My Dell Mini 9 hackintosh is the. greatest. thing. going.
of course i largely use it for network config stuff and email and basic browsing. the key is i carry it everywhere and OS X runs on it like gangbusters. maybe not gangbusters but its totally responsive.
i have, from time to time done actual programming on it as well as some simple photoshop work. sometimes i even plug it into an external monitor and keyboard/mouse at a client and all those aforementioned limitations disappear.
also, the rumormill has apple purchasing large numbers of 10" touchscreens for something....
felix
· 8 months ago
Yeah, I been hearing about those 10" touchscreens. I just don't know. I can't think of a device that the world wants that has that. Maybe that's why I'm not Steve Jobs? Hmm...
Also curious, how much time, in aggregate do you think you spend working at your hackintosh over the course of a typical work day?
howie
· 8 months ago
hour or three? it never leaves my bag at home, i just kinda plug it in to charge inside my bag at night and then unplug and run. when im at clients i literally carry it around in my hand and just slap it down wherever i am when i need to get into a server or check email or just surf for a bit while im waiting. so it varies wildly, but about an hour on some days and no less than 4 on others.
robb
· 8 months ago
any trouble hooking up external displays? I get some hangs when plugging or out to vga monitors that I've been trying to debug.
howie
· 8 months ago
nope. using one right now. you probably need to install the latest DellEFI. i recommend 1.1 (1.2 is in alpha). also, i understand that updating the bios to A05 solves some issues?
robb
· 8 months ago
love my dell 9 running os x. the keyboard is workable, it was $209, it has more USB ports than my macbook pro, weighs 2 lbs and is 100% solid state (16GB internal and a 16 gb SD card.) Also it has the same CPU as the Air.
I find that I use it far more than my MBP at this point. I might be a weirdo, but it is really all the computer that I need for everything but audio work and it is really nice on my back to have a light laptop with the same footprint as a kindle.
robb
· 8 months ago
i like the air but the footprint is too big and one usb port is silly. I need two or three most of the time. it is gorgeous, though.
felix
· 8 months ago
Huh! See, I guess it's diff't strokes for diff't folks. Still, I stand by the notion that small screen netbooks will prove to be a non-mainstream product. For me, for example, it's kinda worse web browsing on that screen than it is on my iPhone - there's no touch scrolling or anything, just fidgety mouse substitutes. Still, since I'm wrong about all this stuff all the time, I'm sure netbooks will continue to fly off the shelves. Heh!
howie
· 8 months ago
Just a correction: The Dell Mini 9's Atom CPU is most definitely NOT the same as the macbook air. while its capable, the Atom is a far cry from a Core 2 Duo.
kaige
· 8 months ago
I find the tiny trackpad on my HP Mini 1000 more of a pain than the almost (92%) standard-sized keyboard. I keep scrolling and dragging/dropping where I never intended to. But, as I'm currently a vagabond, it certainly saves my shoulders and back from carrying around a 6-pound MacBook Pro. With a little squeezing and the protective sleeve off, it even fits into my guide bag (/"man purse").
It's great for email, flashcards, web surfing (though extended sessions can get tedious at the low resolution). After stripping out unnecessary services and creating a ramdisk, it's pretty snappy at viewing 480p video. Even Photoshop is not impossible.
The segment is there. I just think it's much much smaller than the industry in the US wants to believe.
BTW, In Japan, it seems that netbooks and WWAN are almost universally sold as a bundle. I've even seen ads for Y100 ($1!) netbooks with wireless contract.
felix
· 8 months ago
Yeah, I agree - I think it's got a niche but it's smaller than this initial burst of love for it seems to indicate. Much smaller. As the novelty wears off and the economy improves, I suspect we'll see this market trailing off.
I think I remember someone starting to look into the telco's subsidizing netbooks with 3G here, too. We'll see...
howie
· 8 months ago
indeed. you can get a mini 9 for $50 now with a 2 year contract from at&t right off the dell website.
All Comments
My Dell Mini 9 hackintosh is the. greatest. thing. going.
of course i largely use it for network config stuff and email and basic browsing. the key is i carry it everywhere and OS X runs on it like gangbusters. maybe not gangbusters but its totally responsive.
i have, from time to time done actual programming on it as well as some simple photoshop work. sometimes i even plug it into an external monitor and keyboard/mouse at a client and all those aforementioned limitations disappear.
also, the rumormill has apple purchasing large numbers of 10" touchscreens for something....
Also curious, how much time, in aggregate do you think you spend working at your hackintosh over the course of a typical work day?
I find that I use it far more than my MBP at this point. I might be a weirdo, but it is really all the computer that I need for everything but audio work and it is really nice on my back to have a light laptop with the same footprint as a kindle.
It's great for email, flashcards, web surfing (though extended sessions can get tedious at the low resolution). After stripping out unnecessary services and creating a ramdisk, it's pretty snappy at viewing 480p video. Even Photoshop is not impossible.
The segment is there. I just think it's much much smaller than the industry in the US wants to believe.
BTW, In Japan, it seems that netbooks and WWAN are almost universally sold as a bundle. I've even seen ads for Y100 ($1!) netbooks with wireless contract.
I think I remember someone starting to look into the telco's subsidizing netbooks with 3G here, too. We'll see...