While some customers already have the new Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbooks in their hands, it looks like the company might be facing a roadbump that could affect future shipments. DigiTimes reports that Compal Electronics, the company building the tiny laptops is dealing with a shortage of in-mold roller treated chassis (I looked it up, the plural of chassis is chassis). And that could mean that Dell will ship fewer netbooks than predicted.

That’s not to say you won’t be able to pick one up at all. It just means that instead of shipping 1 million units, Dell may only be able to ship 700,000. I don’t think folks who placed their orders early have anything to worry about… yet. But if the Inspiron Mini becomes a popular netbook in the coming months, we could see shortages down the road.

via Eee PC.net

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24 replies on “Dell Inspiron Mini 9 facing shipping delays”

  1. I ordered my Mini 9 on Jan 9, 2009 estimated delivery was Jan 23, 2009 so far nothing I checked the site and nothing has changed. Its now Feb 18th and still no Netbook getting really tired of waiting. At this rate they should compensate for my wait say $100.00 off the price.

  2. Ordered mine September 13th…. after 2 (two) revisions of the shipping date – now the estimated date is NOVEMBER 10!!!

  3. I ordered on 9/11. Every week when I check on the ship date, it has been moved back 1 week. Today (10/23) was the new ship date. Now they have moved it back ONE MONTH untl 11/19. I already got the external hard drive and spare battery. Great, but no freakin computer. I have a Dell credit account. I’m going to start ordering PCs and then cancel them a day before the ship date. If we get enough people doing this, we can let Dell know how frustrating they are making us. Its got to be lot of work for them setting up orders and then getting it cancelled. I already ordered two more mini 9s. I probably won’t be cancelling them soon because they never ship the effing things. Is there really a mini 9? Place some orders today.

    1. Ordered a couple more of these. Brought it up to my credit line. Doesn’t matter, I can’t use it for anything else. Already they moved the ship date on them back a few weeks. Simply amazing how they are still in business. This crap has been going on for years.

  4. I posted above on 10/3. It’s 10/16 now and it was supposed to ship today. I just checked and it got pushed back a week for the 5th time to 10/23. I ordered another one last night and want to see how long that will take. I’ll cancel one when the other ships. Don’t know how this company is still in business, After this frustrating experience, I won’t be getting another Dell ever again, not even if they give them away. Well, maybe if they gave them away. What a horror show Dell is. Maybe I’ll bust their balls after I get mine, like maybe ording one and then cancelling after a few days. We all should do that to teach them a lesson. That would be too funny.

    1. I ordered mine on 9/11 as well. Im still waiting, what pisses me off even more is I cant get a reason to why they are delayed, they wont even give me a response to emails, just an automated one about how they care about me or something. They wont give me an actual date, so I guess were stuck together every week accepting a new delay. As for ordering from them again, I quit ordering from them over a year ago for the company I work for. I gave this a chance because of the price and I wasn’t stuck with having to have Vista. I should order a few of them through my company then cancel, thats a good idea. I did get the case i ordered along with it. Its been collecting dust for the last month.

  5. Just cancelled my order 10 minutes ago. Ordered first thing in the morning when they were released Sept 4th , i do mean first thing, approx 6am, They said it was to be shipped out today after over a month “in production”, called them and surprise its now until the 14th of november. They said a backorder part, but never gave any info on the part or attempted to save the order, just said, cancel? ok its done, almost like they are hearing the same tune over and over with this laptop. When i asked if they even had the part to begin with, i just got silence and transferred to another phone line.

  6. I ordered mine on 9/11. The ship date has been pushed back a week, twice already. It will be over a month that I’m waiting for this. I hope it’s worth the wait but I will definitely think long and hard about ordering from Dell again.

  7. I’ve already been handed the “we aren’t going to tell you why but your shipping is delayed a week” note from Dell, and since I didn’t get that note until the day it was supposed to be shipped, I now live in terror that this Friday (the new ship day) is gonna roll around and I’m gonna get another note with more of the same.

    Oh, and I bought a DELL, not a Compal Electronics thingy. Since when does Dell not build their own machines?

    I’m praying that they don’t use FedEx either. Turns out FedEx uses contractors for home delivery, and several of my packages have not made it on time (and I live in Los Angeles, not the boonies!)

  8. wow I’m discouraged. I just ordered mine today and I wanted to use it for a trip to the UK on the 14th but it has a ship date of the 19th. I’m going to call them but I’m thinking I’m going to cancel 🙁

    1. I ordered mine at 9am on September 4th and the est ship date has always been set for October 10th, est delivery the 15th-17th… i know some people are already getting theirs, what models did you guys get? i got a black one with no web cam… should be the only real difference between the chassis… unless they arent shipping the Linux ones yet and its a front 😀

  9. I placed my order 3 days ago but I cancelled it yesterday because my shipping day was on 10/29/2008.

    what the hell? im buying a toshiba instead but I need my money back now …

  10. Ordered mine 9/12 evening, estimated shipping 9/29, estimated delivery 10/2. Called to check status yesterday and the recording said it was cancelled. Being after closing, I was frustrated to have to go through several people to find out it was cancelled and reentered because the version of Acrobat Reader wasn’t available. Pushed my estimated ship date to 10/20 with overnight shipping, estimated delivery 10/21. They said they’d expedite build and get it shipped asap but I’ll believe that when I see it. I’m just a bit livid.

  11. Ordered mine 9/8. Estimated ship was 9/23. Shipped 9/18. Yeah for Dell beating their estimate!

  12. Woot my mini shipped today! I’m assuming anyone in the US who ordered one on sept 4th is getting theirs shipped today as well.

      1. Ordered mine on the morning of the 4th, with an estimated ship date of today. Just got a note from Dell saying it was delayed until next Friday.

        /pout.

  13. Does this explain the estimated ship dates for the E4200/E4300 to be now after October 18? I assume that Compal makes these chassis as well.

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