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Laptop Trouble Tips
Dell tries to perfect the netbook formula with their new iteration of the Mini
Cool design and variety of colored tops available, very good battery life, easily workable keyboard and touch-pad, compact charger, well priced, 3 configurations to choose from
Gets heated at the bottom under intensive use, HDMI port, which was available in the earlier model, has been removed
Expert Rating :
Following the launch of Intel's Pine Trail range of Atom processors, every manufacturer seems to be busy with refreshed versions of their respective netbooks. Today we have for review Dell's Inspiron Mini 10. While some makers, like Asus, have made nominal changes to the exterior, the Mini 10 has gone through a complete makeover since its last iteration. This earlier model was appreciated for having an HDMI port on-board, but trashed for a paltry 3-cell battery that was packaged along with it. Dell has tried to perfect their netbook formula with this model. Let's find out if they have succeeded in doing so.
Design and Build
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 looks nothing like its predecessor. But like earlier models, this one too is available in a good variety of colored tops. The base is white for most models. The netbook looks pretty cool and unique; unique because of the way the screen hinge rests on the bottom half and not at the edge, unlike most laptops. The build feels plasticky, but is fairly sturdy nonetheless. At 1.37 kilos, it is fairly lightweight and in line with most netbooks today (that also weigh under 1.5 kg).The resistance offered by the hinges of the lid isn't that great, but thanks to the placement, the screen doesn't stretch back all the way. So, even if the hinge resistance wears off, say after long use, it wouldn't be a big issue to continue using the netbook.
On the inside we have a typical 10-inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. It's quite bright and displays content with good clarity. A higher resolution (1366 x 768 pixel) display is also available in the higher priced SKU. The webcam, however, delivers slightly grainy output. The keyboard design is similar to the bigger Inspirons. Although not of an isolated (chiclet) design, the keys are well-spaced and offer decent tactility. Typing on them was a fairly non-strenuous affair.
The Function keys (F1-F12) are primarily configured to change brightness, volume, toggle Wi-Fi, check battery status etc. This is now implemented better, since the typical Alt-F4 (close application) shortcuts work as well. You can also make Function keys perform as normal if you prefer. Below that is a wide touchpad that's carried over from the previous model. The touch response is accurate. Although it does not have multi-touch gestures, like two-fingered scrolling, the side-scrolling strips work just fine. You can also configure one-handed zoom in/out to the left edge of the pad, which is nifty.
To the sides, we have the typical array of ports. On the left, there is VGA, two USB and a SD/MMC/MS card reader. To the right we have LAN, another USB port, and the headphone/microphone jacks. HDMI from the earlier model has been removed from this one. One noticeable problem was the positioning of the air vents. All of them are placed at the bottom. In most laptops, you'll find at least one to the sides. As a result of this, the bottom part gets a little hotter than usual.
While it's bearable when performing non-intensive tasks, we did realize the heating was a little over the top when running benchmarks on it. However, the paltry 3-cell battery on the earlier model has been replaced with a higher capacity 6-cell one. Still, the design of the laptop avoids it protruding too much, which is nice. The two speakers under the belly emit clear output at a fairly audible volume. Lastly, the Mini 10 came with a cute little one piece adapter (unlike the typical wire-adapter-wire chargers), which is not as messy to carry around.
Other than the little extra heating, we didn't have any other complaints with the design and build of the new Dell Inspiron Mini 10. Benchmarks
PCMark 05
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 looks nothing like its predecessor. But like earlier models, this one too is available in a good variety of colored tops. The base is white for most models. The netbook looks pretty cool and unique; unique because of the way the screen hinge rests on the bottom half and not at the edge, unlike most laptops. The build feels plasticky, but is fairly sturdy nonetheless. At 1.37 kilos, it is fairly lightweight and in line with most netbooks today (that also weigh under 1.5 kg).The resistance offered by the hinges of the lid isn't that great, but thanks to the placement, the screen doesn't stretch back all the way. So, even if the hinge resistance wears off, say after long use, it wouldn't be a big issue to continue using the netbook.
On the inside we have a typical 10-inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display. It's quite bright and displays content with good clarity. A higher resolution (1366 x 768 pixel) display is also available in the higher priced SKU. The webcam, however, delivers slightly grainy output. The keyboard design is similar to the bigger Inspirons. Although not of an isolated (chiclet) design, the keys are well-spaced and offer decent tactility. Typing on them was a fairly non-strenuous affair.
The Function keys (F1-F12) are primarily configured to change brightness, volume, toggle Wi-Fi, check battery status etc. This is now implemented better, since the typical Alt-F4 (close application) shortcuts work as well. You can also make Function keys perform as normal if you prefer. Below that is a wide touchpad that's carried over from the previous model. The touch response is accurate. Although it does not have multi-touch gestures, like two-fingered scrolling, the side-scrolling strips work just fine. You can also configure one-handed zoom in/out to the left edge of the pad, which is nifty.
