Customer Reviews

Dell Inspiron Mini 10 10.1-Inch Obsidian Black Netbook with Integrated TV Tuner - Up to 6 Hours 20 Minutes of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Note: I use computers for my work but don't pay much attention to details about them. I'm sometimes willfully ignorant of the details of my work computers, so this review (for better or worse) will not be a super technical one focusing on specifications and related details. I wanted a simple computer to use outside of work, and that's what I got here. I received this Dell Netbook a few days ago and wanted to share my initial impressions of it.

I do a great deal of writing for my job and need to have frequent email access. I have a Dell Notebook but find that it's a bit of a hassle hauling it around anywhere, so it ends up staying at home most of the time. When I saw this Dell's Netbook on sale, I thought it might be ideal for my needs. In particular, I wanted something very lightweight that would allow me to access the web, answer email, access PDF documents, and edit documents. This Dell does all that and much more.

My job buys all my computers (the last computer I purchased myself was a Commodore 64 when I was a kid!), so I was a bit nervous purchasing it. I checked out reviews here and elsewhere and they seemed to indicate that the Dell Netbook would work well for my needs. However, I was concerned by some accounts of netbooks being slower than laptops and having many of other deficits. Fortunately, my concerns were unfounded (it isn`t slow and I have low needs for extensive computer memory anyway). I've never had to unpack a computer before (the IT people at my job have that honor), but it couldn't have been easier. I was literally using my new Netbook within minutes. Everything was preloaded and ready for use.

I was hoping that it would come with Microsoft Word, but it instead includes Microsoft Works Word Processor, which I`d never used before. When I tried to open a Word document from my email, I was prompted to download Word Viewer. The two programs are compatible, but it is a bit of a hassle converting documents back and forth. Otherwise, I'm extremely pleased with my purchase. The Netbook is not slow in accessing the net even with numerous programs open at the same time. It is super lightweight -- not much bigger or heavier than a large hardback book. The battery in the back does stick out a bit, although that actually helps make it more stable on a flat surface. Even straight out of the box, the battery lasted well over 5 hours. Other features include a webcam, adobe, media player, explorer -- all the standard items you'd expect. As I mentioned, I don't pay much attention to computer specifications and whether it has this feature or not. I simply don't use my computers for anything too complicated. However, for what I need, this Dell Netbook more than exceeds my expectations. The Netbook's portability make it ideal for carrying it around and travel. I think it would also be a great starter computer for kids and teens.

GREAT UNIT FOR GREAT PRICE

This is Dell Mini-10(Model 1010) - with TV tuner
(The lower model is 10v(Model 1011) (no TV tuner)

* HDTV internal Digital TV Receiver (ATSC)
* Mini TV Antenna * HDMI (out)
* 10.1" Widescreen * 1024x600 Display
* 1.3M Pixel Webcam
* 6 Cell Battery (8.3 Hours)
* Wireless 1397 WLAN Mini-Card (802.11g)
* No Bluetooth (Goog for Super Mini Bluetooth 2.0 Dongle)
* Windows 7 Starter
* Processor: Atom 1.6GHz Intel Z530 (512K Cache)
* 1GB DDR2 SDRAM Memory - Increase with ReadyBoost (Goog)
* 160GB 5400RPM Hard Drive
* Integrated Intel 500 Media Accelerator
* Electric Adapter
* McAfee Security Center-30 day trial(Get AVG Free)

[Inside the box: Dell Mini 10, Electric Adapter, TV Antenna, 2 Antenna mounts (suction cup and top mount), Inspiron Setup Guide, Four (4) DISKS (already installed on computer): (1) Windows 7 Starter Operation System, (2) Application, (3) Drivers and utilities (4) Dell Disk.]

My Dell Mini 10 (Model 1010) arrived today and I love it already. When I took the Mini 10 out of the box, the first thing I noticed was the bulge under the bottom rear of the unit (the six (6) cell battery). I spotted a funny object in the box that turned out to be a tiny little antenna. This confirmed the HDTV Tuner inside. I turned Mini 10 on and went through the brief setup. The keyboard feels good. Fascinated by the built-in HDTV, I affixed the tiny antenna next to the camera with the supplied mount, turned it on and waited while it scanned the available digital channels. It found all the local channels. The reception is great. I forgot about my new computer and admired the great TV reception for the next three hours.

