Back in May our Mark Hachman wrote about the rumored Dell UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC) aka the Inspiron Mini. Michael Dell, obviously no Steve Jobs, was actually seen carrying one around! Hey Michael--that's how rumors get started. Now Gizmodo claims to confirm the rumor as the Inspiron 910, saying they've "gotten our hands on the full (internal) 910 web documentation."
So, how right or wrong was Mark? Not too bad, though some specs seem to have changed over the months. The 60 Gb hard drive is now an (up to) 16 Gb Flash SSD (solid state device). The discrete Nvidia graphics card has become an Intel integrated video solution with up to 8 Mb shared memory for the 1024x600 pixel 8.9" screen. That's WSVGA for those who crave letters over numbers. The on-board camera's also been downgraded, according to Gizmodo, to a maximum of 1.3 Megapixels not the 2-3 Mp Mark postulated.
Continuing the trend (that must cause Steve Balmer to wish his hair was back so he could pull it out) The 910 comes with Ubuntu Linux or Windows XP. The Vista rumors seem to be just that. But what kind of Vista performance could you have expected from a system that comes standard with 512 Mb RAM, upgradeable to 1 Gb and an Intel Atom processor, clocking in a 1.6 GHz?
If Gizmodo's right, this puppy flies out of Round Rock in just a few days--August 22rd. As for price--no one's talking yet. $299 sounds good to me, but no one asked.
The bottom line is we're seeing an amazingly rapid commiditizing of this small form factor. Because of the size and inherent heat and power related restrictions it's going to be tough to differentiate individual models by performance. Anyway, for the foreseeable future they won't perform anywhere near as well as fuller figured laptops. The niche is size and the Dell weighs in at 2.2 pounds.
Will UMPCs end up in a death spiral of price drops? How else will they be able to compete with each other and with more conventional laptops? At least that's the way it looks to me.
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August 20, 2008 12:42 AM
This gives me a chance to add what I didn't include in the original entry. The truth is this Intel Atom with 512 Mb RAM will easily handle everything most users will ask of it. It will surf, word process and play videos (though there's no internal optical drive). It is a lightweight machine in every sense of the word. It is not meant to displace a gaming, video/photo editing powerhouse.
August 20, 2008 4:40 AM
What people dont understand that its not the numbers that matter. people left and right are critisizing the 512-1024mb configuration while the asus got 2024mb max memory.
honestly connecting a battery operated USB external HD will do more than enough to watch movies, at least in divx format.
August 20, 2008 5:22 PM
I cannot figure out why all these "netbooks" come with such a terrible battery. Long battery life (6+ hrs.) was what made these so desirable, not 2 hrs.. Plus, if you try to run an external HDD I can't imagine how quickly you'll be looking for your A/C Adapter..
August 23, 2008 10:57 PM
Battery size is sacrificed due to small form factor. Plus, I'm sure dell will include a larger cell battery for a hefty price. Right now, a 9 cell runs about 300.
August 29, 2008 9:34 PM
@Lancelot
The new Intel Atom, as you might already know, is designed to use little power compared to past mobile processors, such as the 780-900 MHz Celeron in the Eees before the Atom rolled around. You could probably get 4-5 hours word processing/browsing the web if the Eee 901's (with the Atom)performance is any indication. At such a low price, however, Dell will probably have to make some sacrifices, most likely including the battery. As for your mention about the external HDD, you could take the file you wanted and copy it over to the internal SSD or an SD card, which run up to 32GBs now, which is plenty space for the target market, buyers looking for their first computer and children/teens.
September 4, 2008 2:13 PM
Dell Mini 9 is here!!! dell.com/sept5, select laptops and configure yours for sept. 18 ship date. Hmm EEE 901 or Mini 9?
January 12, 2009 9:06 PM
I'm vacillating between the Dell 910 and the Acer Aspire One.
The Dell is said to have an instant on feature that could make the difference for me. I assume that's Linux on the motherboard, perhaps with Firefox easily available as part of the instant on. If that's the case, I'd love it. Instant on with Firefox would suit me most of the time, and I'd boot into XP on http://www.batterygoshop.co.uk/dell/dell-inspiron-910-laptop-all-8.9-inch-series--battery.htm those rare occasions that I need Windows.