To the sides, we have the typical array of ports. On the left, there is VGA, two USB and a SD/MMC/MS card reader. To the right we have LAN, another USB port, and the headphone/microphone jacks. HDMI from the earlier model has been removed from this one. One noticeable problem was the positioning of the air vents. All of them are placed at the bottom. In most laptops, you'll find at least one to the sides. As a result of this, the bottom part gets a little hotter than usual.
While it's bearable when performing non-intensive tasks, we did realize the heating was a little over the top when running benchmarks on it. However, the paltry 3-cell battery on the earlier model has been replaced with a higher capacity 6-cell one. Still, the design of the laptop avoids it protruding too much, which is nice. The two speakers under the belly emit clear output at a fairly audible volume. Lastly, the Mini 10 came with a cute little one piece adapter (unlike the typical wire-adapter-wire chargers), which is not as messy to carry around.
Other than the little extra heating, we didn't have any other complaints with the design and build of the new Dell Inspiron Mini 10.
SiSoft Sandra 2009
Real World Performance
Our review unit came pre-installed with Windows XP SP3. Using XP feels a little dated now that Windows 7 has become common fare, even in netbooks. Thankfully, higher-end SKUs offer you an option of either Windows 7 Starter or Home Basic. Still, XP runs pretty smooth on the newer-generation hardware. That's right, the Atom N450 1.66 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM were good enough to keep it running swifty. Moderate amount of multi-tasking shouldn't be too much for this baby.
We tried HD video playback on it. While 1080p HD videos lagged as expected, 720p videos mostly ran without a hitch (we installed the latest K-lite Codec pack and played them on Media Player Classic). Come to think of it, the HDMI port from the previous model would have been a nice addition in this version, to project those movies onto an LCD TV.
Battery Life
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 came with a 56 Whr, 6-cell battery. We put it through our first test -- the 720p video drain. Brightness and sound were set to max. Here it delivered an unbelievable run-time of seven hours. That's a great figure, probably the highest I've seen in my time.
Under regular usage, i.e. typing a word document in an online document editor, when connected over Wi-Fi, it again gave us an up-time of roughly seven hours. Note that the brightness level here was a notch or two under maximum. So, for basic office usage (without wireless internet) that number could shoot to Dell's 8-hour claims on their website. That's very good battery life and it clearly shows the improved power optimization in the newer generation Atom CPU.
Our review unit came pre-installed with Windows XP SP3. Using XP feels a little dated now that Windows 7 has become common fare, even in netbooks. Thankfully, higher-end SKUs offer you an option of either Windows 7 Starter or Home Basic. Still, XP runs pretty smooth on the newer-generation hardware. That's right, the Atom N450 1.66 GHz processor and 1GB of RAM were good enough to keep it running swifty. Moderate amount of multi-tasking shouldn't be too much for this baby.
We tried HD video playback on it. While 1080p HD videos lagged as expected, 720p videos mostly ran without a hitch (we installed the latest K-lite Codec pack and played them on Media Player Classic). Come to think of it, the HDMI port from the previous model would have been a nice addition in this version, to project those movies onto an LCD TV.
Battery Life
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 came with a 56 Whr, 6-cell battery. We put it through our first test -- the 720p video drain. Brightness and sound were set to max. Here it delivered an unbelievable run-time of seven hours. That's a great figure, probably the highest I've seen in my time.
Under regular usage, i.e. typing a word document in an online document editor, when connected over Wi-Fi, it again gave us an up-time of roughly seven hours. Note that the brightness level here was a notch or two under maximum. So, for basic office usage (without wireless internet) that number could shoot to Dell's 8-hour claims on their website. That's very good battery life and it clearly shows the improved power optimization in the newer generation Atom CPU.
Price and Verdict
The price of the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 starts from Rs. 15,900 (delivery charges extra) on the Dell India website. This comes with 1GB RAM and 160GB hard drive with XP pre-installed. The pricing is pretty fair. The high-end version, with a higher-resolution (HD) display, 2GB RAM, 320GB hard disk and Windows 7 Home Basic also carries a value for money tag of Rs. 20,000.
Dell has tried hard to perfect the netbook with this one and we have very little to complain about it. The only con that we would point out is the soaring temperatures at the base. But under non-intensive usage, when seated in an air-conditioned room, the heating wasn't that noticeable.
The Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is a very good netbook to go for. It looks good, is fairly comfortable to use, has great battery life and you have three configurations to choose from. We give it two thumbs up!
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