After playing with the touch pad for a few minutes, I realized that a brief tap served as the mouse double-click (nice). HDMI, HDTV Tuner, Windows 7, 6-cell battery. This is a great little computer and a great deal.
Same configuration sells for $514.00 on the manufacturer's website[...] . At $399, you save $115 ($514 - $399 = $115)

I plan to uninstall the free MacAfee antivirus trial and replace it with the excellent free AVG Free Edition Antivirus ([..]). The included Microsoft Works word processor program is better than my old version of Microsoft Word 2000. More than adequate for my needs. Windows 7 Starter is lite, fast and great for my needs. Great Cyber Monday deal. Thanks Amazon for putting together a great unit for a great price!

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Length:: 1:37 Mins

I was relunctant to get the Dell Mini 10 because of some bad reviews I read. However, I am very happy with my choice of netbook. This is my 3rd netbook and it is as fast as the other ones. Its not a laptop. So a little slowness is to be expected.

I was worried about the touch pad, but have found no problem with it.

It does tend to get a little hot so a cooling pad would probably be a good purchase.

I pick up 26 digital channels at home and they show beautifully. I am totally impressed with the digital tv tuner.

I am also loving the HDMI. I believe this is the only netbook of this size that has a HDMI.

The 6 cell battery sticks out a bit under the computer. It helps raise it up so that it stays cooler.

It boots up fairly quickly.

I find no faults at all with this computer.

Even though I have been playing with my Dell Mini 10 for less than a week I feel compelled to address an issue that seems to be a universal concern: the track pad. Reviewers' complaints are unanimous: the track pad "sucks." Well, let me say out front, I love the Dell's track pad so much so that I programmed the track pad on my MacBook to behave in the same way. First, the buttons on the Dell track pad are not meant to be used; they are there just for show. The way to activate the function of the left button is to point the cursor where ever you want it and tap once with one finger. A double tap will grab a selection. By default the selection is released when you lift the finger but you can change that in the tack pad behavior utility. I recommend that the grab release be changed to a tap rather than the default lift. The two fingers scrolling is a standard feature of the MacBook and works really well on the Dell too. I disabled all the other gesture possibilities like zoom and rotate as I will probably never use them. I can always turn them back on an as-needed basis once I become more familiar with the proper functioning of the track pad.
Now for the other features: The Dell's Z530 processor is slightly slower than the N280 on my wife's Toshiba NB205 which is the machine I am able to compare to. I got the Dell rather than the Toshiba for the TV tuner and the HDMI output. The tuner is a bit of a disappointment as it does not tune all the stations available in my area. But let's not dwell on that, it is a problem I will try to solve in the next few weeks. Watching TV is not my top priority. The HDMI connection is very handy to plug the Dell in my HDTV and stream movies from Netflix without any problem. While the Z530 is a little slower than the N280 the Dell's graphic chipset is slightly faster than the Toshiba's and keeps up with the movie steam with few hicups (it is difficult to determine if the few lock ups are due to the network, wireless connection, or processor). And the wireless connection to my Airport Mini is flawless.
As far as external appearances the Toshiba beats the Dell hands down. The Dell is nice looking but the glossy black housing will never be clean once you touch it. The Toshiba has a ribbed surface that does not show fingerprints at all. Over all the aesthetic of the Toshiba is just better thought out.
The keyboard feel and layout of the Dell are perfectly fine. Now if only Windows 7 was more like OSX the Dell Mini 10 would be close to a perfect system.

I got this Mini 10 on Cyber Monday for $299. For this price, I give it a 3 instead of 2 stars.

