I finally jumped into the Netbook world by buying a Dell Mini 9 refurb.  Since I got it, I realized that it has some serious limitations! 

First, the 8GB SSD had pathetic read/write times.  It was painfully slow.  I sourced a 32GB RUNCORE SSD from Hong Kong.  Do your research.  At the time that I am writing this, the RUNCORE is the fastest but all the US websites are backordered.  You can go on Ebay and find it from a reputable seller in Hong Kong.  I know, I know... Hong Kong = SCAM.   No.  I have been buying stuff from Hong Kong for a few months now and I have received everything on time and in good working order.

Second, this is actually my second Mini 9.  The first one I gave/sold to TJ.  I needed a Mini 9 with the WWAN connector so I could install  a Sprint Air Card.  I bought the U720, ripped it apart and put the Mini PCIe Card in.  Works great!!

Next, I went for the battery.  I had seen a number of high capacity batteries on eBay from Hong Kong.  I bought one.  I advise you not to though.  The Mini 9 will not recognize and the battery will not charge.  This turned out to be a waste of money.

Then, I upgraded the WiFi card to the Dell 802.11n card.  No big deal.  Easy.

The little dongle on the right is a bluetooth radio for the mouse and bluetooth GPS.  The U720 is supposed to have GPS, but I couldn’t get it to work properly, so I bought a wireless bluetooth GPS receiver.  Works awesome!

Finally, I bought a touch screen kit.  I have not installed it yet thought.   I need about 3 hours of free time and I haven’t found it yet!

By the way, the case is a Pelican 1470 Case.  Underneath the Mini 9 is my Nintendo DS-Lite!