Dell MINI 9 w/ Mac OS X! NetBook/DP Remote/Toy VI Player :)

[Eleventh Hour Sound]

Note: (I had this in the DP section, but thought it may have more interest in the Mac Hardware section)

Hey Guys, I've been off on a tangent and I thought I would report back on my adventure After hearing about http://www.MyDellMini.com I got a Dell Mini9, a 64 Gig RunCore SSD HardDrive and loaded OS X on it. It works! It seems that the Dell Mini9 uses OS X compatible hardware, so after installing OS X and a few helper files provided on the MyDellMini site I was amazed to see OS X running in all it Glory on the Dell Mini's little 9 inch screen! No, it isn't as totally amazing as a MacBook, the trackpad can be a little iffy and it's only a little 1.6G processor, but it's amazing for what it is. Then when you use your Mac you will feel like you're driving a Rolls Royce!

If nothing else, it's a great little (and I mean little) eMail and web browsing machine, so you can let your real Mac focus on music. The keyboard has some issues (it's small and a few keys are in the wrong place) but it works. Apple Remote Desktop runs and makes for a good way to remote control DP. Also, just for laughs I installed Ivory and installed the Bosendorfer sound set on the SSD and it works! AMAZING! It doesn't have FireWire so it would require a USB audio interface, but it does a lot for cheap.

Also, after working with pretty fast SSD Drives, it makes me realize that these drive are amazing (and pretty sturdy as far as I can tell).

I think it could be fun to get several of these and make a little MINI Farm out of 'em. Kind of like people do with the MacMini's. It would be really nice if you could network 'em and use MIDI and Audio over LAN so you only need one audio interface.

If you're interested, Read On:

Buying a Mini from the Dell store can be a nightmare so I got mine from someone locally. Dell had them as cheap as $200 recently on sale.
The simple way to install OS X is to buy one of the RunCore SSD drives that have a micro USB port. You just attach the RunCore SSD drive to your USB port, insert your Retail OS X Leopard disk (that you purchased) and proceed to install it onto the SSD drive. Then you run the Dell EFI app that's on their site (and follow instructions). Install the SSD in the Dell, run the DellEFI app again following the instructions and Bang you've got OS X running on a $470 portable, disposable, OS Xable machine.

$250 for the Dell Mini 9 on sale at the Dell Store. You might find them as cheap as $200. I found one locally for $180. It had 500Megs Ram, a 4 Gig SSD, AND Linux. You can get the smallest ram and SSD drive because you're going to put in a 2Gig ram chip and a 32G or 64G SSD drive in it.

$219 for the 64 Gig RunCore SSD (with USB)
or
$119 for the 32 Gig RunCore SSD (with USB)
plus
$129 for a retail Mac OS X Leopard Disk. (You probably already have this)