Sunday, June 7, 2009

What Was Dell Thinking With the Mini 10v

Mini 9 owners know how easy it is to mod your system, upgrading the RAM takes less than 5 minutes. This is what pulled me to the system. When Dell released the Mini 9 service manual I had a geek-gasm. The Mini 9 was the perfect netbook for Linux newcomers and enthusiasts. Unfortunately this is not the case for The Dell Mini 10v. It's a nightmare to mod.

These videos detail how many steps it takes and the components you have to remove to get to the RAM. It's not just the RAM, getting to any of the components require you to dismantle the 10v. I personally don't want to pry off the keyboard and palm rest to get to my machine. I can't believe Dell has the nerve to recommend the 10v as suitable replacement to the Mini 9. I feel sorry for 10v users who can't order a machine with more than 1GB of RAM because of Microsoft's Windows XP OEM restrictions and then have to take 27 nerve racking minutes to disassemble and reassemble their machines. I have no problem with taking things apart, but this turned me off to buying a Mini 10v all together.

Remember that you can still get some great deals on a used Mini9 and that the Dell Vostro A90 is available from Dell's business division. It's is just a black version of the Mini 9, the layout and components are exactly the same.

The 3rd Video, wasn't worth embedding because it's just him putting everything back together.

Have a question or problem that this article doesn't cover?
Ask our Ubuntu Mini 9 Google Group for help.

4 comments:

RS said...

I agree on all points. I'd rather get a Vostro than a non-Mini-9...I'd like the option of upgrading with the least bit of hassle. That's why I avoided some of the other brands of netbooks.

I believe this is a seriously bad move on Dell's part.

Anonymous said...

Well I purchased a Mini 10v last month, and I have to say... I love it.

As soon as I got it, I did a clean install of 9.04 (no reason to keep Dell's crippled version).

Since then I have upgraded both the RAM and my HDD (to a 32 GB SSD :P ).

Neither chore took me 27 minutes, and everything basically snapped back into place with a minimum of effort.

redDEAD said...

awesome

Unknown said...

As an internet great once said.

QQ more nub.

L2Linux.