We notice a lot of miscon-ceptions about mini laptops, also called netbooks. You may not be one of them, but there are many who really don’t understand what makes a mini laptop and what purpose they are designed to serve. How much mini laptops can do is also not clear to a lot of people.

Since we try to inform and educate, let’s give you, in just a few lines of product guide, all the important things to know about mini laptops.

Simply put, mini laptops are laptops designed to be ultra-portable, that is, small-sized and light-weight. Most times, they weigh not much more than 1kg.

In terms of screen-size, minis fall within the range of 10.1” (diagonal screen measurement) or less. However, you will find some larger minis, like Acer Aspire One 751h, which is 11.6”:

Mini laptops, as you can see, are in the class of ultra-light, ultra-thin, small-screen-sized laptops. They are also call mini notebooks or mini notes.

Processors for Mini Laptops.

Another important fact about netbooks is that they come with processors specially designed for their size. These processors tend to deliver longer battery life but have less performance power than processors used for full-sized laptops.

Intel Atom Processors for Minis

AMD also has its own netbook processors, like the AMD Athlon Neo. Still, another maker of netbook processors is Via, which produces Via Nano or the earlier C7-M.

Mini Laptop Performance

Any laptop user will be concerned about performance. How much can mini laptops do? The short answer is that today’s top-range minis will do most of what regular users want – prepare documents, check or send email, surf the internet and chat, share digital files, etc.

However, when it comes to more powerful applications, complex games, and serious graphics, minis are not your best bet. A music editor going for a mini, for instance, may not get a good result.

Best Use for Mini Laptops

Most basic users can actually do well with a mini laptop. They are a lot cheaper, opening an important window for more people to own and use a laptop.

School level users, including undergraduates in non-engineering or graphics design courses, for instance, are okay with minis. A mum at home will be comfortable with a mini. Anybody doing just the basic things listed earlier, should be happy with a mini.

Yet, mini laptops are getting more powerful by the day. Now, they compete with full-sized laptops in memory and hard drive capacity. Mini laptops of 1GB or 2GB memory are now available. Similarly, 160GB, 250GB and even 320GB of hard drive are now offered by minis.

Powerful HP Mini 110

Business users require mini laptops as a travel companion and most times as a second laptop. With synchronization options – like HP QuickSync – it’s easy to synchronise what’s on both laptops, giving the user a flexible way to work, even on-the-go and still properly manage the data on both laptops.

Usual Features

Most of today’s mini laptops are full-featured, configured for mobile connectivity. Here’s what to expect from top-range minis:

• An Intel Atom processor or one from AMD or Via.
• Memory capacity of 1GB or more and hard drive of 160GB or more.
• 3G-enabled mini laptops are becoming increasingly available
• Most minis have wireless connectivity for on-the-go access. Bluetooth technology is also often provided.
• To facilitate internet chatting, you’re likely to find integrated webcam in that mini
• For better performance with graphics, you may get graphics adapter
• Most minis, however, will not come with an internal optical drive (DVD or CD drive)

Summary

If you fall into the following categories, you are a good candidate for a mini laptop:

1. You don’t have a laptop, don’t want a used (second-hand) laptop, have a limited budget for a laptop and above all, are not engaged in any advanced applications, graphics or games (that is, you are a basic user).

2. You are a business executive or professional, travel fairly often and want to work on the road, probably already have a full-sized laptop you may not comfortably pack in your luggage and carry about – you can work and sync the two laptops.

Mini Options

When you need a mini, which should you go for? It depends, but here are some of the quality mini laptops you may find in our market today:

• HP Mini 110 – this series has a number of options, some featuring 2GB memory capacity and up to 250GB or more of hard drive.
• HP Mini 210 – also offers capacity options to choose from
• Dell Inspiron 1010 – Dell mini offering 1GB memory and 160GB hard drive, with excellent performance
• Toshiba NB 200 and Toshiba NB250-100
• Acer Aspire 751h – offering more comfortable 11.6″ display

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