Note: There is a video at the bottom of this post of my 10v, so be sure to check that out.

As I had been saying many times since 2009 started, my plan was to get a netbook as my next laptop. So I bought a refurbished Dell Inspiron Mini 10v.

My overall opinion of the unit is that it’s a decent solid build and is definitely the right size. However the one thing that I absolutely must point out is that without a 6 cell battery it’s not worth owning.

Since it’s a challenge at best to run high-powered, high-graphic apps (like many popular game titles) on one of these things, what you would use it most for is web browsing, documents and communication such as email, instant messengers and so on.

On a netbook, where one finds this most useful is not at home. Whether it’s your local coffee shop or restaurant with free wi-fi, a long flight, long car or bus ride, hotel, etc., that’s where you’re going to use this thing.

Being that’s the case, long battery life is what matters more than anything else on a netbook.

It should be absolutely mandatory that all netbooks come provided with a 6 cell battery as standard. This is not the case for any netbook currently. All of them, whether made by Dell, HP, MSI, Acer or the like all come with a 3 cell. This realistically only gets you 3 hours of battery life, and that serves absolutely no advantage over a standard-sized laptop.

On my 10v, I purposely sought out a refurb with the 6 cell battery. This was the absolute best decision I could have made because I get the most usefulness out of this netbook.

Being there are other reviews of the 10v on the internet already, I’m going to point out here (some of which will be mentioned in the video below) the points most people would be interested in learning, in Q&A format.

Does it have an optical drive?

No. What makes a netbook a netbook usually starts with having no optical drive. If you want one, you can purchase the small external USB kind. Here’s an example.

What’s the resolution?

On the 10v it’s 1024×576. Most apps will run in this resolution with no issue at all. In the browser (any web browser), you can get maximum space by pressing F11 for full screen mode, and press it again to go back to windowed. Try it right now if you like; it works on any computer.

The Dell mini 10 (the one without the v) does offer a 1366 resolution, however I know for a fact that for many people the text would just be way too small.

At the time I write this, Dell has introduced the brand new Inspiron 11z, which has, you guessed it, an 11-inch screen. Does a 1366 resolution look any more readable on that? Depends on your eyes.

1024×576 on a 10-inch screen can be read fine even for those with a “heavy” eyeglass prescription. With 1366 there’s squinting. And it is unknown at this point whether an 11-inch screen would serve any better, readability-wise.

It also should be noted that at full brightness, the 10v’s LCD screen beams, as in so bright it would literally bother you. I never have mine set at full bright. I think the only time you would have to full-bright is when sitting outside with it on a very bright sunny day.

What’s the hard drive size?

There are several sizes, starting with an 8GB SSD, then 16GB SSD, then 120GB 2.5-inch and the 160GB 2.5-inch. There’s also a 64GB SSD somewhere in the mix.

In the new 11v there is a 250GB 2.5-inch SATA drive offering. It’s overkill, but available.

The SATA drives are the purposely-chosen slower 5400rpm because they run cooler.

On my 10v, I have the 160GB. For me this is fine given the fact I don’t have anything that would munch up hard drive space.

Even if you chose to stuff your hard drive full of movies and MP3s, it would still take a while to fill this thing up. But if you gotta-gotta-gotta have the extra space, just buy an external 750GB Western Digital MyPassport (brand new at the time of this writing). Problem solved.

How does the keyboard feel?

On the 10v it feels solid and not toy-like. It is, according to Dell, 92% the size of a traditional laptop keyboard. It’s responsive, easy to type on and doesn’t require any huge learning curve.

What some may have a problem with is where the PgUp/PgDn keys are. They are shared with the arrow keys and accessible via Fn. Page Up would be Fn+Up, Page Down would be Fn+Down.

It also should be noted there are no keys which could act as a number pad via Fn. The only way to type numbers is to use the top row only.

How does the touchpad feel?

You’ll probably hate it at first. It does take a few days to get used to. Once you do it’s not bad though. It’s not great, I admit, but it’s not awful either. This is one of those things where a design had to be made to accommodate the pint-sized nature of the netbook.

What’s the performance like?

Note before continuing: The 11v is reported to have much better performance as it has a next-gen CPU in it.

The easiest way to describe the performance of a 10v is that it is about the same running speed as a upper-mid-grade laptop made 5 years ago.

Some of you may read that and say, “Bleah! That’s terrible!”

