[MJamus]

So I've had my Mini 9 for a year now and I love it. However at times I squint more than I'd like to and the placement of the ' drives me crazy.

Why hasn't the Latitude 2100 take off in the same way as the Mini 9?
Seems like you get a little moer screen, larger keyboard, similar hardware...

Right now they are on sale at the Dell Outlet and you can pick one up for as low as $183
Dell Outlet 20% off Latitude 2100 Netbooks (refurb): 10.1" WSVGA LED (1024x600), Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB Ram, 16GB Solid State Drive, 6-cell Battery, WiFi, Linux $183 - SlickDeals.net Forums

They will run Mac OSX almost like the Mini 9 (minus the ethernet card)
InsanelyMac Forum > Latitude 2100 Netbook Instructions - HOW TO

I'd love to hear impressions from people who own one, and people who chose not to buy one.

[Thorsteenster]

I'm caught between one of these or a newer 1010 with 2GB for my W7 netbook.

[anguish]

I want one, but since I got my 10v, I'm too cheap to buy one. I'd love to get one to hack with though.. But my finances are going elsewhere at the moment.

[aslacker]

I just picked up a 2100 from the outlet last week -- sans coupon of course... (You can always tell when there wil be coupons -- it's just after I order...)

That said, I now have a Mini10v and a Latitude 2100, and it looks like I'll be selling the 10v off. The 2100 weighs about a pound more than the 10v -- or feels like it -- and the 10v definitely looks nicer than the 2100 (both are black); but other than that, the 2100 wins hands down for me. I am still working out some of the 2100's idiosyncrasies (switching on/off wireless, for example), but it is a much more solid machine than the 10v, and it had a gigabit Ethernet port (like I really use more than 100 Megs...). Oh! And I like the fan!

Hopefully I can do a point-for-point comparison before I divest myself of the 10v, but we'll see if school allows or not.

[MJamus]

Well I couldn't resist the coupon and ordered one from the Outlet with a Touchscreen. It should arrive early next week. I'll do a Mini 9 vs Latitude 2100 Comparision and aslacker is doing a 10v so maybe we can open this up and get it going!

[pmronline]

Originally Posted by MJamus

Well I couldn't resist the coupon and ordered one from the Outlet with a Touchscreen. It should arrive early next week. I'll do a Mini 9 vs Latitude 2100 Comparision and aslacker is doing a 10v so maybe we can open this up and get it going!

nice.. thanks

[aslacker]

Looks like I won't get to do the comparison after all -- sorry folks. Sold my 10v, today!

[ayg]

I've had a HP Mini and Acer Mini, both 10in units... I can say without a doubt I enjoy the Dell Lat 2100 far better. It seems easier to type on and I travel for a living and spend alot of time rushing and moving and I just don't worry as much about the unit breaking as I did with the previous two.

I am planning on ordering a 160gb HDD to replace the 16gb SSD next week so I can install a copy of Win 7 Home Premium so I might think twice about just tossing it in the overhead bin as quickly next time I'm on a plane.

[somms]

Finally got my hands on the Latitude2100 and it definetely wins out being my new Torrent fileserver interfaced with an external USB 1TB drive over the Mini9 since it supports both gigabit and WOL!

[tntc.tig]

Our Dell rep showed up to our uni with a Latitude 2000 (prototype for the 2100, basically) a few weeks after my 2100 had shown up. Yes, you read that right: He had a pre-production model to demo even though real units were shipping. The 2000 had a 0x000007B blue screen on it because the previous rep hadn't taken care of it, and it had no touchscreen or web cam. What's the point of having demo models if they don't have any of the cool features that are available? Dell is neglecting a product which has real potential.

If Dell dropped this into the home market as a family friendly Netbook with grown-up power, they would outsell mini 9s and mini 10v. This would be ESPECIALLY true if they could bring the price down a bit. A 2100 has features that no other netbook has done well, if at all. Certainly no netbook has ALL of the features a 2100 has.

1) Has a large enough keyboard for adults while still small enough for kids
3) Has a touchscreen option
4) Is resistant to damage and spills,
5) Has an option for a carrying strap that fits into the Kensington lock ports
6) Uses standard Dell power adapters
7) Has fast Ethernet and wireless options
8) Has an option for an anti-microbial keyboard

Number 3) and 5) are worth special note: People ask me where they can get a strap like mine for their notebook all the time, right before they go "Holy crap, it has a TOUCHSCREEN?! How much did THAT cost, like a grand? $500 SHIPPED?! WHAT?! WHERE CAN I GET ONE OF THOSE?!"

If they offered both the rubberized texture case AND a standard smooth top and bottom plate with they colors of the Mini 10/10v, this thing would TRAMPLE other netbooks in the market. They also need to put the SSD option back in, with the option for SSDs larger than 16GB. Larger SSDs are available in other laptops, why not this one? This would kick the price up, but the people that really need the storage would pay it. The only upgrade to my 2100 was putting a nice fat 64GB OCZ Solid series in there. Even a Latitude 2200, in the same case as a 2100 with and updated CPU, GPU (NOT A GMA 500!) and a higher resolution screen would be great.


P.S: Dell, if you decide to use any of my ideas, I could use another fully loaded 2100 (or 2200 if you release it) with Windows 7 to go with my Linux 2100n. Better still, I could use full time job.


I think there are two big Dell mistakes that have prevented the 2100 from taking off on its own. I suspect these blunders are the result of Dell trying to segment their market into distinct "Business" and "Home" categories, and forcing the 2100 into the Business category alone.

First and foremost, Dell has basically hidden it from the general public. Sure, you can buy them in the outlet, but only if you go to the Business and Education outlet and hunt for them. You can't get them "new and customized" unless you're in the Small Business store or higher, and you have to really know they exist to spot them. Ads for the 2100 occasionally flash by, but they are hardly eye catching. I actually went to my University's higher education store, went to notebooks/netbooks, and clicked the "latitude laptops" category, and the 2100 didn't show up. I then tried "netbooks". STILL no 2100. If you click the main "Laptops and Minis" link at the top, the 2100 isn't shown, only an E-Series latitudes button. The E-Series button links to every latitude EXCEPT THE 2100! The only way to find the 2100 is to click "Laptops and Minis" at the top, check the Latitude check box on the left, and then hunt for it. You can also check the 10.1" screen option, which will give the mini 10v, mini 10, and 2100. Most people aren't going to hunt for that particular model, especially when they don't know it exists to begin with.

Second, they keep changing the features. A few months ago, the Linux version of the Latitude 2100n had a touchscreen, Web Cam, and 16GB SSD available, and I got all of these. The regular 2100 (Windows version) had all of these as well. Inexplicably, I could not get them in Chalkboard Black from the higher education store. Only Green, Blue, Yellow and Red were available, despite the fact that Black was available in other stores. Fast forward to today: None of the Latitude 2100s comes with an SSD, the Linux version cannot have a touchscreen added in the configuration page anymore, and all stores seem to have a Black option now. Why does the Linux version suddenly have fewer features? Why are SSDs gone? Why couldn't I get Black initially in one store? What is going on at Dell?!