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