BLACK DELL 10V 1011 MINI NOTEBOOK LAPTOP

Note: This model was available in at least six different colours - all will have been treated as entirely different items on Amazon and so for a wider range of reviews you'll need to search 'Dell Mini 10V' and / or 'Dell 1011' and read the reviews for the differently coloured but otherwise identical versions.

The only comment I have to make specifically about the black version is that the glossy piano -black finish shows fingermarks rather easily, but then all the other coloured models in the range have a similar gloss finish as well.

Info:

Mine came with Windows XP, not Windows 7 - they may possibly also have been sold later with Windows 7 installed instead, so check which OS is installed on any example that you intend to buy. I can only comment on the XP version. The continuing availability of XP on these was one of the main reasons I chose this model, as I seriously disliked the alternative at the time (Vista). Now that Windows 7 has superceded Vista, you might like to try test driving similar netbooks running Windows 7 before deciding to buy one of these.

You might also bear in mind that Microsoft apparently intend to discontinue support for Windows XP in 2014, not too far away now. That doesn't mean the machine will suddenly stop dead on that date, of course - it just means that security updates and so on will cease to be available from Microsoft, and new windows applications and drivers for any 3rd-party external hardware made from that date onwards may no longer support (or run on) XP.

1GB of RAM: Enough to comfortably run Windows XP (already installed) and one or two large applications. Not enough to run Vista.

Intel 1.66Mhz processor runs Windows XP at a decently usable speed.

3 USB 2.0 ports, of which one has high power output capability, eg, for use with external USB drives which are powered from the USB connection.

Ethernet port.

WiFi built in (b/g). Not wireless 'N', but most wireless 'N' access points will allow b/g devices to connect to them.

No Bluetooth.

Hard drive: 160GB - enough for the unit's main purpose as a lightweight, portable web browser.

VGA port for connection to an external monitor, or your TV if it has a 15 pin VGA 'PC' input. Screen resolution for the external monitor can be set differently (higher) for the external monitor.

Graphics are 'integrated', ie, the graphics hardware steals some of the system RAM and isn't as fast as fully dedicated graphics hardware with its own RAM would be.

Does NOT have any CVBS, Video, AV out or S-Video ports.

Integrated webcam above screen for use in 'video phone' applications such as Skype.

Also has integral mic and speakers - speaker audio is stereo but there is very little volume and virtually no bass - hopeless for listening to music or media unless you use phones.

2 audio jacks which can be soft-configured to operate in a number of different modes, for example, the input jack can be set to be a mic-in or a line-input jack. When you plug something in, a dialogue box pops up asking you which mode you want the jacks to operate in.

SD card slot - supports original SD cards (up to 2GB) and SDHC (over 2GB).

Optical disc drive: None, as is usual for netbooks. Install applications by downloading them, transferring them on USB sticks or by temporarily connecting a USB CD/DVD ROM drive or Writer - not suppplied with the machine.

Comes with Microsoft's basic cut-down versions of its office tools, ie, Microsoft Works.

Also comes with a limited-life Antivirus installed - subscription required for continued updates. Most people will uninstall it and choose their own solution.

Battery life is at the short end for one of these devices, typically about three hours maximum as compared to many others on the market which claim 10 hours or more. I knew this when I bought it and I couldn't imagine needing it to run for longer than that on battery, so I considered it to be an acceptable limitation. You can, of course, run it indefinitely on the supplied mains power adaptor. The power adaptor automatically adapts to any mains input voltage between 100V AC and 240V AC, but the UK version only has UK style mains plug pins and will require an appropriate socket-to-plug adaptor to be used outside the UK.

Touchpad design - or more specifically the touchpad button design - is unusually poor as there is no physical boundary between the main area of the touchpad and the left/right 'mouse' buttons, which are simply the clickable corners of the touchpad. This makes it all too easy to move the mouse pointer when trying to double-click, which in turn can lead to you running an entirely different programme or performing a different action to the one intended. Successfully clicking one of the touchpad 'buttons' also requires a little bit too much force which makes the buttons quite tiresome to use. I'd strongly advise turning off 'tap to click' as well, in order to gain a little more control. The pad button design is arguably the worst thing about this otherwise decent little machine, and it's the one thing I would change if I could - I'd make the buttons proper, separate soft-touch buttons just as they are on nearly every other laptop or netbook. Of course, you can plug a USB mouse into it and use that instead.

Although the display is only 600 pixels high (1024 wide) at its maximum resolution it is exceptionally sharp and clear with good contrast, although it does also have a gloss finish which tends to mean that you see your reflection in the screen when using it in brightly lit surroundings. The first example I bought had one bright pixel on the screen though - I immediately took it back and exchanged it for the one I've now been using for about 18 months.

Good technical support available on Dell's website, all drivers, driver updates and so on are easily found and obtained. When supplied by Dell the machine came with a full set of disks containing everything needed to restore the machine to working order in the event of a hard drive catastrophe - this was refreshing in a world where manufacturers rarely seem to want to supply physical recovery discs and / or backup copies of Windows. Note, of course, that you would need to borrow or buy an external optical drive in order to be able to use the discs.

General use:
Good for general web browsing: At the time of writing (May 2011) it runs streaming YouTube Video content smoothly and displays streamed content from BBC iPlayer at an acceptable frame rate - however, it is unusable with the 'native' mode of iPlayer desktop (the version where you download higher resolution versions of programmes entirely to your computer and watch them later) - it stutters along at a few frames per second. There is a work-around, download the 'For Windows Media Player' version of the programme to the Mini 10V and then watch it using Windows Media Player - that way you lose a little bit of picture quality, but in return you get nice smooth playback.

Before I got the Dell Mini 10V I'd never had access to any form of mobile internet - it has made a huge difference just to be able to keep it in the car and jump onto one of the many free wifi sources which are around these days, especially when on holiday and needing to collect and send email, find directions, opening times, prices and so on for places in unfamiliar areas. There are arguably now many other ways to do the same thing - smart phones, tablets like the iPad, and so on, but I still prefer to use something which is recognisably a computer with the same software tools and interface as the other computers I use. In that respect, the little Dell could hardly be more ideal.