Dell Mini 10 Stuck With 1 GB RAM

Since its reveal at CES, we’ve figured the Dell Mini 10 to be one of the premium 10-inch netbooks.

With its promise of a high-res, 720p-capable display and TV tuner, the Dell Mini 10 was the netbook that aspired to do more than just casual browsing -- hoping to step into the realm of multimedia. However, whatever multimedia that it will end up doing, it’ll have to accomplish it with 1 GB of RAM.

Dell’s Chief Blogger Lionel Menchaca wrote that all the initial versions of the Mini 10 will come with 1 GB “fixed” RAM, meaning it will not be upgradable. This is rather disappointing as other 10-inch netbooks such as the MSI Wind and Asus Eee PC offer ways for the user to expand to 2 GB, even if 1 GB is the standard option.

Gadget blog Boing Boing thinks that the 1 GB limit could be a restriction imposed by either Intel for use of the Atom or Microsoft for its Windows XP netbook licensing. Either way, it doesn’t seem to make much sense and is disappointing to those who were looking forward to the Mini 10 as a more media capable netbook.

Last week we saw the initial shipping hardware list from Dell about its Mini 10, which was a minor letdown as it did not feature the 720p display or the TV tuner as options. Surely Dell will eventually those features later on, but not having them at launch does paint the Mini 10 as less stellar than it could be. Hopefully RAM expandability will be on feature that comes later as well.

Marcus Yam
Marcus Yam served as Tom's Hardware News Director during 2008-2014. He entered tech media in the late 90s and fondly remembers the days when an overclocked Celeron 300A and Voodoo2 SLI comprised a gaming rig with the ultimate street cred.
  • This was supposed to be a different netbook but the disappointing news keep piling up. I guess we'll have to wait for the ION powered netbooks to get something different.
    Reply
  • liemfukliang
    Is this mean new and no upgradeable or is this like ultra portable laptop which you can at memory only one slot, while the other slot is soldered?
    Reply
  • Marcus Yam
    liemfukliangIs this mean new and no upgradeable or is this like ultra portable laptop which you can at memory only one slot, while the other slot is soldered?It sounds like it's soldered right on the board with no slots at all.
    Reply
  • WheelsOfConfusion
    1GB of RAM isn't exactly crippling for a netbook.
    Reply
  • mmc4587
    TOM:

    Get your head out of your... shoe!

    5 years ago I was watching movies, and recording TV on a 1600x1200 display... with 256MB RAM.

    1GB RAM is overkill for a netbook.

    Sorry, I do understand that some of us feel the need to overcompensate for ..uh smallish Hard Drives.. with extra RAM.
    Reply
  • jhansonxi
    I think 1GB is enough. They might have a location on the PCB for a socket but not have it stuffed.

    I'm surprised that either Intel or Microsoft would be require memory size restrictions. I haven't seen a "maximum" memory limitation in software since Windows 98.
    Reply
  • salovan
    It seems unlikely to be an MS licensing issue. I just ordered a Lenovo S10e netbook with 2.5 GB of RAM which (unfortunately) ships with XP Home.
    Reply
  • zodiacfml
    it's not multimedia will be restricted by the 1 GB, it is multitasking and multiple browser windows for a whole day.
    unless......
    you use vista which is truly a pain at 1GB for simple tasks.
    Reply
  • cashcar1979
    Mr. Yam,

    Do some research please. Dell's website clearly states the Mini 10 will ultimately have a 2gb configuration "coming soon". To state in this forum a buyer would be "stuck" with a 1gb configuration is false.
    Reply
  • cashcar1979
    FYI - here is the link:

    http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/laptop-inspiron-10?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs
    Reply