| New mini laptops recently made available show | | | | and HP have only developed 10 inch models and |
| evidence of an ever improving netbook market. From | | | | indeed Asus, the netbook pioneer, has announced it |
| its humble beginnings as the Asus Eee PC 701, the | | | | is discontinuing it's other lines to focus entirely on the |
| netbook has developed into a sizeable percentage of | | | | 10 inch lines. |
| the mobile computing industry. Here are some of the | | | | Acers effort features a restyled body, has changed |
| most headline-grabbing new mini laptops. | | | | the mouse buttons to beneath the touchpad, not the |
| HP mini 2140: Business netbook | | | | sides like the smaller model (relief!), and a slightly |
| This higher end 'business' notebook is essentially a | | | | larger keyboard - however it doesn't completely |
| hybrid of Hewlett Packards two successful netbooks | | | | stretch out like the HP netbooks. |
| so far, the 2133 mini-note and the , combining the | | | | The battery problem remains, in that some models |
| formers aluminium body with the latters chassis and | | | | are shipping with 3-cell batteries as standard. This will |
| interface. Of course, it retains the excellent keyboard | | | | give a limiting and frustrating 2-3 hours of battery life, |
| of other hp notebook computers, stretching to the | | | | and we recommend buying a 6 or even 9-cell battery |
| edges of the tray allowing for the keys to be as | | | | to give satisfactory and more practical battery life - |
| large as possible. Oddly, few netbooks are built like | | | | Asus realized this long ago when it launched it's Asus |
| this - but it would seem like common sense wouldn't | | | | Eee PC 901 and 1000 models, fitting 6-cell batteries |
| it? | | | | as standard. |
| The HP mini 2140, whilst probably the best HP mini | | | | LG X110: Curvy and cute |
| laptop does cost a tad more than the HP mini 1000 | | | | The Korean giant has essentially taken the MSI Wind, |
| (currently, you can only get it as the "Compaq mini | | | | rounded off the edges and given it embedded 3G |
| 700" in the UK), for a bit of buffed up body work, | | | | capabilities and called the new product the LG X110. |
| it's questionable whether or not it's worth it. The | | | | Although the end result is soothing on the eye, it |
| Compaq mini 700 has a plastic chassis - leave it down | | | | doesn't make it a better model - you would be |
| to personal taste! | | | | better off getting other new mini laptops such as a |
| Acer Aspire One .. but a bigger one | | | | Samsung NC10, Compaq mini 700 or an Asus Eee PC |
| Now you'd think this isn't really a new netbook ... and | | | | 1002HE. |
| you'd be right. But what the geniuses at Acer have | | | | In the pipeline... |
| realized is that they can replicated their success but | | | | Whilst we talked about the HP mini 1000 being the |
| with a fractionally larger new mini laptops - 10 inch | | | | most exciting netbook for the turn of the year - |
| models to be specific. | | | | now, we've got other new mini laptops in our sights! |
| Several computer manufacturers such as Samsung | | | | |