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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Slightly OT: Dell Mini 9 $200
David Harpe, Photographer
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Rich Cruse, Photographer
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Laguna Niguel | CA | USA | Posted: 2:52 PM on 02.27.09 |
| ->> Please note it has a 4 Gig drive standard. |
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Thomas Boydston, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Conroe | Tx | United States | Posted: 5:13 PM on 02.27.09 |
->> And is easily upgradeable along with the RAM (which is dirt cheap in our current economic situation).
There are tons of videos on YouTube for adding in parts to this machine. Apparently it was designed in some capacity just for easy upgrades.
I'm thinking about picking one up just for something to take to class. My 17" full keyboard monster gets too hot and dies too fast.
Thanks for the link! |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 5:34 PM on 02.27.09 |
| ->> Can it run WinXP ? |
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Thomas Boydston, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Conroe | Tx | United States | Posted: 5:59 PM on 02.27.09 |
->> It can maybe run it kind of.
It's not a matter of any other specification aside from the size of that solid state drive.
If you buy it and throw in something that is at least 8GB (or just buy the next size up) you'll be good to go!
Then again, why would you want XP? It comes standard with Ubuntu, how awesome! :p With Ubuntu, you could run PhotoMechanic and Photoshop CS2 much faster on that particular machine than you could under Windows XP. |
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Jeff Mills, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Columbus | OH | USA | Posted: 6:44 PM on 02.27.09 |
->> It was my understanding that Adobe apps wont run under any sort of Linex based OS, though I could be wrong on that.
I really like the idea of such a small form factor laptop that could actually be thrown into the outer pocket on my photo backpack, but if said machine couldn't run CS3 or PM, then it wouldn't prove very useful to carry. |
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Rich Cruse, Photographer
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Laguna Niguel | CA | USA | Posted: 7:39 PM on 02.27.09 |
->> If you order it with Windows, the price jumps to $299 but it includes 1gb ram and 8 gig SSD.
http://tinyurl.com/bjsglt
David was pointing out "if" you want a barebones netbook for hacking to run OSX, this is a good deal.
I am still eyeing the $999 Refurb MacBook Air but may just get a MacBook Pro. BTW, MacConnection.com has the best price at the moment for the 15" 2.4 Ghz model $1759 after $240 rebate. |
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Mark Scheuern, Photographer
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Grand Blanc | MI | USA | Posted: 8:14 PM on 02.27.09 |
| ->> Thomas, are you talking about running under Wine? Does that work well? |
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Thomas Boydston, Student/Intern, Photographer
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Conroe | Tx | United States | Posted: 7:46 PM on 02.28.09 |
->> Mark,
It works perfectly fine. You don't really run things under WINE since it's not an emulator. In fact, WINE stands for Wine Is Not an Emulator. It's written completely independent of Windows and simply uses the provided API for executing programs on Linux machines. Even with the price back up $50 I'm considering this more and more.
The difference between low end laptops and high end laptops shrinks everyday. In May, 2007 I got my $2200 laptop that runs 2.3ghz with 2gb of ram and only an 80gb drive. Now for $250 I can get a 1.6ghz and for an additional $100 it can have 2GB of ram and a 32GB drive. Who could say no? |
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Mark Scheuern, Photographer
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Grand Blanc | MI | USA | Posted: 7:51 AM on 03.01.09 |
->> Thanks, Thomas. I had forgotten that all it needs to do is intercept the Windows API calls.
The current issue of Wired magazine has an article on netbooks (as inexpensive laptops are called) and makes the point that, for the vast majority of what people use laptops for most of the time, these computers, which are about as powerful as very good laptops were not so long ago, serve perfectly well. |
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Erik Markov, Photographer
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Kokomo | IN | | Posted: 8:46 AM on 03.01.09 |
->> Mark,
Thanks for the refer to Wired, I'll have to check that out. I have to agree with them.
I've got the Lenovo s10e and used it a couple times for work thus far. Between the instant on OS for browsing the web, to its small but capable screen size, to the long life, its pretty sweet. It probably doesn't have the power to batch process a a huge folder of images, but I wasn't looking for that. Main reason I got it was for the expresscard slot. Yesterday I shot state swimming, took me 2 minutes to D/L 1.7Gb of MKIII images using a Siig expresscard reader. Was able to edit 500 images down to the 9 I needed in 30 minutes while I ate lunch.
