SPCR

Hi… Is my first post here, i’m posting from Chile and my manage of english is a bit odd, so please be forgiven with my mistakes (grammar or poor vocabulary).

Well, i was searching about a cheap portable fanless laptop and the only options maybe are the second hand Dell mini 10 and Dell X1 (cheapest Sony Vaio P doubles the cost).

I will use the laptop in web browsing, read the news, chat, mail, word and excel tasks, messenger and skype, and will use it as a audio source (connected to a USB professional audio card, M-audio or Behringer). No games, no HD video.

I will need a fast launching of web pages and documents (snappy? performance).

I saw that the max TDP of Z520 / Z530 is extremely low, and the chipset don’t dissipate so much too. The celeron M 733’ TDP is okay... but the 27w 915GMS chipset could be a heat generator.

And the questions are:

Is there a great difference in performance between mini 10 and X1?

Is there a great difference in heating?

Wich would you choose? why?

Thanks!

The Intel Pentium M 1.10GHz gets 291 and the Atom Z530 @ 1.60GHz gets 298. http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_list.php

The X1 has a higher res screen and user upgradeable memory. The mini 10 however http://www.engadget.com/2009/02/23/dell ... o-long-as/ is not upgradeable. You can add a 2GB stick to the X1: http://forum.notebookreview.com/hardwar ... ram-2.html

The Dell Mini 10 came in 1024 x 576 and 1024 x 600 resolutions. The X1 came with a fantastic 1280x768 screen and it's a bit bigger: 10 vs 12 inches. Don't forget that the Dell X1 is, in fact, a relabeled Samsung Q30 and so it was vastly superior to anything in its age and even today stands on its own.

X1 also has matte screen instead of reflective, which might be huge plus, if you intend to use the laptop in areas where you can't control the amount and direction of light.

On the other hand, mini1012 (newest mini10) with Atom N450 has over two times longer battery life (my X1 used to get 4 hours of practical battery life, when battery was new, and 1012 should get 8+). Then again, if 4 hours is enough, X1 is really good, especially when upgraded with SSD (1012 has better selection of SSDs you can get though, because 2.5" form factor and SATA). 1012 can be upgraded to 2GB too. I still prefer the X1, I actually have two, second one being spare parts/reserve

paha_paawo wrote:my X1 used to get 4 hours of practical battery life

May I enquire if that was with the 3-cell or 6-cell battery?

With 6-cell. Could be up to 7-8 hours of just idling, but that 4 hours was wifi-surfing or video playback. Cut the numbers to half for 3-cell.

In reviews it has been around the same, or little longer, like 2h40min if wifi-surfing with 3-cell at http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2366