If I don't end up with a CR-48 I wonder if a Dell Mini would suit the bill. I would much rather have the CR-48 of course, but if that doesn't materialize and I know it might not because their supplies are limited, what do I do instead? Get a Dell Inspiron 17R? Or go for a Mini 10 or something? I don't know....

I have some Dell minis. The stock variety are slow because you get windows xp and either a 5400 rpm or 4200 or their slow first gen ssd on the original 9. If you swap out the stock drive for a reasonable ssd, the speed goes up by like seven fold.

I have Linux on mine but the chromebook is just as fast and I expect the ones they release this summer are going to be faster. I'm totally buying one the day they come out even though I got a free Cr-48. I'm sure my wife would like 100% use of a chromebook anyway seeing how she is well into 75% on mine as it is.

I would buy one too! IF they come out that fast, I hope they do, but I plan on buying something between now and then, so we'll see. I hope they are able to work out the kinks and get them on the market by Summer this year. That would totally rock! I can hardly wait! Of course the time will fly by I'm sure.

Isn't the Dell a 10" screen? One of the things I like about the Cr-48 is that it has the advantages of a 12" screen in a 10" body.

Yep, but they make a little bigger one I think, the Dell Mini 10 or 11z. I think if I don't get a CR 48 I will end up with a 17R which is a huge screen and I'll still use Chrome but I will just have to wait to get it til we get a new TV. That's the next big purchase this year. I have been looking at their outlet models and think I could score a nice deal on one with a blu-ray drive for about $600. I hate waiting though, I've been wanting a laptop, will be my first, for years.

I've got a mini 9 that's sat in a drawer for at least a year. It's got windows and an 8gb ssd on it. That combo make it barely run. Hopefully someday I will get ChromeOS on it - all I would use it for is a browser anyway. I'm being lazy and waiting for someone to hand me some install instructions with a promise that it will work in under an hour.

Originally Posted by tomo

I've got a mini 9 that's sat in a drawer for at least a year. It's got windows and an 8gb ssd on it. That combo make it barely run. Hopefully someday I will get ChromeOS on it - all I would use it for is a browser anyway. I'm being lazy and waiting for someone to hand me some install instructions with a promise that it will work in under an hour.

Can also just install Ubuntu on it. There is supposed to be good support for the Dell Mini 9, in part because it was also sold with Ubuntu on it early on.

Originally Posted by tomo

I've got a mini 9 that's sat in a drawer for at least a year. It's got windows and an 8gb ssd on it. That combo make it barely run. Hopefully someday I will get ChromeOS on it - all I would use it for is a browser anyway. I'm being lazy and waiting for someone to hand me some install instructions with a promise that it will work in under an hour.

The wifi driver does not work on the mini 9. Same problem with virtually every other laptop I've tried chromium/chrome os on. You'd have to include the driver in a custom build. Would take far more than 1 hr.

As for the 8GD SSD, those are the slowest possible first gen SSDs. Luckily you can swap a different SSD into the mini 9 although they cost more than they are worth performance-wise.

There is a person working on dell mini chromium builds

Index of /files/cto

Wow, sounds like the mini 9 might not be the best way for me to go. I went to Walmart today and saw a 17R in person and that's the laptop I think I really could live with, never had windows 7 before but I am sure I could get used to it. So does the wifi driver work for the cr-48?

The wifi driver works fine on Cr-48. It is just chipsets. Atheros cards work too.