Dell Inspiron Mini 10 1GB Fixed RAM Warning [Mini 10 Potential Purchasers Beware]

We covered the launch of Dell’s new Inspiron Mini 10 netbook back last week and we were certainly not alone in being fairly impressed with the Mini 10 (to the point at which we were considering a purchase ourselves) but we’re sad to say that the Mini 10 is no longer on our shopping list and, we suspect, if you were looking to purchase the Mini 10, yourself you may also want to reconsider.

So why should we to urging caution – after all there’s not doubt that the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 is by no means an undesirable netbook?

The simple answer is that the Mini 10 will come with 1GB of fixed RAM meaning that you will not be able to upgrade the memory should you later wish to add additional memory capacity – and this is all down to the fact that devices running Windows XP cannot 9as per Microsoft’s licensing rules) be offered with any more than 1GB of memory. But, where as, on other XP powered devices, you’re free to upgrade subsequent to purchase Dell have decided to thwart such memory upgrades by fixing the 1GB RAM included, meaning that upgrading RAM post purchase is simply not an option.

Dell’s chief blogger has stated that this will apparently only be the case with the initial Inspiron Mini 10 units, hinting that, at a later date, RAM will not be fixed in such a way as to disallow user RAM upgrades – but as at the time of writing no particular time frames have been offered as to when these models of the Mini 10 will be made available.

Now I don’t know about you, but that finishes the Inspiron Mini 10 as far as I’m concerned – certainly at this stage – as the very idea that I’ll be forced to stick with 1GB RAM whether I like it or not well and truly has me looking elsewhere for a netbook that offers me the ability to expand its memory according to my requirements. And, in all honesty, we suspect that we’re not alone in scrubbing off the Mini 10 from our list of possible purchases.

It’s a monumental shame, as, otherwise, the Inspiron Mini 10 has so much going for it.