Terms

I’ve started to come to terms with the performance of this Dell Inspiron Mini 10 that I received for being the grand prize winner in the GPS Rally a couple months ago. It struggles playing youtube videos and Hulu stutters a bit, but it’s better than when the netbook had XP Home and all sorts of Dell stuff on it. I pulled out my handy XP Pro disc (it’s probably my most used disc ever) and did a clean install, so it’s running a bit faster than before.

I really want to emphasize that this thing gets pretty taxed easily. It only has 1GB of non-upgradeable RAM, a 1.6 Ghz single-core Atom, and an Intel GMA 500 (the worst performing integrated graphics from Intel yet, seriously). I think it’s borderline unacceptable that this thing struggles to play flash videos when I have it plugged in to the AC and have it on maximum performance mode. It makes me wish all netbooks used Nvidia’s ION platform because those netbooks can easily play even Blu-ray movies at 1080p and run Half-Life 2 even. It’s a shame because it has a really nice 1366×768 LED screen (I it’s think one of the best screens among netbooks); the computer can’t handle playing 720p HD movies, I’m sure.

EDIT: Apparently the GMA 500 is better than the old GMA 950; it just suffers from poor drivers and that makes it perform noticeably worse than the GMA 950. Better drivers are out for Windows 7, but I’ll have to stick with XP (and poor performance) until I can locate a 32-bit Windows 7 disc (and license key).

I don’t want to sound ungrateful for it because it’s a relief having a computer that I can use anytime I want. Even with it’s pokey performance, it can still surf the web and run text-editing software; so I can do my CS 125 MP’s on it and format my CS 173 homework in LaTeX outside of the computer lab. It’s just that its performance level makes me yearn for a real laptop; one that can stream Hulu at its default resolution without causing firefox to lag. Like the HP 8540w! Or even better, Dell could take a page from their acquisition and make a “netbook” that outperforms many other laptops.

The Logitech headset is holding up pretty well, and the microphone performs well too, but I almost would’ve liked for it to connect through 2 3.5mm jacks instead of USB. This netbook only has 3 USB ports, so it means I’m essentially full most of the time (headset, mouse, DVD drive). Having it use the audio jacks would let me plug something else in, like my keyboard or a bluetooth adapter. I haven’t done much with the camera yet; it’s a Panasonic Lumix LZ8 and it looks like its a good camera from what I’ve done with it so far.

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My case is supposed to arrive today, but the two SATA cables I ordered are coming tomorrow. I ordered an extra (different) one from Amazon that arrived yesterday, so if everything works out I could have  my desktop in working order today.

It probably won’t work out though, I think the right angle cable may not be short enough to fit under the GTX 275. I guess ASUS engineers thought graphics cards would never get much bigger than 9″-ish and not have gigantic cooling assemblies, but they were sooooo wrong.