Update: The Dell deal is over, but as far as Netbooks go, we'd reccomend the Hackintosh friendly ASUS 1000HE which you can grab at Amazon for $374 with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB HD or $399 with 2GB of RAM.
If you were thinking about Hacking up a Dell or just riding with the more than useful Ubuntu Linux installed and wanted to get it at a Recession-friendly price, now is your chance. From the Toys section: Dell Home is selling the Hackintosh - friendly Mini 9's in base configuration for $199 - for one day only. That's $100 off. You'll need to juice up the specs to at least 1GB of RAM and 16GB of Flash to have a respectable Hackintosh though. Also of note, Amazon is selling the sleeker, thinner HP 1000 Mini series starting at $279 - which doesn't have working audio drivers yet for Mac OS (you can use USB).
This Dell price point is significant, not only for us cheap bastards, but also because it is the same price as Negroponte's OLPC. Why not give a really sweet Ubuntu laptop with a video camera to a kid in a poor country. Capitalism! You win again!
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I've turned my Mini 9 into a
I've turned my Mini 9 into a Leopard system and I couldn't be happier. Everything works 100%. I recommend anyone who is nervous to go ahead with it.
http://www.woopid.com/
personally I dont care how
personally I dont care how cheap they can get these products, they could sell them for $99 and Id still fork out $1400 for a macbook. no audio drivers ? its hassles like that I gave up many years ago, along with windows.
Its a bit like having a "pain in the a$$" ex-girlfriend, you are better off breaking all ties and blocking her on msn than trying to stay friends. who needs the headache ?
FUD! You've never tried a
FUD! You've never tried a Mobile Hackintosh so you don't know how great they are. I am waiting for the ASUS 1000HE to arrive, otherwise, I would have snapped this one up.
This is crap.
Giving it 2 GB of RAM and a 64 GB disk and bluetooth and a video cam magically brings the price to a whopping $550 - even after today's steep discount.
Add Mac OS X and iLife, and you're up to $750 (unless you steal them, which most people do).
And then for service, you have to mail it back to Dell. And you still get the crappiest screen and keyboard in the business. And no optical drive. And no software updates without potentially serious effort. And wonky drivers, and some peripherals that you'll never get to work.
It seems like this makes the white MacBook, which I can find from Apple for $849, a complete and total BARGAIN.
Yeah, it's not tiny. But it's not crappy either.
"Giving it 2 GB of RAM and a
"Giving it 2 GB of RAM and a 64 GB disk and bluetooth and a video cam magically brings the price to a whopping $550 - even after today's steep discount.
Add Mac OS X and iLife, and you're up to $750 (unless you steal them, which most people do)."
Couldn't agree with you more! A minimum of $500 for a very low end system, assuming you get bluetooth, a 32 GB disk, a camera and a mouse plus BUYING OS X. A used laptop or a white MacBook is 100% better.
Go ahead, but...
I mean, if you really want a cramped little keyboard and a screen that's smaller than the original 128k Mac, go ahead and have fun. I hold it against no one. But Apple is not going to build anything like a smaller MacBook. Just not the Apple way. I don't know what they've got up their sleeve, but when (if?) it comes out, it'll be very good and very different. Apple has got what Walt Disney used to call, "Imagineers."
Dynamic Duo
They did, and they did.
12 inch PowerBook, which is smaller than a MacBook. Before that?
The PowerBook Duo.
So yes, they will do it, or rather, they can do it if they wanted to.
keyboard typability?
Can anyone who has one of these comment on the keyboard size? I have an early EeePC that's unusable for me, primarily due to the cramped keyboard.
Do you have fat hands??
Do you have fat hands??
Mac OS X Genuine Advantage Key, anyone?
Obviously the OS price is going to be $0 ... because why buy Mac OS X at retail when you can grab a copy for free?
That is, until Snow Leopard, where Apple will have to introduce a Genuine Advantage system like Windows. Nice.
Yeah, stealing is always cheaper ...
Why not just hang out on a campus somewhere and pickup a mini Dell when someone isn't looking? C'mon they're rich, they can afford it!
Apple is really good about price on their OS software. I can't condone stealing it. I did buy an old iMac that had OS X that I didn't pay for. But I did buy 2 new Mac laptops after learning how great they were!
Yeah.. Give a cheap PC to a
Yeah.. Give a cheap PC to a poor child in one country built by a poor child in another country...
On a different note, I've posted this in comments before - but I believe that anyone considering installing Leopard on one of these should watch my process video at:
http://www.tomorrowland.com/2008/11/10/dell-mini-9-leopard-install/
FYI... Leopard on a Dell mini
FYI...
Leopard on a Dell mini with 16GB flash drive = ok
Leopard on a Dell mini with 8GB flash drive = possible
Leopard on a Dell mini with 4GB flash drive = impossible
Awesome, thanks! Was thinking
Awesome, thanks! Was thinking about this anyway so this came in handy. Also, this is the base model Mini 9 and as some have noted, you'll need a bigger SSD and more memory. Luckily, both are available for cheaper than dell will sell them. 2 gigs of ram for the mini 9 is about ~$30 and a 16 gb ssd will run you about ~$75 for a runcore, which is also faster than the default dell ones.
Pulled the trigger on Asus 1000HE
I've owned Macs since the original 128k, but a mini Hackintosh is just too appealing for me to pass up. Sure, it'll be some hassles, but fun too. If it works out well it'll be for my daughter who would absolutely love having such a portable machine.
I do hope Apple comes out with something in this space, and I'll probably get one when they do. For now, here goes nothing... (or $375 more like).
The Mini 9 is reported to
The Mini 9 is reported to have a better display than the new Macbooks when it comes to color accuracy.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=7-9320-9876-9881
Sam's Club is cheaper...
Even though you can't CTO your model Mini 9, Sam's Club is selling them with XP Home, 1GB RAM, 8GB SSD & 0.3 MP Webcam for $245.
Mini9 fills a niche. It is
Mini9 fills a niche. It is bigger than iPhone and smaller than Air. Typability? I can type faster with this crappy keyboard than with iPhone. iLife? Forget it. Mini9 is usable for internet browsing, presentation and e-mails. It superbly serves limited purposes. I don't have to carry around Air as much as I used to. It does have a sleeping issue but my Macbook Pro does not wake up either. It's totally worth the invested money( for CPU and retail Leopard). In my opinion, it will never replace a main machine nor laptop but it has a very strong foundation for a certain use.
Mini9 fills a niche. It is
Mini9 fills a niche. It is bigger than iPhone and smaller than Air. Typability? I can type faster with this crappy keyboard than with iPhone. iLife? Forget it. Mini9 is usable for internet browsing, presentation and e-mails. It superbly serves limited purposes. I don't have to carry around Air as much as I used to. It does have a sleeping issue but my Macbook Pro does not wake up either. It's totally worth the invested money( for CPU and retail Leopard). In my opinion, it will never replace a main machine nor laptop but it has a very strong foundation for a certain use.
i ordered mine
i ordered mine and couldnt be any happier. i didnt buy the machine to replace a macbook which i have owned. i bought it to be my slightly bigger iphone.
OLPC
Dumbass move to suggest a Dull Mini9 over an OLPC. Just because it is a cheap PoS, doesn't make it useful to a 3rd world kid. The OLPC is designed to be rugged, do simple peer to peer networks, work outside in daylight and a lot of things required in the OLPC "markets" etc. Capitalism only "wins" with the right incentives - none of which apply to the OLPC demographic. Drop the right-wing rhetoric and stick to mildly amusing Mac commentary.
No, no
That is not capitalism, that is market economy.