Dell Inspiron Mini 9 ? Options

[jns_mt]

Does anyone think of buying the new little laptop from Dell (Inspiron Mini 9) and put OSX on it ?
It's an Intel 965PM chipset and a 950 graphics card, so that might be supported.

Any thoughts ?

[NYC Coyote]

My initial thoughts on this is that the video card shouldn't be a problem. But they give very little detail about the sound and the wireless. Could be intel wireless instead of broadcom, and the sound might be sigmatel or something else that isn't 100%.

If there is an ethernet port I'm willing to bet it will be 10/100 which ever since 10.5.3 has been dropping its connection during transfers.

For me...it looks good....but its a wait and let someone else be the guinee pig on it.

I'd love to see what someone does with the Lenovo S10 or the Asus One, which are both relatively in the same category (except the Asus One)

[lithium06]

I just saw this laptop on gizmodo and looked it up. it looks like it could be an awesome lil air like hackintosh. and on the cheap. but like Coyote said they dont give much info out about what the internals are... and when you 'Customize it' it still doesnt.

actually - a little more googling found this on gizmodo:

http://gizmodo.com/photogallery/inspiron910/1003214757

if you can read that print there's a little more detail about the sound n stuff.

[splits]

Seriously, Dell shows these as being offered with only either a 4gb, 8gb, or 16gb SS HD. These numbers should be used for RAM, not HD capacity.

[Blackice]

The Mini9 has an ALC268 audio chip, which appears to work (http://www.insanelymac.com/lofiversion/index.php/t96434.html)

It also seems to have some sort of built-in 3G card or something (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2329426,00.asp). Don't know the model, don't know if it'll be supported.

I was going to buy the Mini9, but then I found the Acer Aspire One. It's the same price (£299), but it's got 120Gb storage. In white, it can look alright. Not as good as the Dell, but still not bad. The trackpad isn't as good either (buttons on the sides). Still, I'm willing to live with that, if it means I can have more than 8Gb of memory (my iPhone has more than that). Oh, and it's confirmed to run OSx86.

The Aspire's WiFi card is an Atheros 5007EG, which is confirmed not working. You can, however, replace it with a bcm94311mcag (about £15 from eBay and some disassembly), and it'll work fine (confirmed).

[Viscaria]

I was going to buy the Mini9, but then I found the Acer Aspire One. It's the same price (£299), but it's got 120Gb storage. In white, it can look alright. Not as good as the Dell, but still not bad. The trackpad isn't as good either (buttons on the sides). Still, I'm willing to live with that, if it means I can have more than 8Gb of memory (my iPhone has more than that). Oh, and it's confirmed to run OSx86.

AFAIK the Acer can't sleep in OS X, kind of a deal breaker for a laptop.

Edit: I was about to order the eeePC 901, untill the Dell came out. Now I am between those two.

[cgreenberg]

The admins deleted my thread about the differences between the SSD and HD versions of the Aspire One, so I apologize for not being able to refer to it. I accidentally committed the cardinal sin of posting a question in the Tutorial section, where I see questions all the time. I shan't repeat said error, my good fellows.

Anyway, I've been having a bitch of a time getting Kalyway 10.5.2 onto this XP/HD Aspire One. It does seem to be a different version above and beyond the SSD/HD and the OS. The handful of guys who've reported success getting OSX to run on the Aspire One all have the Linux/SSD version. I'm here to add another data point: the XP/HD version is a different animal.

[frankle]

I too am thinking of getting one of the Dell Mini 9's as a take everywhere machine instead of my MacBook, very happy with the 3G slot that will be coming out soon (I have Vodafone 3G wireless Huawei E220 USB thing at the moment) but a little disappointed that it does not have wireless-N and gigabit ethernet.

Hopefully I will have some spare cash when the 3G card is actually released in it here in Australia as I will not hesitate to try and put OS X on it. At the moment though we only get 1 choice of model, the 16GB SSD with 1GB RAM and 1.3MP camera. Also only XP Home SP3, no Linux version yet.

[nickhe]

It comes with a VIA prossesor so No it wont work

[Viscaria]

Hopefully I will have some spare cash when the 3G card is actually released in it here in Australia as I will not hesitate to try and put OS X on it. At the moment though we only get 1 choice of model, the 16GB SSD with 1GB RAM and 1.3MP camera. Also only XP Home SP3, no Linux version yet.

In the States the Linux version costs the same or $20 more than the XP version depending upon specs. As far as the one model, I wouldn't want to run OS X with less than 16GB SSD and 1GB RAM. Also, the 1.3 MP camera is a lot more likely to work in iChat than the 0.3 MP.

It comes with a VIA prossesor so No it wont work

No. It doesn't. It has an Intel Atom, like many other netbooks that do work with OS X.

[nickhe]

acording CnetTV it has a via prossesor

[Viscaria]

Interesting, but look at dell.com, or any review of the Inspiron Mini. It has an Intel Atom. I'm not trying to start a flamewar, I just don't want anyone to be misled.

[nickhe]

ok thx i think cnet is missleading people

[cgreenberg]

CNet is a f'ing joke and has been since the beginning. It's the McDonalds of tech journalism. If you ever met the losers that write that site, you'd be appalled that someone gave them jobs as tech journalists.

If you are here, it's because you are smart enough to want to use OSX. So forget about Cnet as a reliable source. You might as well ask your grandfather what processor the Dell uses.

[splits]

cnet does in fact suck...

[Detosx]

The keyboard could and should be a bit wider, in my opinion, the space is there. 3hrs and 20mins watching videos (Windows XP) puts it well ahead of the MSI and the AcerOne. I know a Linux version is supposed to be coming in the next few weeks, but how about a version with a hard drive? The screen looks to be excellent. Pity about the GMA950 graphics. Perhaps second generation models will offer something a little more usable. On paper it looks as though it might be as compatible as the competition but that's purely speculation on my part. Heck, I would be happy with one with Linux on it!

Hopefully Apple have something up their sleeve, tomorrow!

[ShadowBandit]

im in a struggle of choosing, this mini or the asus 900 i would like to see if anyone has successfully done the install on this dell before i make my final decision

[Viscaria]

The Asus 900 has a Celeron, not an Atom, and I'm also not sure it has a GMA 950. It definitly won't work very well with OS X. Unless you meant the 901.

Anyway, I can't believe that with all the tech sites that have review units of the Inspiron Mini that someone hasn't installed OS X on one yet. I'm hoping to find out how it works soon, as the mini is already badly backordered.

[ShadowBandit]

lol you have to excuse my newbness... i was actually looking at the 1000h with the atom processor. But now i am on the line with acer aspire one or the dell.... the asus will be more in the range of just going all out and getting a regular laptop price range. Only thing that is bumming me out right now is the fact that the dell only comes with SSHD while the aspire one has the new 120gb hd.... aghhh decisions decisions. hopefully someone will try osx on this soon...

[PeteRock]

Just tried iatkos 4i 10.5.4 with the dell inspiron mini and there are two things which do not work properly.

1. wireless card not seen (based on BCM4315 chipset)
2. Intel GMA950 800x600 resolution only.

I am a complete newbie for this kind of thing so if anyone knows how to get the 2 things above working then I would be using osx to replace windows xp.

I have a macbook pro 17" too but want something cheap and portable which unfortunately apple do not do "yet".

So come on lets see if we can get the inspiron mini working fully!

Dale