Comments on: Dell Inspiron Mini 12: Peppier with Windows XP

By: Mike Coughlin

Mike Coughlin — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:06:57 +0000

Though I don’t have a mini 12, yet (limited to 1 Gig RAM ? ), I see Dell mini 12 XP video drivers at:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/driverslist.aspx?os=WW1&osl=EN&catid=6&impid=-1&servicetag=&SystemID=INSPIRON1210&hidos=WLH&hidlang=en&TabIndex=

It says: Intel driver … applies to: Graphics_Media 945GSE/GM965 version V6.14.10.1093.A01 12/23/2008

By: DaveM

DaveM — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 07:56:27 +0000

I was seriously considering this machine with Ubuntu Hardy installed. IME Linux/Xorg/gnome is at least as fast as XP and of course ten times more secure. However, a visit to Dell’s website shows no option to upgrade the battery on the Linux version of the Inspiron 12. This is a deal breaker. I’m not going to pay for a battery I will never use or pay retail replacement price for the battery I want.

By: Drew

Drew — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 10:05:29 +0000

This thing runs beautifully under Windows 7. The only part it lags in is Full Screen Flash video from sites such as Hulu or Youtube. I only acheived reliable quality when switching to 800×600 which is ridiculous. AVI, WMV, XVID and DVD all played reasonably well with only a slight hiccup here and there. Other than that, who can complain about a 1280×800 screen on a netbook? And 4.5 hours of battery life? Next I plan to replace the stock 4200 zif drive with a zif based MRON SSD drive at 64GB. Comparisions show about a 120% increase in read/write speeds and turn this machine into a real work horse. I know when I am at the data center trying to look at that little 9 inch screen that was on my Acer Aspire One and type on that cramped keyboard was such a pain. If they release this baby in a 2GB model with a better graphics option and a stock SSD drive they will hit that magic sweet spot in the market.

By: Steve

Steve — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 08:17:45 +0000

Bollocks on this being a netbook. It’s a laptop for christ sake! And why bother with these specs when you can pick up an older 700m that has the same horsepower under the hood…

By: marie

marie — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 20:14:37 +0000

I am still waiting for my XP Mini 12. what software comes installed that we can delete to increase efficiency? I am too impatient to just wait.

By: dave

dave — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:54:08 +0000

i just got mini 12 today! ( the 17th)
dell says it will take 15 days for them to build your mini 12 but it only took about 8 days for them to build and ship mine. i ordered mine on the 6th i think.

anyways i have vista right now and i will be getting a copy of XP from a friend and installing that. Can’t wait to see the difference!

btw vista runs OK after you remove all the bloat wear dell ads to the system.

By: Mark

Mark — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:48:46 +0000

Mini-12 is AVAILABLE with XP at the Dell Website – ordered mine right away. December 16, 2008

By: dave

dave — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 21:31:38 +0000

i ordered the vista mini 12 and im just re-installing Xp with all the bells and whistles!

takes 15 days for them to build it thought which SUCKS… i will get mine on jan 6th…..

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 11:29:34 +0000

All the XP drivers work now, especially display driver. You need to download from intel’s website.

Now I can set to 1280×800 resolution.

Use this link for display driver,, install both drivers.

http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Product_Filter.aspx?ProductID=3036&lang=eng

Let me know if you have trouble installing the driver.

Have fun

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 21:26:01 +0000

I really want a Mini 12 but will wait for the XP one.