| There are many great mini laptops to choose from, | | | | harder to type on than the raised keyboards. The |
| but I will review only four of them in this article: The | | | | multifunction mousepad is very useful. You can zoom |
| HP Mini 5101, The Asus Eee PC 1005HA, the Toshiba | | | | in on pages, scroll, click, all with two fingers. The |
| Mini NB205-210, and the Dell Inspiron Mini 10 are all | | | | display is colorful and bright, but the viewing angles |
| among the top-rated mini laptops. | | | | leaves a bit to be desired. The speakers were a bit |
| The HP Mini 5101 is a business-class netbook, priced | | | | tinny. Though this isn't my favorite mini, it is a strong |
| around $425. The sturdy design makes for a great | | | | competitor. |
| travel companion. The chassis is an all-black body, and | | | | The Toshiba Mini NB205-210 is for the budget |
| has a bulging battery under the laptop instead of | | | | conscious, coming in at $350. You can get the $400 |
| poking out of the back. The weight is about 3 | | | | version, but the extra $50 will only get you more |
| pounds, which is about average for the minis. The | | | | aesthetics and no more in performance. The battery |
| keyboard is 95% full-size, making it extremely | | | | ranks the longest life with a crushing 9.5 hours. The |
| comfortable to type on. The touchpad is a bit small, | | | | weight is average at 3.4 pounds with the adapter. |
| but the buttons are below, which I find more | | | | The design is a bit thick. The keyboard is comfortable |
| comfortable to work with. The sound was nice and | | | | to type on, and the touchpad is large, which is |
| balanced, and lyrics were audible at average volume. | | | | another plus. The LED backlit display is nice and bright |
| The display was visible from both horizontal and | | | | with good viewing angles both horizontally and |
| vertical angles. This netbook is highly rated among | | | | vertically. The audio is where this laptop falls a bit, |
| consumers, and I recommend it as well. | | | | lacking in both clarity and volume. |
| The Asus Eee PC 1005HA costs around $400 with an | | | | Last but not least is the Dell Inspiron Mini 10, ranging |
| Intel Atom processor, 1 GB RAM, Windows XP and | | | | in price from $300 to $575 for the top model with tv |
| 160 GB hard disk. The battery life is a raging 9 hours, | | | | tuner and high resolution screen. This model is slim in |
| which is a major plus. The Asus is a bit thick and | | | | design, weighing the average 3.4 pounds with the |
| heavy. With the adapter, the mini weighs 3.4 pounds. | | | | adapter included. The keyboard is 97% full-size and |
| The keyboard I found a bit hard to type on | | | | comfortable to type on. The touchpad is |
| compared to the HP above. There are no spaces | | | | multifunction, which is always a plus. |
| between the keys, and the flat layout makes it | | | | |