Has this forum been useful to anyone?

You posted a technical question in a "New users" forum, where it's unlikely anyone qualified to answer, read it.

I have found this forum very useful IMHO.

Very much so.  It's difficult to navigate and it would seem many of the questions go unanswered as many people have left the forums.  But you can get answers.

Guess what people have to start to realize is post your problem, when someone acknowledges it, answer their question and you'll get help.

TO many people post about problems and are never heard from again, or they complain and then do the famous, "I"LL NEVER BUY DELL AGAIN."  Etc...truthfully I don't bother to help those people.  I usually write something sardonic and move along.

If someone posts a good post explaining their problem and then acknowledge that my answer did, or even, did not help, then I feel good as I tried my best to help.

Do you really like your mins? I was just building a new laptop and had the option to get one. So whats the deal on them. Are they just internet PCs.with nothing on them. What is configuration.

Sure it has. They recently changed the format of this forum so that may be why you have not found your answers.

I found this forum to be packed with useful information and a lot of poeple that go to extremes to help other people with their problems. 

It's hard to navigate at first, but once you figure it out and put your posts in the right spot someone will usually answer.

This is a consumer forum and people are donating there own time to help others.

Always remember to search the forum for your problem before you post, it might take some of your time but you are likely to find an answer that will help you, and answers you didn't know you needed.

IMHO this forum is really helpful.

Do you really like your mins? I was just building a new laptop and had the option to get one. So whats the deal on them. Are they just internet PCs.with nothing on them. What is configuration.

Yes, my family and I truly love the minis.  They are mainly for internet and email stuff.  With the smaller keyboard they are not very good for typing papers and such.   But when we travel and the hotel has wireless we'll take those, as they are small.  They are good for streaming video on hulu, nbc, fox, youtube...etc.  In fact a couple days ago I watch 2.5 hours of video before I ran down the battery. 

So if you are looking for a laptop for school work, or business then this isn't it.  But for ease for internet surfing, email, light typing...they are perfect.

They are both 1.6 gig ATOM processors, 1gig RAM, Win XP SP3.   They cost me $296 and $323 respectively as I purchased them off Dell Outlet and received 15% with a coupon.