[harters]

I received my Mini 1012 this week with Windows 7 Starter installed, but I am surprised that considering it has the new N450 processor, rather than the N270 of my previous Acer Netbook it really is quite sluggish at times.

My idling RAM usage varies between 59% & 63% with nothing open which really surprised me.

Looking at the list of programmes installed I can see there are three references to CISCO – EAP, LEAP & PEAP. Would this be something to do with the install that Dell has done and could they be removed & would it make any difference?

I was going to stick with 7 Starter as it’s not as basic as I first thought, but now I am wondering if a fresh install of my Ultimate edition may help things along better. My Acer ran Ultimate, including running Aero really smoothly (N270 1.6Ghz 1GB RAM). Should there be such a difference for a more modern & up to date machine?

[holmes4]

The N450 isn't noticeably faster than the N270. The primary advantages of the N450 are much lower power draw (longer battery life) and support for 64-bit.

I don't expect that changing the Windows edition will have any effect whatsoever on performance, other than slowing things down if you use the Aero theme. But my Mini 9 (N270) runs Aero just fine.

The CISCO entries you found are for network authentication protocols. I'm not sure why you have Cisco entries for these, but they won't have any effect on performance and should be left alone.

The RAM usage is normal with Windows 7 - it takes unused RAM for caching to improve startup time. If a program needs RAM, it will get it. Don't worry about this.

[harters]

Thank you for explaining about the processor differences, I understand now.

I wonder why it seems so sluggish compared to my old Acer? I never had it where the I would open say ‘Documents’ and get the outline of the window first before it fills in fully after a second or so and flashes of black when opening applications which to me is a lack of RAM and that was running Ultimate with Aero enabled (Acer)

I am not regretting my purchase at all, just puzzled by its sluggishness and wondered if a clean install which didn’t have any unnecessary stuff installed may help. I think what’s stopping me doing it is not being able to get everything up and running again, especially the Webcam which I know can be temperamental on Netbooks as I can’t get mine working on my Acer at the moment (clean install of XP Pro SP3)

[holmes4]

I can't explain why it is sluggish - I have not seen others complain of this. It might be interesting to bring up the task manager and see if there is some other process sucking CPU cycles.

[Side.Step.Society]

You've really got nothing to lose by trying a fresh install.

Personally, whenever I buy a PC, I always do a fresh install to remove all the "garbage" programs they include with it, and I usually always notice a performance gain, since things like, "Dell Dock" or whatever else are no longer eating up resources.

I suppose it's more of a peace of mind thing for me. With a clean install, you know exactly what you've got installed and running on your computer.

[rrfranczak3]

fresh installs are always good, after that I use a program like Win XP Manager or Win 7 Manager to control all my startup programs such as Dell Dock, and just disable them from running at startup.....just my 0,02

[harters]

Thank you all for your comments.

I think I will try the clean install at the weekend and see how it goes.

I have downloaded the majority of what I need program wise from the Download section, but I was wondering about the disks that came with the Mini. I guess the Operating system one is self explanatory, but with regard to the Driver & Utilities Disk, is that literally just loaded with the programms and I can pick and choose or is it an autorun programme that does it all for you? Not that I use the Dell Dock, but would the disk include literally everything that is on my machine or just the basics?

I am only asking as I have the Broadcom & SRS option, but I couldn't see those listed on the Download section and I don't want to open the disks just yet in case I didn't go ahead with the install, also the 'Dell Wireless WLAN Utility' is very useful

Thanks again.

[harters]

Well I bit the bullet and did the install tonight and I would say that it has made a slight improvement. Funny thing is that it seems better with Aero on which doesn't make sense, however I will probably keep it on Basic theme to help with the battery life.

Once I found the SRS Control panel it made the sound nice and load again.... didn't realise what a difference that would make.

The Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility 5.30.21.0 doesn't want to play thought for some reason - UAC box says its going to run a legacy CPL elevated, but then nothing happens. This is a really like app which I would like to get working, any ideas?

Thanks again.

[harters]

As another update, I can confirm that bizarely my Mini definately runs much more smoothly with Aero enabled than when it is set to a Basic Theme???? There are no flashes of black screen and all windows draw fully in one go - not outline first then fill in after.

I was about to put Starter edition back on, but now I have discovered this I will more than likely be sticking to Ultimate with Aero enabled.

I just need to be able to get the Dell Wireless WLAN Card Utility working as it still doesn't want to play ball for some reason.

EDIT
Got the WLAN Utility working now.

Under BASIC Word 2007 struggles to open, but under Aero it opens very quick & smooth.... maybe the CPU is throttled back under basic?

[steve19137]

your basic theme being slower makes a little sense. with it being basic, the idea is that it saves memory and battery, therefore more commonly used in slower machines. but it seems to slow down on purpose, which makes no sense, but i suppose its a good thing that you can have the better theme with the performance gain.