Friday, September 05, 2008

Dell Inspiron Mini 9 dissected


Wasn't me.. it was Dell them self's..

Click here to see more


Removing SSD... Note it's the slow Intel SSD


Bluetooth module



Screen.. looks like touch panel would fit fine..


SIM slot behind the battery


Main board with pads to cool cpu/gpu ... and heat the keyboard..





And a picture from a real device.. again Intel SSD. So it looks like that some Mini 9's have faster STEC SSD and some has Intel... More about that soon.


Check the service manual for more.

Thanks Matthew!

Dell Mini 9 Service Manual

Details, News and Links for Mini 9

Thanks NotebookReview.com for the good picture






Related News:

33 comments:

thazlett said...

tempting buy... any usb lines on the board that are unused that we need to know about?

JKK said...

if they fully wired the ssd and wifi modules, you should take USB lines from those....

Anonymous said...

You stole the bottom image from the review over at NotebookReview.com. I hope you get sued.

JKK said...

hope not ;)

got it as a email, bit if it's from them i have to link....

JKK said...

thanks, anon.. linked NotebookReview.com

Anonymous said...

I checked the service manual and didn't notice any fan... is it fanless ?

Anonymous said...

Uhmmm

the empty mini-pci in last picture shows two cables to connect the 3G module to a pre-installed antenna?

Anonymous said...

I'm liking this little baby more and more. Yes it's a Dell but everyone has some issues.

Does anyone know of a users forum for this machine, like eeeuser.com? Interested to see the first mods.

Anonymous said...

ok, now im glad i held of buying a netbook.

just need to wait for dell to open up sales of the ubuntu variant in norway.

but given that i dont recall reading that they have opened up for that on their regular laptops, its probably a long way off...

JKK said...

yes, antenna cables are there ready and waiting..

Anonymous said...

my guess is they put the faster SSD in all the preproduction units they sent out for review & will put the slow Intel SSD's in the retail version.

Anonymous said...

What about possibility of HDD installation?

Anonymous said...

Will a 1.8 HDD fit in the space? How bout SSD?

JKK said...

there is no room for 1.8 inch HDD or SSD..

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know if the SIM slot is standard, or if you have to buy it through a carrier to get that?

Anonymous said...

You sure it wasn´t you? ;-) Great pictures at all, doesn´t something like this from Asus. Can you here this Asus?

Anonymous said...

Hey jkk, do you think we just need to buy a novatel wireless eu870d pci modem, install the software and we will have an instant 3g netbook?

Anonymous said...

given your recent posting about eeepc replacement "drives". would the same drives work with the mini?

Anonymous said...

I want 1 very nice, but need more storage, without spending a lot. Could i use one of your pcie to zif adapters and squeeze a 1.8" drive in, or is there space for a usb hub and a 32gb data stick.

JKK said...

no room for 1.8 inch drives but small usb stick would fit..

I have some more info about this coming soon so keep your eyes open..

Anonymous said...

I was worried about getting the IBM SSD.
The STEC is 224/250% faster!

85/25 versus 38/10 MB/s read/write performance
HMMMMMMMMMM

From the datasheet:
http://www.intel.com/design/flash/nand/z-p230/index.htm

16GB isn't available until Q4 08,
and we're still in Q3 here.
I really hope my Mini
which will ship after the 1st week of Q4
has the STEC!!!

http://www.stec-inc.com/product/pci.php

Xaq Fixx said...

New Blog/Wiki & Forum coming soon for modding the Dell Mini 9 at Mini9Hacks.com. Anyone interested in helping shoot an e-mail to Xaq(at)XaqFixx(dot)com

Charles K said...

I'm wondering if the eee replacement drives would work as well.

I show these little gems on ebay and the size looks similar to the service manual found online.

http://cgi.ebay.com/64GB-PCI-e-SSD-ASUS-EEE-PC-EEEPC-900-901-903-905-1000_W0QQitemZ380061055641QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item380061055641&_trkparms=72%3A1163|39%3A1|66%3A2|65%3A12|240%3A1308&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

JKK said...

Nope you can't use that.. it's 70mm wide and you need 50mm wide for Dell..

.. but something is soon coming.

Unknown said...

hp has a similar mini for around $750 that has an express card and runs a celeron (i think) and slightly higher resolution than the dell mini. it's just a little bigger than the dell.. that said i still ordered the dell mini.. more in my budget.. i'm hoping that i can eventually upgrade it to 2gb ddr2 and maybe upgrade the SSD or drop in a 16 gb SD card into the 3 in 1 card reader.. wow.. is technology cool or what?

Anonymous said...

If someone is going to solder on a mini PCI connector to the board and add a WWAN card, please post the details of the process. I'd like to follow them and find a way to get that upgrade done myself.

Anonymous said...

It's got a mini pcie connector open, why do you want to change the connector? So what's the sim card for? The cell internet? From what I read US versions don't have the stuff on the board for the cell net that will be added later.

Anonymous said...

Yep - bought one yesterday - the mini-PCI connector for WWAN is not soldered - so can't really do anything with it really.

Also, any idea, what might be the Bluetooth part to order? I ordered without one and need to find it on eBay or elsewhere.

Anonymous said...

Hello,

32GB storage upgrade for the Dell Inspiron Mini 9. This SSD upgrade is a PCI-Express SSD solution, using MLC chips.
Performance Sustain Read Speed up to 35MB/s
Sustain Write Speed up to 14MB/s
It is'nt very good, wait and see ..

http://www.memoryc.com/storage/solidstatedisk.html

Anonymous said...

My one day old dell mini 9 is painfully slow and ridiculously cramped and it's going up for sale on ebay.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous said...

"I'm liking this little baby more and more. Yes it's a Dell but everyone has some issues.

Does anyone know of a users forum for this machine, like eeeuser.com? Interested to see the first mods."

I have started a forum for mini9 users at


http://9mods.com

Anonymous said...

To upgrade ram can I use the Kingston 2GB PC2-5300 DDR2?

Anonymous said...

Sorry to spam, but I'm selling my 32gb MLC SSD for the Mini 9 and wanted to let people know.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270290887620

Post a Comment