Dell Mini 9 FAQs

This FAQ is regarding the Dell Mini 9s I have for sale which can come installed with Apple Mac OS X Leopard, Windows 7 or Ubuntu - as you preferred.

NONE of the CONFIGS below have In-built webcam or Bluetooth. If you need these options, prices will vary as they will be a special order

Contact info: Call or Text 973-954-5667.
Config 1: 4GB SSD, 512MB RAM, OS: Ubuntu Linux - $170 - limited quantities.

Config 2: 8GB SSD, 1GB RAM, OS: Ubuntu Linux - $199.

Config 3: 16GB SSD, 1GB RAM, OS: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7 or Windows 7 (you choose) - $275.

Config 4: 16GB SSD, 2GB RAM, OS: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7 or Windows 7 (you choose) - $299.

Config 4: 32GB SSD, 1GB RAM, OS: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7 or Windows 7 (you choose) - $325.

Config 5: 32GB SSD, 2GB RAM, OS: Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.7 or Windows 7 (you choose) - $350. To setup dual boot will be $50 additional.

Cash only, pickup only. Pickup at 60th and 3rd during weekdays from 9am to 6pm OR in Central NJ - the Walmart in Old Bridge, NJ during weeknights and weekends.

General Questions about the Dell Mini:

1.) Whats the warranty and condition?
These are refurbished or "previously Ordered new" laptops. They are tested by Dell (twice) to be work as new. They even have a FULL 1 Year Warranty thru Dell.

2.) How old are they?
They are usually less than a week old - I buy, upgrade, install OS of your choice and sell. So they are as good as new.

3.) How much do they cost new?
Please check the Dell website for latest pricing. I know that I sell them at a great price and OS X on it makes it sweeter. I could give you my ebay reference if you like!

4.) Do you ship?
Yes, I do. Payment via paypal and shipping to confirmed address only.

5.) What SSD upgrades do you offer? What Brand.
8GB, 16Gb, 32 GB only. They are either stock Dell SSDs (STEC) or Super Talent. No, they are not the overpriced Runcores (why? I just said it - over priced. Heard of Monster Cables?!)

Mac OS X on the Mini - related FAQs:
1.) How well does OS X Leopard run on the Mini?

Snappy. No difference when compared to ubuntu or xp. Its faster to boot up etc dues to the SSD.

2) How much free disk space is left with OS X installed?
OS X 10.5.6 takes up approximately 6GB - no printer drivers and additional language translations have been removed.

3) Does the speed of OS X with compare with Ubuntu? Unbuntu pre-loaded boots pretty fast?

Leopard rocks. 2GB is sweet spot for the Leopard. There is no difference in eve

4.)What if i have an issue with the OS?? how are they going to help with if its a MAC OS?
Sorry, Dell will not help you with Mac OS :) OS X is officially not supported on anything else than their $1000+ Macbooks. But you will find plenty of help online.

5.) Are there any issues with the hardware?
Everything works on the Dell mini - Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth (internal and external), Audio, Speakers, Sleep and TWO-Finger Scrolling too! The issue with the rare freeze on a restart also seems to have been resolved - I have not had a freeze on restart in the last 2+ weeks. This was mainly caused due to the internal bluetooth - so I dont sell any configs with in-built bluetooth.

6.) Can you apply the software updates from the website?
Yes! When you get the laptop, it has the latest kernel 10.5.6. Software updates are fine too. But MAJOR OS updates may / may not work. So always backup using the Time Machine to an external USB. 10.5.7 works - if you need this updated, i can do it for $25 additional. You can do this yourself - its very easy.

7.) Is this a legal copy or pirated or the "slip-streamed" one?
I install using my legal FULL retail copy DVD to do the install. I wont be providing you a license and you need to have your own license. But, even having your own retail license does not make this legal - since its against Apple's TOS to install OS X on anything other than their $1000+ macbooks or macs.
The version installed can apply the software updates. But any major OS updates - there is no guarantee and the fact that you are using a retail copy does not matter.
The slip-streamed install is half-baked and outdated.

8.) Can you dual boot into OS X and Windows? Or with Linux.
Yes, you can dual boot into OS X and Windows or OS X and Linux I can set this up for $50 additional. And for the brave enough, you can with a bit of hacking, triple boot too - OS X, Linux and Windows XP on the same machine.

About the Warranty thru DELL:

It has FULL 1yr WARRANTY thru Dell itself - the warranty is as good as new ones. There is NO cosmetic issue with this one. Refurbished ones from Dell are USUALLY cancelled orders. Installing OS X on this DOES NOT VOID the WARRANTY. You could just remove your Hard drive before you send it to dell for repair - I dont want Dell techs looking at my private data and ALWAYS remove the hard drive before sending it in to repair. Dell themselves suggest this. The warranty is for hardware and hence they dont care what you install on it.

TROUBLESHOOTING:

1.) I did a software update and now my Mini screen is frozen or it boots into screen with lines or wont boot at all. What do I do?

OPTION 1: Updating 10.5.7 / 10.5.8 directly will cause problems. Look here for help: http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/mac-os-x/7791-mac-osx-10-5-7-here-45.html

Look at the last page, there is a way to get it working fine.

1. I powered down and rebooted into safe mode (basically hit "-" and the enter "-x")
2. This brought me to the safe mode of the desktop
3. I ran theDellEI 1.2a5 with the settings for :
"reinstall Chameleon 2.0RC1...."
"Reinstall Dell Mini 9 extensions"
"Hide DellEFI files"
4. Hit Install and follow through till it rebooted
5. It was all good after that..

Here is the link to get DellEFi 1.2a5 --- http://mydellmini.googlecode.com/files/DellEFI1.2a5.zip

OPTION 2:

Reboot with safe mode ( -x option at boot or Hold down the CTRL screen at the Darwin loader)

Run DellEFI 1.2a5 (see link above) . when done, choose "NO" so you dont reboot. run dell efi again, choose "custom installation" and check the box which says "remove custom dsdt.aml file" , when finished choose "NO" so you dont reboot, run dell efi again, and now install again (this will regenerate the custom dsdt.aml file" after this you can reboot.

OPTION 3:
Unable to boot into safe mode: Look here: http://dellefi.mechdrew.com/guide/oldguide.shtml -- look at section G. In that do steps 2,3,4 to make the bootable drive. DellMiniBoot v8.02b1 is what you will use for step 2. once you do this, you should be able to boot into OSX (here also you can try rebooting into safe mode) and the do the above steps with the Dell EFI.