Leaked: Dell Inspiron 910 (Mini Note) Specs and Release Date (Gizmodo) [LWN.net]

Gizmodo takes a look at Dell's upcoming Inspiron 910 mini notebook. "A few weeks ago we ran some rumored specs of Dell's answer to the Eee, the Dell Inspiron 910 (aka Mini Inspiron and Inspiron Mini). Now we've gotten our hands on the full (internal) 910 web documentation. Along with scoping shots from every angle, we've learned that the 910 will support SSDs up to 16GB and has what looks to be very moddable internals (large Phillips-head screws hold that SSD in place). The system will go on sale in just a few daysAugust 22nd our source saysbut we still don't know whether or not that $299 starting price is just a myth."

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Leaked: Dell Inspiron 910 (Mini Note) Specs and Release Date (Gizmodo)

Posted Aug 22, 2008 11:29 UTC (Fri) by NRArnot (subscriber, #3033) [Link]

It says maximum memory 1Gb. If true, I wonder what marketing genius engineered that arbitrary
and unnecessary restriction into it?

Leaked: Dell Inspiron 910 (Mini Note) Specs and Release Date (Gizmodo)

Posted Aug 29, 2008 7:15 UTC (Fri) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]

If this 1 GB restriction is true, it's probably because Microsoft limits the special low pricing Windows XP for netbooks based on hardware configuration, and 1 GB RAM is one of those restrictions. It's all about segmenting the market to protect Vista revenues: low priced XP for 1GB netbooks, full price Vista for 2 GB notebooks. And of course Vista really wouldn't run well in 1 GB.

See http://apcmag.com/microsoft_hobbles_xp_mininotes_with_1gb... for more.

This is very short sighted of Dell if you can't expand the memory - people might want a 2GB netbook to run Linux or Vista, even if Microsoft won't let you run XP.

Ubuntu as standard

Posted Aug 29, 2008 7:17 UTC (Fri) by Cato (subscriber, #7643) [Link]

One great thing about this netbook is that it includes Ubuntu 8.04 as standard, so you can at least run a mainstream distro that's identical to a desktop distro without having to re-install. Important for users who are new to Linux, and will make everyone more secure compared to Xandros on the eee PC, which apparently is quite tardy with security updates.