Can I find 100 Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owners on the Internet?

Let me try.

1. Me of course.
   

Blog posts by Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh Owners

2. John Herrman
3. MacG
4. reydemia
5. ItWasLuck3
6. aegis

Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh Videos on Youtube

7. mfolquet
8. teckhean
9. jaraeez
10. mrwaltwittman
11. svitale75
12. Tychy73
13. williamli
14. matthewsalvo
15. masarijones
16. scififan68
17. jlpedreirav
18. anguish79
19. almograve
20. nervis67
21. boagworld
22. gadgetcompass
23. orangutan2006
24. jkbellenir
25. mobkon

Dell Mini 10v Hackintosh Photos on Flickr

26. heavy_g
27. lucy…
28. stevenloveskatie
29. iAmBeer
30. JoshHarrow
31. ByteMarks
32. joestump
33. pavlovsbob
34. mills70
35. nervousonion
36. suiyee

Dell Mini 10v Mac OS X Forum

Oops! I still need another 64 Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owners. I’m sure there must be at least 64 Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owners in http://www.mydellmini.com/forum/dell-mini-10v-mac-os-x-discussion/.

Are you a Dell Mini 10v hackintosh owner too?

dell mini 10v, hackintosh owner

The small sized Dell Mini 10v netbook fits nicely in my Quarfie Crumpler Bag. The Mini 10v with or without the neoprene sleeve has problem going into my Crumpler bag comfortably.

I had the Quarfie with me for a couple of years. I bought it because it has a clip release flap instead of a velcro flap. A Crumpler’s velcro flap is really LOUD. There’s no way to open a velcro flap in a meeting room quietly. I know, cause I have 2 other Crumpler bags with velcro flap. I can take out or keep my netbook in a meeting room or classroom without disturbing those around me.

With my Quarfie Crumpler bag, I didn’t have to get a new laptop bag for my Mini Dell 10v. Did you buy a new laptop bag just for your netbook?

crumpler, laptop bag

Dell Mini 10v hackintosh connected to a Dell 22″ LCD Monitor running at 1680×1050. The desktop is extended to the external display. I read somewhere that using mirror mode with an external display may crash the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh. I didn’t try it.

Connected to a Philips 42″ LCD TV at 1360×768. It’s beautiful.

dell mini 10v, dell monitor, external monitor, philips lcd tv

Can I use a hackintosh laptop for iPhone development? Will Xcode run on a non-Apple laptop?

I’ve been asked questions about iPhone development using a hackintosh quite often. I have no doubt these questions are triggered by stories of the $$$ to be made in selling iPhone apps on AppStore. What about me? I did think about getting into iPhone development, but the thought of learning Objective-C and the iPhone SDK was too much for me. For the past few months, I’ve been learning Ruby on Rails and picking up the Django web framework, Google App Engine and Yahoo User Interface library. My brain will overload if I start learning another programming language.

So, I’m not starting on iPhone development any time soon. But to satisfy my curiosity on whether the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh can handle iPhone development, I decided to try out Xcode and the iPhone SDK.

iPhone Development on a Dell Mini 10v?

Will the 1.66GHz Intel Atom Dell Mini 10v with 1GB RAM be able to handle Xcode and iPhone development? What kind of performance can I expect from the Mini 10v? I have Xcode and the iPhone SDK on my MacBook. The MacBook with a 1.83GHz Intel Core Duo CPU and 2GB RAM handles Xcode with the iPhone SDK smoothly. Will I be able to say the same about the Mini 10v hackintosh?

Getting Xcode and the iPhone SDK

Xcode is available in the Snow Leopard Retail DVD. You can download the free iPhone SDK from the Apple Developer website. You’ll need to sign up for a developer account first. If you want to submit your iPhone app to the AppStore, then you’ll need to pay $99 to join the Standard iPhone Developer Program.

Surprisingly Good Performance

I was surprised that 1GB RAM is sufficient to run Xcode and the iPhone Simulator without any noticeable slow down at all. For my initial test, I wrote a Hello World application. The application compiled and started instantly on the iPhone Simulator.

