Are Dell E and Dell E Slim worth waiting for?

[wersdaluv]

I'm thinking of getting a netbook pretty soon. My options are EEE PC 1000 and MSI Wind 10". I want the netbooks with the bigger screens.

The Dell E Slim makes me think twice if I should really buy soon. It has a 12.1" screen without sacrificing size because it is slim.

What do you think? Is the Dell E Slim (and Dell E for that matter) worth waiting for?

[snowpine]

I am also very eager to see what happens with the new Dells, especially since the price (allegedly starting at $299) looks very competitive. The problem is, whatever you buy, something better always comes out a few months later. At a certain point, you just need to bite the bullet and get whatever is best at that moment. :)

Does anyone know if the Dell EEE is going to have Ubuntu?

[kdnewton]

I don't think anyone can tell you if a certain laptop is worth waiting for. I'll tell you why I'm looking forward to Dell's E and you can take what you will from it.

The decision of which sub-notebook I want to go with has everything to do with my computer habits. I write programs and they often lead to creating huge amounts of data, which involves a whole lot of writes to the hard-disk.

What the EeePC lacks is a hard-drive that can survive my computer habits for much longer than a year. I've not come up with any reference to being able to swap the burned-out solid state drive (SSD) from the EeePC with a new SSD when (after 6 years of even average use) the SSD inevitably stops working.

The specs show that the Dell E Slim will come with an option for a regular laptop hard-disk. Of course that's what I'm looking for most in a sub-notebook.

The OP asked if it's "worth waiting for". There's almost no wait for Dell's E. It has an expected release of August 2008. July is almost over.

Speculation holds, in regard to the second poster, that since Dell is cozy with Canonical now that we should be surprised if Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Fluxuntu or some derivative thereof isn't shipped as the default OS.

I'm excited and I don't think I can wait until October for v2.0 of the E.

[madjr]

I'm thinking of getting a netbook pretty soon. My options are EEE PC 1000 and MSI Wind 10". I want the netbooks with the bigger screens.

The Dell E Slim makes me think twice if I should really buy soon. It has a 12.1" screen without sacrificing size because it is slim.

What do you think? Is the Dell E Slim (and Dell E for that matter) worth waiting for?

if you are looking forward to ubuntu netbook remix, then yes i would wait for 1

[snowpine]

if you are looking forward to ubuntu netbook remix, then yes i would wait for 1

I thought the Netbook Remix only ran on Atom processors?

[zachtib]

I thought the Netbook Remix only ran on Atom processors?

That's what the Dell E uses, IIRC

[snowpine]

That's what the Dell E uses, IIRC

My bad, I didn't realize Diamondville = Atom

:)

[gn2]

I thought the Netbook Remix only ran on Atom processors?

Nope, according to reports it will run on the Celeron Eee900 and probably other CPU's as well.


What the EeePC lacks is a hard-drive that can survive my computer habits for much longer than a year. I've not come up with any reference to being able to swap the burned-out solid state drive (SSD) from the EeePC with a new SSD when (after 6 years of even average use) the SSD inevitably stops working.

FUD. An SSD will probably outlast a mechanical hard drive.
They usually use standard IDE connectors.
The MSI Wind/Medion Akoya/Advent 4211 and the Acer Aspire One all have mechanical hard drive options and are available now.
The main reason for avoiding the Asus Eee range is the keyboard, the competitors are all much better.


I'm thinking of getting a netbook pretty soon. My options are EEE PC 1000 and MSI Wind 10". I want the netbooks with the bigger screens.

The resolution of the 10" screen netbooks is the same as the 8.9" screens, 1024x600 so there's no major difference.

[easybake]

Here are some data sheets for both. Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/photos/dell-e-and-e-slim-revealed-taking-on-eee-and-air-in-one-fell-swoop/859933/)

[kdnewton]

FUD. An SSD will probably outlast a mechanical hard drive.

I was quoting from an EeePC wiki regarding the expected write limits of a solid state drive.
[Edit: I had skipped over the line where the author of the article expected a typical user to achieve 25 years of service from the SSD. My bad. Good call with the FUD]

http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ssd_write_limit

Would still be nice if we could swap a burnt out SSD with a new one.

[gn2]

Would still be nice if we could swap a burnt out SSD with a new one.

I think you can....?

http://tinyurl.com/6ohb5b

http://tinyurl.com/5sn2pn

[wersdaluv]

The resolution of the 10" screen netbooks is the same as the 8.9" screens, 1024x600 so there's no major difference.

You really are the netbook guy. hehe. Thanks for pointing that out. It's just that, I still prefer 10" because of the screen and keyboard size. That's also the reason why I'm thinking of waiting for the E Slim. It has a 12" screen so that means larger keyboard and resolution too.

[wersdaluv]

I don't think anyone can tell you if a certain laptop is worth waiting for. I'll tell you why I'm looking forward to Dell's E and you can take what you will from it.

The decision of which sub-notebook I want to go with has everything to do with my computer habits. I write programs and they often lead to creating huge amounts of data, which involves a whole lot of writes to the hard-disk.

What the EeePC lacks is a hard-drive that can survive my computer habits for much longer than a year. I've not come up with any reference to being able to swap the burned-out solid state drive (SSD) from the EeePC with a new SSD when (after 6 years of even average use) the SSD inevitably stops working.

The specs show that the Dell E Slim will come with an option for a regular laptop hard-disk. Of course that's what I'm looking for most in a sub-notebook.

The OP asked if it's "worth waiting for". There's almost no wait for Dell's E. It has an expected release of August 2008. July is almost over.

Speculation holds, in regard to the second poster, that since Dell is cozy with Canonical now that we should be surprised if Ubuntu/Xubuntu/Fluxuntu or some derivative thereof isn't shipped as the default OS.

I'm excited and I don't think I can wait until October for v2.0 of the E.
Yep. August is almost here but I don't know if they will sell that in Asia that soon too. I prefer buying in a local store than online.

[gn2]

You really are the netbook guy. hehe. Thanks for pointing that out. It's just that, I still prefer 10" because of the screen and keyboard size. That's also the reason why I'm thinking of waiting for the E Slim. It has a 12" screen so that means larger keyboard and resolution too.

Not really the netbook guy, I got fed up waiting for a decent one to arrive and went for a regular 12" laptop.

Have you seen the Mandriva netbook yet?
http://club.mandriva.com/xwiki/bin/view/Main/GDiumInfo?language=en

There seems to have been a drop in prices of 12" laptops in the UK, possibly because they are not selling and losing out to netbooks.
For example: http://tinyurl.com/6f6m7z