[Dunhamzzz]

Product review site TestFreaks has ranked the Dell Mini 9 as 18th in their Netbooks category. All very well you might say, there are a lot off different Netbooks out there at the moment, and countless models of the Asus EEE PC. But what I personally found shocking is how in comparison the Dell Mini 12 is ranked 22nd - just 4 places behind.

Now is this under-scoring of the Mini 9 or over-scoring of the Mini 12? Perhaps the modding community haven't had their say yet in dubbing the Mini 9 as the most modifiable netbook out there. It was only recently that one of our very own users modded his own Mini 9 with 3G.

Interestingly, the Mini 10 is currently located in between the 9 & 12, but at such an early stage in its product life cycle, who knows where it will end up in the Netbook hierarchy.

[via TestFreaks]

[ryuko2002]

I think Mini 9 is quite expensive compared to Asus 901 or Acer but is the only one offering a fanless laptop and big SSD drives. We'll miss him once it's discontinued.

[pmhausen]

Hello,

I can easily imagine the main reasons for the ranking:

Top 3 reasons why I love my Mini 9:

• Ultra portable
  No fans
  Reasonably priced big SSD

Top 3 things I don't like about my Mini 9:

• The keyboard sucks
  The keyboard sucks
  The keyboard sucks

This thing is just too damn small to touch type. Some of my colleagues use Acer Aspire One or the similarly sized model by Samsung. On both of these, typing is much much better. I still prefer the Mini 9 for the reasons above and the great OS X support, but typing is a pain. Now, where to get a foldable full sized USB keyboard?

So, depending on your priorities it's quite straight to rank the Mini 9 rather badly.

Kind regards,
Patrick

[miguel]

i wonder how well the dell mini 9 ranks with other 8.9 inch screen size netbooks. I am not sure its right to compare the dell with 2n generation 10.2 and 12.1 screen netbooks.

[Bobumc]

Originally Posted by miguel

i wonder how well the dell mini 9 ranks with other 8.9 inch screen size netbooks. I am not sure its right to compare the dell with 2n generation 10.2 and 12.1 screen netbooks.

Just my particular bias - but I consider anything with a screen larger than 10.2 inches to be a notebook, not a netbook. It's about size and portability. Netbooks should be small - the creeping bloat in screen size just begs for a new designation - maybe a "mega-netbook" or some such. :lol:

[Dellbert]

Originally Posted by Dunhamzzz

Product review site TestFreaks has ranked the Dell Mini 9 as 18th in their Netbooks category. All very well you might say, there are a lot off different Netbooks out there at the moment, and countless models of the Asus EEE PC...

Having visited the testfreak site and reviewed the "netbook comparisons" there, I found their credibility in serious doubt. There is a user ranking, an expert ranking and then a testfreak ranking. The Asus Eee PC 900 (4th on the list) had 8.5 (from users), 8.6 (from experts) and freaks gave it 9.3!

HUH??? Where's the logic there? The schizophrenia in their "comparisons" continues, unfortunately....

The Acer Aspire One A150 (6th on the list) got 8.7 & 6.9. Freaks gave it 9.2! The Wind U100 (10th on the list) had 8.4 & 7.7. Freaks gave it 8.7. How did the Dell Mini 9 do? Well, it got 8.3 & 7.4. Freaks gave it an 8.2. In all the photos in their chart, the Mini 9 was also the only machine shown upside down with its access door off. Nice presentation, fellas. Guess freaks don't like the Mini 9 much.

Another fact to take into account: their list of 69 "netbooks" included the Asus Eee Top ET1602 and the Asus Eee Box B206. These are NOT NETBOOKS, they are desktop units. The MSI U100, MSI U120 and the Dell Mini 10 ALSO EACH APPEAR TWICE in their list of 69. The list also includes the Lenovo Pocket Yoda at 45th...a VAIO P-like netbook that's NOT EVEN OUT YET (just pictures that have been leaked onto Flickr.) After the 39th machine listed on their chart, there aren't enough votes by users nor experts to make rankings meaningful. So numbers 40 through 69 should be omitted.

Of their top 39 (that have votes), these are the rankings of the 9" or smaller screened units on their list:
1. Asus Eee PC (7" display) given 9.4/10
2. Asus Eee PC 900 (9" display) given 9.3/10
3. Acer Aspire One A150 (9" display) given 9.2/10
4. Asus Eee PC 9001 (9" display) given 9.0/10
5. Acer Aspire One A110 (9" display) given 9.0/10
6. Acer Aspire one (9" display) given 8.4/10
7. Dell Inspiron Mini 9 (9" display) given 8.2/10
8. Fujitsu Siemens Amilo Mini Ui 3520 Netbook (9" display) given 7.8/10
9. HP Mini-Note 2133 (9" display) given 7.7/10
10. Toshiba NB100 (9" display) given 7.6/10
11. HTC Advantage X7510 (5" display) given 7.2/10
12. Asus Eee PC 701 (7" display) given 6.7/10
13.Asus Eee PC 904HD (9" display) given no ranking
14. Asus Eee PC 904HA (9" display) given no ranking
15. Asus Eee PC 900HA (9" display) given no ranking
16. Asus Eee PC 900A (9" display) given no ranking
17. MSI Wind U90 (9" display) given no ranking
18. Asus Eee PC 701SD (7" display) given no ranking

I personally think we can do better than this attempt at ranking the current crop of netbooks.

[weber72]

Thanks for doing the background check, Dellbert. I was surprised at why the Mini had ranked so low, but now it seems clear.

PS. Nice job representing Toes on the Nose.