What is a Mini Laptop

Mini laptops which are also called netbooks or mini notebook computers are basically smaller versions of portable computers with some variation in the designs and functionality.

These are designed to provide the user with an ultra portable option to the heavier, bulkier standard mobile computers. The lightweight design and smaller dimensions allow for a much easier time of carrying the laptop in a bag, case or other form of tote while traveling. These are also well known for their ease of access to wireless networks.

Although all of the mini laptops for sale are going to be much smaller than standard laptop sizes, there are some variations among the size of the minis among themselves. For example the smallest examples start off in the 7 inch range and commonly progress up through the 8.9 to 10.1 inch range. The actual size of the mini laptop refers to the screen size. For example the 10.1 inch WSVGA screen is a common dimension for the larger mini laptops or netbooks.

Many of these small laptops are capable of doing most of what a standard laptop model can do. There are some limitations however such as the fact that optical drives such as DVD/CD players are going to be external add-ons. This is due to the design of the mini laptop not allowing room for the drive internally. When needed, the drive will be easily plugged into one of the many USB ports which are built into the mini laptops.

While the concept of ultra small laptops has been around since the 1990’s, and several models were produced lacking any significant success in the commercial marketplace, it was the release of the ASUS Eee PC netbook in 2007 which can be attributed to the widespread success of the netbook, or mini laptop computers today.

The appeal of these devices is often in the price of the computers. For example the really cheap netbooks offer a great solution to being able to access Wi-Fi networks, surf the web, use email and various other basic forms of communications and computing tasks. However these are not going to be sufficient enough to perform the more resource intensive operations that larger, more powerful laptops can accomplish. The actual CPU architecture varies greatly as well as the hard drive technologies. The more robust netbooks found on the market today offer many similarities to some notebook computers in design, components and capabilities. Yet in these instances the price points do increase accordingly.