We call anything under 12” of screen size a mini notebook computer, because that is as low as subnotebooks go. Another thing about mini notebooks is that they compromise in sheer power just as well as cutting down on size. In other words you don’t get the usual laptop parts but some carefully tailored ones that fit the job of running a device this small. There seems to be a weight limit as well and that is just around or under 3-3.5 pounds or 1.5 kgs in metric.

Why chose mini notebook computers?

The biggest draw of a mini notebook obviously it’s size, the portability it gives. They don’t really go over 3.5 pounds and that is in the ballpark where you don’t really notice you are carrying a computer in your bag or backpack. 3.5 pounds is what an average person can hold in one palm while typing away with another while waiting in a line.
Its physical dimensions are usually less than 3x6x10 inches, and that is small. Mini to be precise. It means that you can almost stretch your palm across it, which renders the whole device petite. In my personal opinion it is still not too small, but you don’t really want to start doing some heavy multitasking with lots of documents, spreadsheets and presentations open simultaneously, because you will run out of screen space. The bigger 12” models can sport a 1280 x 800 or even finer resolution, but in this case more is not always the merrier. At this size pixels can become so small that you will have a hard time reading normal size text, and that leads to unnecessary strain on the eyes. 10” models that are far more popular at the time of writing this article usually come with 1024×600 or 1024×576 screens. Go for the one with 600 lines, you would be carving for that extra 24 lines.

Battery life finally seems to be no problem anymore as the manufacturers started to install 6 and 9 cell batteries in their latest mini notebook computers and that gives the basic models about 4 hours of battery life. I am currently typing on an Asus 1005ha-m, and it predicts 5 hours and 58 minutes left (with wifi on, music playing and a few applications open) which is enough to basically get through 2 movies and the regular set of web pages you go to every day.

Did I mention movies? Sure I did, because the general hardware these cheap computers come with allows you to watch DVD quality cinemas on your tiny screen without a hiccup. My asus has a 160 GB HDD which is more than enough to hold all my music and movies and in all honesty I couldn’t care for more from a computer of this size that costed a whisker under 400 dollars.

Standard hardware setup

I have been using my mini for 3 months as a main computer, with no alternatives to reach for, and I really grew to like the 1.6 GHz N270 CPU it has. There were times I had to run 2 instances of Mozilla Firefox, a text editor with 6 php files open, messenger, my IRC client, winamp and it still had the juice to allow me to play around in paint.net and edit pictures. It is a common misconception, that a small computer has to be agonizingly slow to work with, but they well worth their price. You can go on watching videos, youtube, flash and anything you normally do when you are not playing intensive games. 1 GB of memory seems to be a limiting factor, but I don’t think I should have 2 instead too often. It can be upgraded though, by swapping the original 1gb stick, and I am most probably going to do it. This mini notebook has been a part of my days for three months, and that is enough for me to keep it even after I get something more fancy and.

Manufacturers on the field

Asus is the most prominent player in this market, as they’ve been producing these small computers for years. Basically they coined the term netbook, and everyone else learnt how to make useful minies following their footprints. MSI with their wind series is something to consider but I wouldn’t really stay here for too long because we are moving forward to Lenovo. Lenovo is known for its drive for perfection. They haven’t stopped focusing on quality when they jumped at the netbook hype, and that gave us quite a few mini laptops to chose from. You should really consider the S12 with nVidia Ion graphics card, before looking around to see what Toshiba, Dell, and Acer have.

Conclusion

If you like moving around in the house, or your job takes you to places, a mini notebook computer would be invaluable companion for you. It is just hard to describe the level of freedom these little devils give during basic tasks.

If you are of the younger generation and are all into twitter and facebook, you should get one. Keeping in touch has never been easier than these.

On the other hand if you watch HD videos, or youtube HD, if you absolutely have to have high screen resolution due to the nature of your job, or you play intensive games, don’t think of getting one as a main laptop in your household, because you will be frustrated more often than not and this is not the best notebook for your needs.

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