[friction]

New to the Forum!

Just got my dell mini1012. I must say I was quite disappointed at first,
I honestly was a bit confused with all the mini 10 versions out there and did not do enough reading by the time I ordered..I thought I was getting a 1010 with the N450..I was liking the model look with flush screen, and metalic palm rest.. After coming to terms I was happy to see the fix on the way the 6cell batter is now flush, and that the 2gb ram upgrade and hd is an ez upgrade.
I can live with my ugly plastic shell.. I got a great deal for $270 shipped,
windows 7//N450 1.66,,not bad..

Anyways that's the intro,
Im looking to make some upgrades and had some questions for u guys:

1.
Is there a broadcom solution yet for the 1012 that is worth getting?
I saw the ebay post, but they are about 98 bucks. A.Is this a worth it upgrade? and B. where does it get installed? inside the battery area?
2.
As far as the HD upgrade: I was looking at the wd scorpio drives.
Newegg.com - Western Digital Scorpio Black WD3200BEKT 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Notebook Hard Drive -Bare Drive
is this compatible? and what do u guys think 7200 over 5400 rpm?
will my dell over heat?

3. confused about the GMA:
Can you guys fill me in..
What does it do exactly?
which one does the 1012 have? gma3150 or 500?
which one is better..
(I know it was discussed in the comparison, but I didn't really get it..)

4. How to get smooth playback from hulu using the flash 10.1 beta 3 thats out there.. Any one had any luck? I upgraded, but still no go @ full screen.


Thanks to all

[holmes4]

I would not bother upgrading from one rotating hard drive to another. You won't see a performance difference and the 7200RPM drive will be noisier and use more power.

The 1012 has GMA3150 graphics. On paper, it's better than GMA500, but not by much. I don't think that the Flash beta has support for GMA3150 yet.

As for the Broadcom card, I suggest holding off for now.

[Jayin]

Yeah it looks like the prices went up again, 98 dollars what is this guy thinking, wish I would have jumped on it when they were 20 bucks. You can get the card from retailer logic supply for 49.99 and I think there is a coupon out there for 10 dollars off through XBMC.

But Holmes says wait so I would wait. I am hoping dell releases the card soon (they have a driver already?!?!)

[friction]

What is the little slot inside the battety area.
I saw a youtube vid that inserted a 3g card in there.
Is this a micro pci slot?

[holmes4]

It's a SIM slot for models equipped for the WWAN option.

[the elephant]

Originally Posted by holmes4

You won't see a performance difference and the 7200RPM drive will be noisier and use more power.

This is not accurate. I have this exact HDD in mine. The install took me ten minutes. It is SILENT. It runs cooler than the OEM and the power drain is not as bad as the OEM. The OS is a bit snappier. It is cooler, faster and more quiet - by a lot? No. But the changes are noticeable. And with a netbook being so limited (in comparison to full-sized notebooks) ANY help is good. My 1012 was a very good, little computer out of the box. It is better now.

So if you have the money and are confident enough to pull your keyboard then go ahead and do it. There IS a difference. I am pleased with mine, as well as the 2GB RAM stick (Kingston) that I installed a week later.

[reflex]

Originally Posted by holmes4

The 1012 has GMA3150 graphics. On paper, it's better than GMA500, but not by much. I don't think that the Flash beta has support for GMA3150 yet.

As for the Broadcom card, I suggest holding off for now.

I don't think Flash (or any other software) will ever have accelerated video decoding on the GMA3150. Like the related GMA950 and GMA3100, the GMA3150 only supports accelerated decoding of MPEG2 (1), not modern codecs like h.264/AVC.

I agree that holding off on the Broadcom might be a good choice. Accelerated decoding in Flash is only available in Beta, and sounds unsatisfying (2) so far. Future Broadcom drivers and versions of Flash will hopefully be better.

(1) Intel's table of graphics card abilities: Quick Reference Guide to Intel® HD Graphics - Intel® Software Network

(2)

Then we uninstalled the existing Flash software, downloaded, then installed the new Flash 10.1 beta 3 player. We reran our tests, and as you can see, the 720p YouTube video showed a decent amount of improvement, although we wouldn't call it an outright success. The Hulu video, despite being of a lower resolution, showed less improvement. It was definitely smoother, but we definitely wouldn't call it a satisfying consumer experience.

[friction]

Found this broadcom card for $44
in stock
Logic Supply - Leaders in Mini-ITX & Small Form Factor Solutions

Will this fit into my 1012? if so, where does t go?

[wls]

Originally Posted by friction

Found this broadcom card for $44
in stock
Logic Supply - Leaders in Mini-ITX & Small Form Factor Solutions

Will this fit into my 1012? if so, where does t go?

It would go in a mini pci E slot But some people are finding that the connector is not there if you haven't ordered something for it.
You have to remove the keyboard and then the palm rest to get at that area. Just go here for pics to get an idea how to do it.
How to dismantle and upgrade the Dell Mini 1012 | jRin.net

[Jayin]

Originally Posted by friction

Found this broadcom card for $44
in stock
Logic Supply - Leaders in Mini-ITX & Small Form Factor Solutions

Will this fit into my 1012? if so, where does t go?

That's also the older 700012 card not the 700015