[riomil]

Hello!

I purchased a Mini Dell 1010 second hand from Ebay, barely used and in like new conditions. The previous owner installed Windows 7 starter which seems to be working decently and so he removed Windows XP which was the original OS.

There are only a couple of points which I would like to get a definite answer on as follows.

1) I was told and I read in several places that it is possible to upgrade the RAM to 2GB, is it true or not? I read articles which seem to indicate the contrary, i.e. the RAM is fixed and can't be replaced?

2) Although I never used a notebook before it seems to me that this one is slowish and it seems to be heating up very fast. Especially when connected
to the Internet. When I used it just to type or with one program at the time
doesn't warm up.

So I am wondering if it is better to keep Windows 7 or revert to XP as first point. If the problem is that it requires more RAM with Windows 7 then I would like to upgrade if possible.

The specs are as follows:

Processor: Intel(R) Atom CPU Z520 @ 1.33GHZ
RAM: 1 GB
System: 32-bit Operating System
Memory: 150GB

Please let me know!

Thanks!

Best, Ted

[fdalbor]

It is possible to upgrade the ram in the 1010; but it is a expensive upgrade and only a few people have done it.
Quite a few people run Win 7 on the 1010 and have no problems with it only using 1gig of memory. I perfer XP and I have kept it on my 1010. I also run Joli 1.2; Ubuntu 10.04 and Mandriva One and they all run quite well on the 1010 with 1gig.
There is no such thing as a fast netbook. At least none with a Atom processor. But then they were never meant to be fast. Small, portable and easy to use. MOre than anything they were meant to be internet computers and they do that quite well.
Not that they cannot do other things. Mine gets alot of use as a spreadsheet system when I am away from my desktop replacement or my desktops. But the internet is where they shine.
Odd that yours gets hot when connected to the internet. I have spent over five or six hours straight on the internet and have never had mine even get warm.
I have the same system you have. fdalbor

[rrfranczak3]

you can get the 1010 2gb/Z530 daughter board for $160 shipped....no tax...I run both XP Pro and Win 7 Ult w/Aero with 1gb also and once I get 2gb it will run even better


PS. Welcome to the forum....

[riomil]

Thanks.

I am tracking with all you said and makes sense. However on the RAM I have seen different opinions. An article stated that the author changed his RAM from 1GB to 2GB and was quite simple and the only cost was the the RAM itself.

Now, let's say the RAM can be changed. Will that speed up the notebook? Will that reduce heating? Apparently Windows 7 will use most of the memory available even if it is double. Is this true?

I didn't know you can use to OS' at the same time! Do you mean you have Windows 7 and XP on at the same time!?!?

Thanks for your inputs!

Ted

PS: other than what I said earlier the notebook works great.

[rrfranczak3]

1st of all you CAN NOT replace just the memory on a 1010, the RAM is soldered on to the daughter board which also holds the processor, so in a sense you are replacing the processor and the memory at the same time......the other systems you must have read about were NOT a 1010, and yes I have both XP and Win 7 running at the same time....NOT simultaneously, I dual boot, when the system boots I have a choice as to whether I want to boot to Win XP or Win 7, I have 98gb set for Win XP Pro and 600gb set for Win 7 Ult (I have a 750gb drive) in my 1010

[riomil]

I see. How do you install XP without wiping out the other one? I thought this is what happens when you install an OS.

I will post the links of the articles that claim you can upgrade the RAM, if I can find them again

[rrfranczak3]

ok, 1st things first, if XP is currently partitioned for the entire disk the only way to install another OS is to shrink the partition.....Windows 7 Disk Management allows this, Windows XP doesnt...you must use a 3rd party software such as Acronis Disk Director to shrink the XP partition , then that 'extra' space can be used to create another partition and then you can format and install another OS, if you try the way it is the new OS will just overlay what you have now....as far as the RAM on the Mini 10 goes I repeat there is NO WAY of upgrading the RAM without replacing the 1gb daughter board with a 2gb daughter board and remember the processors are included in the daughter board too....the ONLY other way is to physically un-solder the 1gb chip from the board and solder in a 2GB chip and there are very, very few who are capable of doing this or even have the equipment to do so....without frying the board...the articles you refer to must be for the 10v (1011) not the 1010

[riomil]

Definitely got it that RAM is soldered in

OK, that's not really a big deal if I can figure out why the bottom of the notebook gets so hot. It looks like this is happening mostly when I watch a video, for instance last night I watched a video (digital file straight from the notebook) for an hour and I figured out that the part that gets hot is right at the bottom, where the DELL specs are, that small rectangle with DELL's data. I think that started to get hot after 15/20 minutes. The heat of course then propagates but that is the hottest spot. I believe that when I use it for editing text doesn't get hot.

On Ubuntu, on their web site it seems there is a way to run Ubuntu alongside Windows: Download | Ubuntu.

It seems that one can install it straight but I have not tried yet, I want to make sure I don't mess up Windows 7... Any input on that? Do you think that Ubuntu may handle the heating problem?

[rrfranczak3]

you can run Ubuntu along with Windows no problem, but you still need to shrink the partition you have now to free up the space, or I believe you can just run ubuntu straight from the USB stick without even installing it on your hard drive, but if you want to install it...shrink the windows 7 partition, go to control panel, administrative tools, computer management, then storage/disk mangement...right click on your hard drive and select shrink volume and enter the amount......then you will have a chunk of unallocated space which you may format and load whatever OS you want.....some people with Mini 9's and 10v's even dual boot Windows with OSX Snow Leopard...there are guides on the board here in the dual booting section to help you..as far as the heat goes.....I doubt the OS will change it

[riomil]

Thanks for all the data!

I have found the following on the heating problems:

Dell Inspiron 1010 Overheating

Dell mini netbook overheating - Hardware Related Issues - FREE Computer Support Forum - PCIQ

They are not totally aligned but give an idea of what the possible cause of the problem is.