Not really. When you take away the high-powered/high-graphic apps, the 10v can basically run anything you put on it, and do so in a way where you’re not sitting around waiting for something to happen.

The OpenOffice suite for example is a chunky set of apps, but runs easily on the 10v.

I have no issues with the 10v choking and I don’t believe anybody else would.

How long does the 6 cell 56WHr battery last?

With the screen dimmed and wi-fi off, 6 hours. And no, not “about” 6 hours. I’m talking 6 hours or more.

With the screen brightness up and wi-fi on, 5 to 5.5 hours. I can confirm this as I have put the unit thru its paces.

This beats the ever-loving crap out of any standard-sized laptop. Like I said, the battery is the most important part of a netbook, no question.

The video below shows what the 6 cell battery looks like. It is significantly larger than the 3 cell, but not anything that would make you run for the hills.

Does it feel like a toy?

Some netbooks do feel like toys, I won’t deny that. But the 10v doesn’t. The overall construction is solid and it doesn’t feel like a child’s plaything. When opening the screen there are no creaks or squeaks. When typing the keyboard doesn’t feel cheap. All the ports have a nice snug fit when anything is plugged into them.

How loud is it?

The 10v is silent when running. So silent you’d think something is wrong with it. Whenever I turn it on I have to purposely look at the power light just to make sure I turned it on because I’m so used to hearing fan noise from older laptops I’ve used.

How is the audio speaker?

Terrible. Sounds chintzy. A compromise of the small design. Even at its loudest volume it’s still too quiet.

Fortunately for most things where you’d want to hear the audio (like YouTube videos or music), you just plug in headphones.

Part of the reason why the speaker sounds crappy is because I believe it’s under the keyboard, so the sound comes from the bottom of the netbook. It’s more or less the only place they could put the thing. Like I said, it’s a compromise in design because of the small size.

A video review

Below is my quick review. It touches on points I’ve mentioned above plus a few other things.

Although I should have done this last month when it was released, I finally got around to downloading Ubuntu 9.04 to see what was new.

What I found that the most significant upgrades to the OS had almost nothing to do with the interface itself. From what I understand the Ubuntu team was going to revamp the UI in 9, but it couldn’t be completed in time so it’s slated for a later release. Instead what you get is the same interface you got in 8 (with some minor improvements), but the real power lies beneath the surface, so to speak.

What I mean by that is:

• Updated kernel
• GNOME 2.26
• Better multi-monitor support
• Faster startup time

In the UI realm, here’s what’s new:

What was most impressive to me initially was the Brasero optical disc application. This is, said honestly, a great app.  Why so great? Because it has everything people use CDs and DVDs for, and to boot it’s ridiculously simply to use. So simple and intuitive in fact that it should be an OS X app. It’s that good.

Also, since I’m running this in a virtual session in VirtualBox, I can say that 9 works better virtually compared to 8. Installation was super-easy, so I can safely assume that as the native OS it would work great as well.

Ubuntu is getting better. It’s easy to see why it leads the charge as the Linux desktop OS. This isn’t to say other distros can’t do the job (because they certainly can), but the user-centric nature of Ubuntu is what makes it great. Version 9.04 continues with that modus operandi and that’s why Ubuntu users enjoy the OS so much.

Screencasting is when you record your computer’s screen as a video. There are several apps that do the job such as Camstudio (free) and Camtasia Studio (paid), but the problem is that you have to install software, set options up, record a few screencasts before you get the settings right, etc.

Screencast-O-Matic is as easy as screencasts get. Just go to the web site, let it install it’s Java app via the browser (that’s how it works) and away you go. The end result is a MOV file you can upload direct to any video sharing service you like such as YouTube or Vimeo.

And by the way, did I mention it will also record your voice with the screencast if you have a mic attached to your computer? Yes, it does.

See video below for details.

Sometimes there are freebie games released that are just plain frickin’ awesome and TrackMania is one of them. This is a racing game. While it’s true it has little to no driving realism to it, nobody cares because it’s just a blast to play.

For you old-school arcade gamers out there, remember Pole Position? Think of TM Forever as Pole Position on steroids, just as cool and a whole lot more.

TrackMania runs via the Steam client.

Looks like this once installed:

What does it look and play like? I recorded a solo round that I played, so see for yourself:

(to see a better quality version of this vid, go here)

NOW YOU’VE GOT TO ADMIT – this is pretty darned good for free, right?