I think the only shame of these new computers is that with newspapers and photography in the toilet, more people won't get a chance to make use of them. I wish these had come out even 4-5 years ago, they make getting work done so much easier. Granted it means a photog just ends up getting more assignments to shoot & more pressure, but that's happening anyway. Might as well make use of the tools available and make life easier. |
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Martin McNeil, Photographer
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East Kilbride | Lanarkshire | United Kingdom | Posted: 9:00 AM on 03.01.09 |
->> I just picked one up last week on via a contract with my cellphone provider: £30/month netted me the Mini 9 and a 3GB/month cellular data allowance.
Mine came with Windows XP installed on an 8GB SSD. I uninstalled some pre-loaded software which I'll never use then installed Photoshop CS3, SmartFTP and a few other bits and pieces - leaving me with 3.5GB HDD space left over.
For transmitting a small batch of photos it was perfect. I used it at both the pre-fight presser for UFC 95 and also to send my shots from the weigh-ins the next day - averaging about 70 / 80 shots sent each time.
On that note; uploads over my cellular data network were FAST: around 80KB/sec (650kb/sec) constant. I should say that this was in London where network coverage was extensive and good quality throughout.
The keyboard took about a day to get used to; to make the machine a touch more practical, I'm planning on swapping the HDD for a 32GB SSD (£60 from Crucial) and also upping the RAM to 2GB (£20) |
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Jody Gomez, Photographer
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Murrieta | CA | USA | Posted: 2:20 PM on 03.19.09 |
->> I just got the Mini 9 for my birthday and I`m having a lot of fun with it. It`s perfect for throwing in my backpack and carrying around. Like Martin, I dumped some of the preloaded software, added PhotoMechanic and CS3, and copied my Firefox settings. I really like it and I can`t wait to use it for transmitting images from the field.
The keyboard is a little weird (and small), but I think it will be fine once I get used to it.
:~)
Jody |
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Debra L Rothenberg, Photographer
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New York | NY | USA | Posted: 4:34 PM on 03.19.09 |
| ->> is there a way to copy Firefox onto another netbook-the Asus 901HA? |
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Robert Hanashiro, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | | Posted: 7:33 PM on 03.19.09 |
->> Wow! Thanks for the heads up Dave.
Looks like a look little machine ... has anyone run the Mac OS on it and transmitted from the field?
I'd love to get this if the Mac OS is stable and Photo Mechanic will run on it.
The tech specs lists a built-in wifi card AND Verizon broadband card? I wonder if both work under the Mac OS ... especially the Verizon card. (Question: If you already have a Verizon usb card, can you use that same account on the built in broadband card in the Dell?)
Sounds like a cool, fun little machine... |
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Thomas Quinn, Photographer
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Valparaiso | IN | USA | Posted: 8:25 PM on 03.19.09 |
->> I'd be interested in this as well if it will runs the Mac OS and Transmitted from the field......
I guess To Be Continued....... |
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Rod Leland, Photographer, Student/Intern
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Lethbridge | AB | Canada | Posted: 8:44 PM on 03.19.09 |
->> Bert, Thomas,
I run OSX Leopard, PM, and CS4 with iPhone Modem to browse, edit, tether, and remote file on my Mini 9/8GB SSD when im not carrying my MBP. Works great, but does require some fairly heavy duty work to get OSX going in the first place.
The best resource is here:
http://mydellmini.com/forum/mac-os-x-f23.html
Especially the FAQ and How To's section above.
That's Mine ----> http://twitpic.com/xt8x
I'd be happy to answer any other questions anyone has.
Bert, as far as I know, a USB verizon Card would work just fine.
Also, Runcore makes the best replacement SSD's for the mini 9 up to 64 GB.
http://www.runcore.com/prodshow.asp?ID=161
-Rod |
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Al Goldis, Photographer
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East Lansing | MI | USA | Posted: 9:03 PM on 03.19.09 |
->> Lots of information on installing Mac OS X at http://www.mydellmini.com/ in the Mac OS X forum. It's not as easy as just installing the OS but it's not too bad.
But from a cost perspective, keep in mind that to be legal you should buy a retail copy of Mac OS X Leopard. And technically, according to the EULA, even if you pay Apple for the OS they don't allow you to run it on a non-Apple machine.
Personally, I'm with Thomas Boydston on this. I'm not interested in the Mini 9 because of the non-standard smaller keyboard (and the lack of power for serious photo processing) but if I were, I think I would just go with Ubuntu. Ubuntu has everything you need for browsing, email, FTP, etc. and it will run Photo Mechanic if that's what floats your boat. |
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