Well finally my new dell mini arrived.  I bought the ubuntu model which until the 19th has another 20 pounds off, so 249 quid for a rather cute laptop.  The only problem I can see is the delivery time.  Initially they estimated a 2 week wait and then just before that 2 weeks was up Dell would send an automated email to tell me that it would be another 2 weeks.  This happenned a few times until I had had enough and called them to politely but firmly let them know how unhappy I was.  The next day my order moved into dispatch and I received the laptop soon after.  Fully review to come soon.

UK Ubuntu Model

Ordered: 3rd Oct
Initial Estimated Delivery date: 17th October
Revised Est. Delivery Date (just before previous delivery date): 28th October
Revised Est. Delivery Date (just before previous delivery date): 13th Nov
Revised Est. Delivery Date (just before previous delivery date): 24th Nov
Politely but firmly stated over the phone that I was very unhappy: 12th Nov
Delivered: 8am 17th Nov

So from start to end it was about 6.5 weeks - 4.5 weeks over the original estimated date. But without a phone call it would have been a bit longer - I’m just happ1y I have it now (phew!). Lovely machine it is too.

With that 20 quid off it is a very attractive price though I think most people would find the keys and screen too small for their normal laptop I have a keyboard, monitor & mouse at home and at work that I plug into.  But with 20 quid off I think it’ll be rather popular for Christmas - if you want one better order it now - it’ll be close…

I bought the laptop with ultraportability in mind (since I cycle to work) and a 1kg tiny machine is just about perfect.  I did also go out and buy a 16gb HCSD Card (that’s the new kind of sd card) and I’m just trying to work out how to mount it as my home directory.  The SD card fully submerges so you can just stick it in there and forget about it, though don’t forget that only the first 10,000 write-cycles of an SD card are guarenteed (in general).  Perfect for photos, terrible if you’re frequently writing data to the same portion of the card.

Anyway, now that I have a machine I can get back to writing more techie articles!  Hooray!

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