Dell Inspiron Mini 9 as a Transport

[aardvark baguette]

Surfing HC during capitals games on the couch. Or music server @ work.

[Azazel]

Make my wife happy at bed...

... because at least she has one computer light and small enough to see its mail/facebox/etc confortably.

What else were you thinking

[thrice]

The TWiT Netcast Network with Leo Laporte

Andy Ihnatko hacked a Dell mini 9 and put OS X on it. If you listen to the podcast starting around the 1:00 hour mark, he talks about hacking the Dell mini 9 and whether it's worth it or not. Good discussion and good advice about making the decision to go this route or not.

[Voltron]

There's also this convertible tablet/netbook/refrigerator magnet thing written up in NYT Circuits today:

[Dusty Chalk]

Dang, that is cute...and starting at only $299!

[morphsci]

It is cute, but the OS has me concerned.

[Voltron]

It is cute, but the OS has me concerned.

According to NYT:

And because the Touch Book was built on an open-source platform, users have their choice of operating systems, including Google

[Dusty Chalk]

From the FAQ:

The Touch Book will ship with the Touch Book OS by default. Since the Touch Book has been designed with the help of a vibrant open source community that believes in diversity, you can install many other OSes, including Google Android, Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Windows CE. You are free to do whatever you want.

EDIT: Damnit, Al beat me!

[morphsci]

According to NYT:

And because the Touch Book was built on an open-source platform, users have their choice of operating systems, including Google

[clarke68]

using the touch screen is a little more touchy, I would say.

Rimshot!

[Voltron]

[GPH]

Any of you netbook users have tried to use Matlab or another numerical analysis application? That's probably the most demanding thing I'd do on a netbook if I decide to buy one and I'm wondering how well it performs for such tasks.

[slwiser]

I have not put much stuff like that on mine. I want to keep it purely for what I had in mind when I got it, primarily a music server. That is the Dell Mini 9.

[morphsci]

Any of you netbook users have tried to use Matlab or another numerical analysis application? That's probably the most demanding thing I'd do on a netbook if I decide to buy one and I'm wondering how well it performs for such tasks.

I'm probably going to load SAS on it and then run some data sets through on it and my workstation. SAS writes both total time and processor time into the log file for each procedure and the total run. Should be interesting. I probably won't get around to doing that before the summer though.

[slwiser]

Remember it acts much like a dual core, so half a 1.6 ghz dual core is a single core working at 0.8 ghz at best.

[morphsci]

Remember it acts much like a dual core, so half a 1.6 ghz dual core is a single core working at 0.8 ghz at best.

Oh, I'm just doing it out of curiosity.

[screaming oranges]

I am currently in the market for a netbook as well, to serve as my "pc-based" rig. I prefer the idea of fanless...

EDIT: Building one's own mini-pc (not necessarily a netbook, just something small-form-factor) wouldn't be more cost-efficient, would it?

[aardvark baguette]

dont bother with small boxes. You'll get more heat in a smaller space, and be limited in what equipment you can run, and likely pay a premium for smaller parts. It will probably need to run a fan more often to compensate for the heat too.

Something like the small Lian Li boxes are pointless, imo, as they simply compensate for lack of height with an increase in width. They don't really end up saving you all that much space, especially considering they have a larger footprint (some of them anyway).

To be clear, I'm not talking about stuff as small as a mac mini, I'm talking about this type of rig

Edited March 13, 2009 by aardvark baguette

[screaming oranges]

Yes, the above resembles what I had in mind. I was crunching up some numbers and it seems going the DIY is never cheaper than the eeepc or dell or HP.

Even when I get close price-wise, I am still missing a monitor.

To be honest, I've always wanted to build a "music pc" inside a mini jukebox, like this one, with a small display somewhere in there:

Of course, the rest of the rig would have to match the look physically as well

[aardvark baguette]

now that is definitely well outside my area of knowledge.

[Dusty Chalk]

...build a "music pc" inside a mini jukebox...

I'm sure something like that's been done. There's a magazine that has a custom pc build on the cover of every magazine (Maximum PC? CPU? I forget). They do some pretty outlandish things, like put lava lamps in the liquid cooling portion. (Alright, I haven't actually seen that done, but I still think it has been.)

Um...not sure I agree with Monsieur Baguette de la Aardvark. I do agree with his general principle, and to the conclusion, to a certain extent. But if you go so small as to basically bleed the cooling directly to the outside, I do think small is good. To wit: HP Voodoo Firebird something. Factory liquid cooled computers with 1333 FSB == rockin'.

[screaming oranges]

Well, guys, staying indoors on a Friday night paid off. Friday 13th turned out to be LUCKY day for me!

I jumped on this offer when I saw it:

FS: (LIke New) EeePC 901 XP - Head-Fi: Covering Headphones, Earphones and Portable Audio

[aardvark baguette]

Um...not sure I agree with Monsieur Baguette de la Aardvark. I do agree with his general principle, and to the conclusion, to a certain extent. But if you go so small as to basically bleed the cooling directly to the outside, I do think small is good. To wit: HP Voodoo Firebird something. Factory liquid cooled computers with 1333 FSB == rockin'.

Well that is certainly an exception, but I'm thinking more of the diy type builds, and fan powered. I probably should have mentioned that.

The voodoo stuff is pretty expensive. I've actually never done water cooled, I've actually tried to avoid it for other reasons, but you also have to take into account the noise of the motor.

From what I've read, many of the motors in DIY watercooling don't necessarily strive for silence, but rather power, so they end up being not much quieter than air cooled alternatives.

[Upstateguy]

To be clear, I'm not talking about stuff as small as a mac mini, I'm talking about this type of rig

I built a fleet of these Shuttles a few years ago with 3.4 Northwoods... One fan, runs around 38C with music.... but I'm interested in a netbook now. Can't see a reason to go this big any more.

[postjack]

I'm looking to pick one of these $199 Mini 9's up tonight to take advantage of the sale. My primary use will be browsing the net in the den while listening to my speakers, but I would also like the ability to use it to do needle drops. Any suggestions for upgrades? I'm thinking the extra $25 for the 1 gig of ram is all I'll need.