Ah! Home again! I left the book club thing relatively early, 'cause I just had to spend some time at home. Part of that is because I have a couple new toys. The main one is my new "netbook" (a Dell Inspiron Mini 9, aka 910). Some of you may recall me drooling over it a couple weeks ago. Funny thing was, Dell had a big sale less than a week later, coincidence... or serendipity? Since it was pretty much exactly what I wanted and the price was good, I decided to jump in and buy. It came a couple days ago and the wireless router I bought to connect the netbook with the desktop and the internet came yesterday.
This evening, I hooked everything up. My sister helped me out by talking/listening through it. You know how you sometimes need someone hovering to get computers to work right? Well, sometimes the phone is just as good. Thanks for your help, Aileen!
So, now I'm writing this post on the Mini. It works pretty well. The keyboard is small and mildly reorganized. There's only one key change that irritates me, and that's the '/" key. We'll see how well I get used to it.
One of the things I plan to do with it is experiment with finding other programs to do the things I like. Firefox, for example, or Google Desktop and word processing programs. (Any suggestions are appreciated!) If the netbook gets too tangled, I can always reformat it (as I plan to back up everything irreplacable).
Above, I've taken the picture with a paperback (regular little sized one, not one of those oddly big ones) and my new cellphone, which has a cool texting feature. It can open two different directions and has a QWERTY keyboard, for easier texting.
Considering the current economic situation, this will probably be the last of my indulgent purchases for a while. But it is so cool! :)
12 comments:
I'm SOOOOOOO jealous!!! I really want a Mini 9, if nothing else to try out and/or review.
It's awesome that you got one. :)
Yeah cute new computer! I really, really like the compact size. Well, except for that growing middle-aged presbyopia issue. ;)
Let us know what cool new things you find to install on it!
It is supercool. :) I briefly considered the Eee PC that you did a review of, plus my BIL suggested another netbook (ASI Wind), but this one had the solid state drive and one more cell in the battery. It's very nice, with the single exception of the mislocated ' key. I'd send you mine to review (ummm, riiiiight) except it's not the Linux version (whew! Snaps fingers in mock disappointment).
It should be a fun playground.
I will, Jeri! It's great blog fodder. ;)
Looks uber-cool. Just where is the "/" key.
And apropos of nothing, I love "The Lost Fleet" series.
I don't know of an open source stand-alone word processor, but for an open source office package, I recommend OpenOffice.
Yes, openoffice is great:
http://www.openoffice.org
also, for word processing only, check out Abiword:
http://www.abisource.com
It's just word processing, but rather nice.
I see Vince included a link too, but he did it all fancy like. ;)
Love the new toy! (not quite as much as if it was a Mac, but it is super cool)
Wow! It didn't look that tiny until I looked at the big version of the picture.
Wow!
Even though you probably don't know, I'm curious as to why there is so much space around the display. Is it sturdiness?
Wow!
And the solid state bits are even more awesome.
In December--assuming all is well--I'm getting a new cellphone with Windows Mobile that I'm hoping will work like a teeny computer. I can't wait. (Not that I prefer Windows Mobile. It's just that I would really like it to be able to sync with my work calendar. Which I can only do with Windows Mobile.)
Michelle, I don't know why on the screen size. I think sometimes it has to do with standard sizes/proportions of glass (it's more expensive if you have more waste when you cut sheets down to the size you want, for example) but it also may have something to do with the graphics card. I don't know. I've seen some pretty sturdy laptops that were mostly screen, so I have my doubts that's the rationale. There is a spot for a camera at the top, but other than that, I have no... oh, and the speakers are below the screen. But other than *that* I have no idea.
Nathan, there is a / key, in about the same location as the normal one, but it's a bit smaller.
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I think once I look at what's loaded on the computer (MS Works?), the next one I'll look at is Open Office.
Michelle, I'm interested to hear what you make of the phone with Windows. I have a Palm with Windows Mobile, but I use it less than I thought. Notetaking yes, novel writing no. (Except for on my cell phone, yes. ;)
ooooh! shiny.
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