Dell Inspiron Mini 9-inch Netbook Laptop Computer

I love the new netbooks that are coming out. Small, solid-state hard drives with more processor power and memory than my desktop from just a couple of years ago. These netbooks are lightweight, portable, and super quiet because of their solid-state hard drives (instead of traditional drives that are bulky and noisy). They have wi-fi built in, or a wi-fi card comes with it, and the only drive they have is a memory card reader (SD, etc). So...since we're all saving lots of our stuff like pictures to memory cards (SD, etc) and to the cloud (like Google Docs and flickr) then why do you need so much space on your laptop's hard drive? A solid-state drive that allows you to slap MS Office on there is enough. That's why they call it a netbook --- it just connects you to the Internet via wi-fi or whatever, and then you just save all your docs to the cloud. Enter the Dell Inspiron Mini Netbook. It's a 9-inch screen netbook computer laptop that is only 2.2 pounds and has Windows XP Home Edition on it. And the kicker? IT CAN BE FOUND FOR LESS THAN $300 bucks. How about that? I found it for $245 at samsclub.com (update: link was provided in this article originally, but it now appears to no longer be available on samsclub.com). See the pics at right for a look at the different colors, etc, for the Dell Inspiron Mini Netbook. Now, having an 8G hard drive may make you cringe --- but again, think about saving everything from your netbook to a service like Google Docs instead of to your hard drive, and you'll stop hyperventilating about having so little space available on your hard drive. Also, it has a memory card reader so you can just pull the memory card out of your digital camera (or your cell phone, if the phone's camera is a high enough megapixel that the pics aren't junk) and then save it directly from your memory card to your flickr or facebook account. The only thing you might want more hard drive space for is apps like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop. But many apps (even Office) are making online versions available. So why not take advantage, and save your back (and your pocketbook) some pain? Consider a netbook as your next laptop. See the specs below for the Dell Inspiron Mini 9-inch Netbook Laptop Computer. Maybe at a price of $245, it makes it easier to be generous and give one of these as a gift? For example, for a youth who is less fortunate and wants to learn some good computing skills. You could certainly load up a text editor on this thing, and maybe even learn MySQL and PHP. Talk about a way to get knowledge into the masses! SPECS FOR THE DELL INSPIRON MINI9: # Processor and Memory: Inspiron 910 Intel Atom processor N270, 1.6GHz, 533Mhz512K L2 Cache # 1GB DDR2, 533MHZ, 1 DIMM Hard Drive and Multimedia Drives: # 8GB Solid State Drive (mini-card Module/PATA) # 3-in-1 Media Card Reader Graphics: # Intel Graphics Media Accelerator (GMA) 950 Connectivity: # Integrated 10/100 LAN (RJ45) # Wireless 802.11g Mini Card Ports/Slots: # USB 2.0 (3) # 15-pin VGA video connector # Audio jacks (1-line out, 1 mic-in) # AC adapter connector Display and Webcam: # 8.9" Wide Screen WSVGA TL LCD # 0.3MP Webcam Power: # 4-cell 32WHr Li-Ion Battery Dimensions and Weight: # Dimensions: 9.13"W x 1.07"H x 6.77"D # Weight: 2.28 lbs. Operating System: # Genuine Windows XP Home Edition Included: # Power cord