www.lenovo.com/shop/americas/con ... 40x240.jpg[/img]