As expected, Dell has begun offering an optional TV tuner for the Dell Inspiron Mini 10. And it’s kind of cheaper than expected… depending on how you count.
The built-in ATSC tuner adds just $20 to the netbook price, but there is a catch. You’ll need to upgrade from the 1.33 GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU to the 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 CPU in order to purchase the TV tuner. And that’s a $50 upgrade.
In other words, if you were planning on paying for the faster processor anyway, the TV tuner upgrade is an excellent deal. If not, it’ll cost you $70.
Can the Dell mini 10 really handle HD video from this TV tuner? I tried playing HD dvr-ms files on a dual core atom desktop and the thing choked in XP or 7. Am I missing something?
I’m guessing they do this to save costs on their end. More configuration options = more complexity = more cost to Dell.
I doubt that they make very much money off the lower-end version (the base 1.33 GHz model). Hence the hefty $50 upgrade cost for the 1.6 GHz processor. Kind of like a car dealer hitting you up for options that are only worth 1/3 of what you are paying.
Lately we’re really seeing the hard limits of the Atom processor lately. Or at least I hope that’s the case here, as I see no reason for Dell to arbitrarily force a CPU upgrade on you…