Should I trade my Eee PC 701 for a Dell Inspiron 901

I saw Leaked: Dell Inspiron 910 (Mini Note) Specs and Release Date today and I’m intrigued, but I’m not excited yet.

I tend to be pretty cautious about computer purchases. I’ve heard rumors that the base model is supposed to be US$299, but I’m not sure what specs that’ll be. By the time you jack up the specs to be something reasonable, it may be over US$600, which I’m not willing to shell out.

I also find it odd that a couple of months ago, Dell hinted at the netbooks being announced in August. It’s almost the end of August now and it’s still just “leaked… specs” a few days before the supposed release date (August 22). If Dell is releasing the netbooks on August 22, shouldn’t they have released the full specs and pricing (not just “leads” and speculation) a lot earlier?

Well, I’m curious to see how this all turns out. I love my Eee, but I don’t love its Ubuntu-unfriendliness (I don’t think I can go back to Xandros at this point). If the Dell Inspiron 901s are priced reasonably, get good reviews, and come preinstalled with a Ubuntu version that boots up within seconds, then I may just regift my Eee to a friend who doesn’t mind Xandros and who also travels a lot.

Bring it on, Dell! Let’s see what you got.

10 comments

  1. Oh, I’m not worried about power. After all, I run an Eee PC 701 right now, and my main applications are Firefox and Thunderbird.

    I just think if the base model has only 512 MB of RAM and a 4 GB hard drive with no webcam, then $299 is a ripoff.

    That’s what Asus charged last year for its low end models, but it’s a year later, and supposedly the market has changed for netbooks.

  2. [Offtopic] If Dell is shipping computers with Ubuntu and this is a Ubuntu only mini laptop, then sales must be going very well for them. But, they still use Window Servers for their main webpage :\[/Offtopic]

    I’d say that laptop looks like a good choice. However, I agree that the hard drive would need to be bigger.

  3. Ubuntucat we are in the same dilemma (almost) except I don’t own a netbook but actually I am in the process of selling my current older laptop. I was set on buying the Acer Aspire One 379 USD but all of sudden I heard about the Dell Inspiron 901 now I have no idea what to do. I will most likely have to put the remaining money from my pocket which is limited (college).

    However I think you should sell you EeePC until some one reviews the Inspiron 901 from a user perspective then make a decision.

    Hopefully they will keep the price affordable.

  4. I wouldn’t dude. Net books are changing way too fast. Between the EEEpc 1000, 1000h, Msi wind, asus s101, the upcoming lenovo, upcoming dell, and the revamped mac book I think you should wait at least two months.

  5. I won a mini 9 (aka the 910) in the employee raffle this year.

    I’m going to blog about it in a few days, but for quick reference: 1.6 GHz processor, 1 GB RAM, 8GB SS drive, 8.9″ display. I use an 8GB SDHC card for media storage.

    This config costs ~$450 new, which is a bit high IMO. However…
    * screen is bright enough for outdoor use
    * unit is ~ 2lbs.
    * keyboard is functional even with my giant pudgy fingers
    * you can order it with Ubuntu, or (if you get it for free with XP installed) it takes almost zero bonus config to get Ubuntu working
    * so far it has run for 4.5 hrs with the wifi and disk working fairly hard (downloading packages and updates) while still having battery life left.

    For reference, my main workhorse laptop is a fujitsu 4220 tablet, and I have (or have had) both the Nokia n800 and n810 tablet PCs.

  6. Talking about net books and ubuntu..?

    I own a acer aspire one but unable to install ubuntu ver 8.04 on it….everytime I’m dumped to the initramfs prompt

    Can you help me solve the problem

    Tahnk you

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