Oh, and for nostalgia, here’s what the original Pole Position arcade game was like:

Upon recent acquisition of a Garmin nüvi 270 I found that I had the ability to manually enter in longitude and latitude coordinates for locations. This is a very convenient feature because you can enter in coordinates directly without having to connect the GPS to the computer at all.

For those that would ask “Why can’t I just enter in a street address instead?” You could do that, but this is useful when you’re browsing the map in Google Earth and don’t know what the street address is (but do know the coordinates).

See video below for details.

By default when you create screencasts using recordmydesktop in Linux (Ubuntu specifically), the output is an OGG container file. As anyone who has tried to bring that file into Windows quickly learns, there’s not too much software out there that will “understand” OGG in Windows, and even less available if you want to edit it later on using your video editor of choice in Windows (or Mac for that matter).

So in the end you have to find some way to convert OGG to AVI while still retaining quality both for audio and video just to edit it.

While it’s true you can use ffmpeg from the command line in Linux to convert the file from OGG to another format, audio/video sync isn’t always the best and furthermore the quality is vastly inferior compared to the original OGG.

This article shows you how to get full quality conversions for OGG to AVI, both for video and audio – in sync.

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At the present time I’m trying to upgrade my Ubuntu 8.04 to 8.10 but the servers holding the files are getting slammed right now (first day of release – it’s expected).

You can upgrade your Ubuntu 100% from the internet just by clicking a few options and letting the update manager do its thing. See video below for details – it’s super-easy (but takes forever at present because everybody is trying to download it right now). Continued

One of the very few e-mail signatures that I don’t consider a complete waste of space is ASCII art. This is because getting a signature where letters form a picture or cartoon-like figure is not easy and difficult to get right.

If old-school ASCII is your thing, there is a Java application (runs on any OS that supports Java such as Windows/OS X/Linux) called JavE that is a full GUI-based ASCII “image” editor.

In the video below I show you how to get it, use “fonts” within it and how to convert images you have into ASCII text for use as an e-mail signature.

Shopping for a computer case is at times a daunting task because there are so many to choose from. The video in this article will show you how to use NewEgg to review cases on your own without spending a dime. When finished you’ll know how to get to reviews and details on which case is right for you.

When you hear people say that internet video is really big right now, they’re right. Now that so many people have broadband Internet access, the common use of internet video has reached mainstream and more and more people are starting to do it.

And rightly so.

You ever watched television for hours on end? Even if it isn’t particularly exciting, your eyes are kind of glued to it until something else distracts you. Or have you ever experienced seeing something that really moves you and really tugs on the heart strings. You have the imagery, probably coupled with some appropriate music, and you really FEEL it. Now, you would have to be on incredible writer to get that kind of reaction from the written word.

There is something about seeing and hearing something that just draws in the human mind. People stick to it like glue.

As a person working online, you really do need to take this into consideration. Even if your videos aren’t really emotional, videos often will communicate to your audience better than the written word. Not always, of course.

If you look at your website, sit down and brainstorm potential uses for videos on the Internet. Also gather some equipment to help you create some videos. You can hire people to create videos for you. You can also make them yourself any number of ways.

Always include your website URL in your video.

When using sites like Youtube, you might want to try to make a viral video. A video that goes viral means that it spreads similar to a virus. One person “catches” it and passes it onto another. To get this effect, your video has to be truly interesting enough for a person to want to pass it onto their friends. It doesn’t take rocket science to determine what kinds of videos are most likely to go viral. Throw some humor into it, perhaps even with a hot woman in it, and it’ll go viral. Youtube viewers aren’t exactly a high-brow audience.

TIP: Youtube, by default, will pick the exact half-way mark in your video to use as the thumbnail for that video. Many video publishers take advantage of that to put something visually interesting at the half way point. Then, when casual viewers are looking for something interesting to watch, the thumbnail may get their attention and draw them in.

The increasing availability of small form factor video recorders is, in a word, cool. You no longer need a large camcorder unless you want the flexibility of disc-based media or higher lens quality. The need for standard camcorders will never go away, but for quick on-the-fly video recording, nothing beats the small form factor, flash based video recorder.

The Flip Video Mino is one such camera. Let’s take a look at it.

Continued

This chapter is a video presentation.

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This chapter is a video presentation.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

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This chapter is a video presentation.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

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This chapter is a video presentation.

Please Login or Register to read the rest of this article. Gold/Silver Membership required.

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