Last September Dell released the Inspiron Mini 9 netbook. Not long after, a few enterprising hackers figured out a way to install Mac OS X on the machine. I had been looking for a netbook to carry while traveling, so after following the progress of the install hack on the online forum I decided to take the plunge.
The Mini 9 is in short supply right now, but I was able to find one online at Microcenter for $350. It was the stock configuration: 1 GB RAM, and a 16 GB solid state drive. Via the forums I located a company selling a 32 GB SSD and 2 GB RAM for $80. When everything arrived I upgraded the hardware and began the install process. It’s very simple as long as you remember to insert the boot USB drive in the LEFT side of the machine and the OS X image on the RIGHT side. I wasted an hour figuring that out.
After another hour, I was done:
Once I was satisfied that everything was running properly (WiFi, webcam, trackpad), I made the final, crucial modification:
Behold, the Belm Mini!