There are many rumors in the review section. I can't speak for others, but the one I got has the following configuration:

COLOR: Obsidian Black
PROCESSOR: Intel®Atom®Processor Z530 (1.6GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache)
DISPLAY: 10.1" Widescreen Display (1024x600)
BATTERY OPTIONS: 56WHr Lithium-Ion Battery (6-cell)
MEMORY: 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
HARD DRIVE: Samsung 160GB, 2.5inch, 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
WIRELESS CARDS Wireless 802.11g (1397) Mini Card
INTEGRATED WEBCAM: Integrated 1.3M Pixel Webcam
TV TUNER: Dell Internal Digital TV Receiver (ATSC)
VIDEO CARD: Intel®Graphics Media Accelerator 500

MOBILE CONNECTIVITY: No Mobile Broadband

OPERATING SYSTEM: Genuine Windows® 7 Starter, 32bit, English
OFFICE SOFTWARE: Microsoft Works 9 DOES NOT INCLUDE MS WORD

WARRANTY AND SERVICE: 1Yr Ltd Warranty and Mail-In Service

Dell is selling the same configuration for $514.

Since upgrading the RAM is not possible, in order to gain some speed, I swap in a 30GB SSD, and use the 160 GB HDD as external hard drive.

The touch pad is not easy to use. It's too small for me. One might want to tweak the settings a little bit, ie: turn off the Zoom feature.

There are no HDD light! Given the system is sluggish (with HDD/Win 7/1 GB RAM), and without the HDD light, I can't tell if a big task is still loading or simply stuck.

The SD card reader is half-size. When I insert a SD card, half of it is outside the case, instead of completely sealed inside it. So leaving it in all the time might not be a good idea, especially if you are carrying it in a backpack like I do.

Even Z530 supports VTx, but you can't add RAM to this Mini 10! With this design and configuration, Dell should use Atom N280 instead. It would make more sense to me.

Length:: 2:22 Mins

My Favorite New Toy! A Must Have & Whats With the Bad Reviews?

I just purchased my Dell Mini 10 (Blue Cover) and I have to say that this was one of the best investments I ever made. If you think you are getting a high end laptop for the price of three-hundred bucks, then you are sorely mistaken. This is basically a smart phone PDA increased to the size of a ten inch screen with a keyboard attached. Most of the bells & whistles are intact.

At first it took me some time to get use to the screen. Websites are slightly altered due to the 10 inch screen, so and with the tool bar on top that includes (File, Refresh, etc) it can seem like there's hardly any room to view webpage's, but you'll get use to it. Viewing any site that you would on a regular desktop will have certain parts of the page moved around when viewing it on your netbook & this is to be expected because of the size.

I know everyone is complaining about the keypad, but it's really not that bad. It does take a few tries before you realized what works best for you. I've learned from having a Dell Studio Laptop that the best thing to do is just utilize the free space as a mouse and click. Don't bother trying to hit down on the key, but just double tap on the keypad to pick a selection. If you don't, you will find the experience of navigating through websites, typing a document on word, etc to be a horrendous experience.

Otherwise, if you are looking for a great small compact netbook to stay connected to the web, check email, browse a few sites - then this is the netbook for you. There isn't much customization due to the small size of the netbook that feels very light just a little under three pounds and practically smaller and skinnier then the new Twilight book. I would have it ordered it on amazon, but it was cheaper through Dell.

Overall, I am very pleased with my purchase because it's a great investment for anyone who needs internet access on the go. The only complaint I have is the price. I know its three-hundred, but I own a regular laptop with a 15 inch screen & that HP was only three-hundred. Sure, it was not a high end groundbreaking laptop, but it does the trick & power wise, it's stronger than the mini. I really feel the price point should drop by hundred bucks. Otherwise, this is still a great PC tool to have.