The iPhone Simulator is too tall to display fully in the Dell Mini 10v LCD display. You can rotate the iPhone simulator sideways to get the full display.

iPhone Simulator rotated sideways and running Safari.

Next, it’s time for a real world test on Xcode. I downloaded an open source Twitter client for the iPhone, Tweetero and built it from scratch. A clean build of Tweetero took 32 seconds to complete and start in the iPhone simulator. I’m impressed. Subsequent build and run was instantaneous.

Tweetero on the iPhone Simulator with Xcode and Google Chrome in the background.

Poor Usability

Programming on a netbook with a small keyboard and trackpad takes a lot of patience. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. While using Xcode, I spent a lot of time switching between windows and moving windows around on the small netbook screen. Using an external monitor made things easier. If you’re going to use the Dell Mini 10v for iPhone development, get an external monitor.

Xcode on the tiny Dell Mini 10v display

Running Xcode on a Dell Mini 10v connected to a 22″ Dell LCD Monitor,

My Conclusion

If you want to try your hand on iPhone development, the Dell Mini 10v hackintosh should be good enough for you to get your feet wet. For any real work, I would recommend upgrading the Dell Mini 10v to 2GB of RAM, connecting it to an external VGA monitor, keyboard and mouse. Using the tiny screen, keyboard and trackpad for programming may drive you crazy. Once the big bucks come rolling in from the sales of your iPhone app on AppStore, you can get yourself a nice MacBook Pro.

Are you using a hackintosh laptop/PC for iPhone development? Share your experience with us in the comments below.

iphone development, objective-c, xcode

I came across this “Made in China” neoprene sleeve for 12″ Notebooks at the local Carrefour store. They had the neoprene sleeve in 3 sizes, for 12″, 13″ and 14″ notebooks, and in 3 colors, gray, beige and dark brown. I bought a 12″ beige notebook sleeve hoping that it’s not too large for my Dell Mini 10v. I would have preferred dark brown, but they only had beige for the 12″ notebook sleeve.

The Dell Mini 10v extended 6 cell battery gives the notebook sleeve an odd shape when the laptop is inside it. It doesn’t have the regular notebook lay-me-down-flat shape. So, I was glad to find the 12″ notebook sleeve just nice for the odd shaped Dell Mini 10v with a 6 cell battery. It’s not too tight or loose. The soft neoprene will protect the laptop from scratches when I carry it around in my messenger bag.

The laptop fits nicely, not too tight or loose.

Laptop and sleeve side by side.

Side profile of the notebook sleeve with the laptop inside it.

Notebook sleeve with a Dell Mini 10v inside.

laptop bag, laptop sleeve, notebook sleeve

After making the decision to get a Dell Mini 10v as my hackintosh laptop, I had another decision make. What color should I choose? The Dell Mini 10v came in seven different colors. I went through the seven colors and below were my responses.

1. Obsidian Black – Glossy black looks boring.
2. Alpine White – Will probably get dirty easily just like my existing white Macbook. My Macbook palm rest area has turned gray permanently.
3. Pretty Pink – My 5-year-old niece tells me that pink is for girls.
4. Jade Green – Hmm… green… this looks nice.
5. Cherry Red – Red looks good. I like it.
6. Passion Purple – Purple is too loud for me.
7. Ice Blue – Blue seems plain and boring too.

So, I was down to two colors for my Mini 10v. Do I want a green ‘apple’ or a red ‘apple’? I was leaning towards Cherry Red. So, instead of deciding, I asked my wife. She said the color ‘Green’ is good for your eyes. I’m not sure how much truth is in her statement, but, that’s how I decided to get the Jade Green Dell Mini 10v.

Cherry Red Dell Mini 10v - First runner up.

Jade Green Dell Mini 10v - The Winner

Do you have a Dell Mini 10v too? What color did you choose and why?

cherry red, dell mini 10v, jade green