My Dell Mini Forum

Dell have recently commissioned the release of a limited edition Dell Mini 10, featuring a lid design by Deanna Cheuk, whose recent work includes design for Nike, American Express, NY Times, MTV and a few other high-profile brands.
The units feature a unique kaleidoscope design and each are numbered to make them extra special.

The Mini 10 the design features on is of normal specifications, 160GB HDD, 1024 x 600 screen (not HD), Windows 7 Starter and Wireless B/G.

The only retailer link I could find out there was Best Buy for $379.99, considering there were only 5250 of these made, it's cool they haven't bumped the price up.

[via Liliputing, Chip Chick]

Earlier, Google Chrome OS was showcased to the world in the form of a low-key press event, and a wealth of videos and screenshots. As many predicted, the operating system itself is effectively the Google Chrome browser that we can use to surf the web today. Google see the need for the browser to be the main part of a computer, and aim to deliver the best streamlined internet experience with their OS, with EVERYTHING being run through the browser, from file management tabs to your standard web page.

What's interesting is the way the OS relies 100% on the cloud, local storage is just used to speed up the system, everything is stored on the in Google Docs, Picasa, Gmail etc (maybe Google will release some sort of storage service). Which means the only thing you need to access your files from any Chrome OS computer is your login. Google state they understand that all of this means the OS will really only suite those who use the internet most of the time, and that it will not be widespread and replacing our current computer setups.

Engadget have the whole scoop with a bunch of screenies and another video.

For us, as netbook users, it looks like Google Chrome OS could certainly be a viable choice in the future, especially for earlier netbooks as storage does not come into the equation. However another thing that Engadget reports, is that Google Chrome OS will only work on specifically listed hardware, and that this does not include standard hard disk drives! So you'll have to be running it on something with an SSD, which right now seems rather peculiar. Thankfully at the presentation, the OS was previewed on a flavour of EEE PC, which has pretty much the same hardware as most netbooks out there today.

I was getting all giddy and excited about the new Flash 10.1 pre-release update, which primary functions as far I'm concerned is allowing video playback to be offloaded onto the GPU. Let's be honest our Atom processors just aren't upto scratch for decoding HD flash movies on the fly so running flash videos on the GPU should really help performance, especially on the GMA 500 which has built in video decoders, and in theory, allow smooth Youtube/Hulu HD playback.

However like a lot of netbook owners, I was disappointed to discover that the GMA 950 (DM9, 10v) and GMA 500 (10,12) aren't listed on the compatible hardware. Major bummer. However are perusing the blogosphere last night, I noticed a few people had claimed they could now play Youtube HD smoothly after installing the update. Notably on Engadget, Gizmodo, Liliputing and on our own forums. There is a lot of speculation as to whether these users were experience greater playback due to the flash update, as according to Adobe they really shouldn't have.

This prompted to me make this (my first!) video displaying Youtube HD playback on the Dell Mini 9 and Dell Mini 10 before AND after to see if there really was any difference. Sound on the video has come out pretty much inaudible but it sounded perfect on my computer. That's my excuse anyway!
As you can see the results aren't great, and in conclusion I would not recommend installing it until the full stable version is released, which hopefully will include support for our minis!

Stantum (no idea either) have come up with a concept that completely transforms our good friend the Dell Mini 10 into a multi-touch slate PC. Looking much like a Mini 10 version of our own forum members mod (don't forget this original gem too), the Stantum multi-touch slate PC carries an extremely powerful touch screen with Windows 7 there to make full use of its features.

However, all this touch screen goodness does come at a cost. Other than not being able to recognise the unit as a Dell Mini 10, inside they have removed the webcam, a USB port and the bluetooth/wifi antennas, so it's likely you won't be able to connect to anything that isn't inside cable reach anyway.

View the Stantum Slate PC.

Whoah, all I do is sleep for 8 hours and the powers that be decide to sneak the Dell Mini 3i into the world. The first generation of Dell smartphone is now available to the Chinese market and a keen blogger has posted some very tantalising pictures of it. Notably the phone comes with a stylus for the capacitive touchscreen, supposedly handy for writing in Chinese, and because of apparently lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack, a micro USB adaptor to allow the use of ones own headphones. Looks like they learnt from Apples mistake.

Click the title to see more pictures of the Dell Mini 3i.

In related news, the Washington Post reports that the Dell Mini 3i is about to début not only in China but in Brazil as well.
There is still no word on when the Android based smart phone will reach the US and/or Europe. Which I'm going to officially state as being "a shame" as I've been putting off buying an iPhone for an Android-based phone for quite a while now and with the recent murmurings of the internet (and my fanboyisim), the Dell Mini 3iX looks to be the phone for me.

[via Engadget]

Last night I spent some alone time with my flock of Dell Minis to get the BIOS all up to date for them. For those of you who don't know, BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System and is basically what initializes your computers hardware when you turn it on. Upgrading the BIOS can have various benefits, from speeding up your system, prolonging battery life and giving pesky hardware a new lease of life.

Below is a list of links to the latest BIOS revision for each Mini.

Dell Mini 9
Version: A05
Released: 19th April 2009
Dell Info Page: Drivers & Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/QHA05.exe

Dell Mini 12
Version: A04
Released: 8th May 2009
Information: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/YaoMingA04.exe

Dell Mini 10
Version: A11
Released: 29th October 2009
Dell Info Page: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R246063.exe

Dell Mini 10v
Version: A06
Released: 3rd November 2009
Dell Info Page: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R246690.exe


Dell Latitude 2100
Version: A02
Released: 12th August 2009
Information: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/M2100A02.EXE


Dell Inspiron 11z
Version: A04
Released: 23rd October 2009
Information: Drivers and Downloads
Download: ftp://ftp.dell.com/bios/R242997.exe

For any Dell products that I haven't included, the appropiate BIOS utility can be found at the Dell Support Site.

Upgrading your BIOS couldn't be easier. Just run the program which takes only a few minutes and after a restart you're ready to go. Just make sure your Mini is running on either external power or has a battery charge of at least 10%. It is important that you do not interrupt the BIOS "flashing" process as a corrupt BIOS = a Corrupt PC that simply won't turn on. This is of course while I feel the need to say UPGRADE YOUR SYSTEM BIOS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Despite lots of will-they-or-won't-they with Apple, regarding killing off Intel Atom support, The latest 10.6.2 Mac OS X upgrade drops support for Atom processors. Thankfully our local OS X guru Meklort has come up with a solution for rolling back your kernel to 10.6.1 while keeping all the features of 10.6.2.

Our Mac OS X forum is buzzing with activity since the release of the update, and as per usual with hackintosh'n methods, there are many ways to get the job done.

Check out Meklorts kernel roll back instructions here, if you take even the slightest interest in hackintoshing you certainly might want to give the whole thread a read.