Pros:
Light weight (Less then three pounds)
Customizable Cover with different colors
Windows XP (Thank GOD - Vista is so WHACK)
Keyboard is 90% size of a real keyboard
Wi-Fi
3 USB slots
160GB Memory
1.66 GHZ
1GB RAM

Cons:
A bit pricey IMO - It really should be two hundred & under
No DVD Slot

For the price I dont think you will find a better mini. Out of the box it found my wireless connection right away and upon opening the TV tuner I scanned for local channels and it found a few. The picture clarity is nice and watching television is an added bonus. It functions well and as far as speed, it has done fine. Not super fast, but gets around the internet and does what I need it to do. You cannot upgrade the memory however-YOU CAN INCREASE MEMORY BY USING A MEMORY CARD-I inserted a 4GB and it instantly came up with something called "cache boost" and I alloted the amount of memory from that card I wanted to let the computer us a ram, (leaving a bit of memory for picture and file storage). The 6 cell battery is nice as it is a bit thicker than the computer so when the computer is on a flat surface it creates air space to assist with cooling. I ordered a mouse to go with this as I hate using a touch pad, so I havnt any review for the touch pad. Battery has been used for approx six hours so far, about to need a charge. You CANNOT customize your desktop wallpaper-its disabled unless you upgrade. Not important to me, but be aware. This has been the best income tax refund present I have ever purchased. I paid $320. I would purchase again.

I got this when I saw the Cyber Monday sale and recieved it yesterday (Thursday). I had been wanting a Netbook for a long time as my Dell Laptop is almost 8 years old and is too big to carry around much. I put off buying one until Windows 7 came out and just happened upon this deal.

First let me say that Amazon is the best for offering this deal, too bad not everyone was able to get it for $299. However even at Amazon's regular price I would say this Netbook is worth it, just not at Dell's normal price ($[...]+ on the Dell website). I have not used my notebook for games of DVD playback in a long time so this netbook was perfect for what I needed. The hard drive is plenty big enough to load Itunes movies and music for road trips (I had pondered buying an Ipod touch before I saw this)and the wifi access is excellent. My agency has an Office 2007 deal which allowed me to install Office 2007 Enterprise for my at home personal use for only $[...]!!

The only thing this Netbook lacked that I wanted was Bluetooth connectivity which I resolved by purchasing a Bluetooth adapter off Ebay for $[...], works with my GPS and Microsoft Streets & Trips with no problems.

Bottom Line: If you need a computer thats portable and offers most of the functions of a full sized computer, this will not disappoint you!!

I got this in the cyber monday lightning deal that went sold out in a few seconds and let me say that I wouldn't have been too disappointed if I had missed the deal now that I got this thing on my hand for a few days. First of all the screen is a bit too small for my taste and I didn't realize until after the purchase that amazon was selling the 1024x600 version not the 720p version that has been in most review. Second, the Windows 7 is slow, which is nothing new, but apparently I had expected a responsiveness closer to a smart phone, and Windows smart phone is not at all that fast by the way. I have a great suspicion that 2GB memory instead of the non-upgradeable 1GB could have made a great deal of difference in this manner. However, a mixed curse with Windows 7 Starter will limit the number of applications open at a time to total of 3 so 1GB is probably never going to be a problem just because of this self-imposed crippling of the OS. In this respect to the non-upgradeable memory, running full-blown WindowsXP is probably going to shoot you in the foot more than the Windows7 Starter. But on the good part the TV reception is great and the software works, albeit slow to respond in changing channels. Youtube video runs smoothly but since the screen is so short I found myself having to go full screen most of the time instead of watching within the window. The shortness of the screen also makes most of the real estate consumed by the toolbars in the browser to be very annoying, except for Chrome which barely has anything on the top. I guess if I had laid my hand on this item before I purchased it I wouldn't have been too eager to click on the lightning deal, but for the price I don't think I could claim it as a terribly poor machine although I would gladly spring another $100 for the larger resolution and 2GB memory and then it would be just perfect. For now, this is great as a quick companion for emergency use on the road when the regular laptop is just a bit too much hassle to lug around.

The battery life on the notebook is great, and I was surprised on how fast it was considering it was only a notebook. The only problem I have (which I was aware of from other reviews) was the touch pad. I've had it for about a month and a half, and still don't have it down. Its very touchy on where you hit it, and sometimes puts the pointer in the corner. If any finger is touching the pad anywhere and another finger just taps it accidentlly, the screen magnifys or goes to another page or something. I tried adjusting it to no avail. Other than being annoying chasing the pointer around, its a good notebook. Get a mouse and problem solved.