For those of us that need more computing power in a slim and not very heavy portable PC, the notebook could be the solution, and even the best mini laptops are still somewhere in the price range of best netbooks, far away from the costly laptops.
Those machines are only a couple of inches bigger than a netbook, but they have a more powerful hardware and also some more weight. Among the best top rated small laptops are the Asus 1215n, Asus UL20FT and the HP DM2.
All three of them came with 12.1 inches screens, with a native resolution of 1366×768 and high volume HDDs, both Asus devices have a 320 GB HDD, while the HP has a more generous 500GB HDD, making it the perfect solution for storing pictures and movies made during holydays with friends. Speaking about friends, the best of the mini laptops can be used very well for some good old LAN parties, but of course, the game chosen for this should also be pretty old, beside being good, more in the likes of Quake 3 Arena, or Unreal Tournament, games that will not overkill the poor performance integrated graphic chip.
The improved ram capacity of those small laptops, 3 GB, upgradeable to 8 Gb, compared to most of the time 1 GB for the netbooks or even 2 GB for the top rated netbooks around, makes for a swifter program access time, some more multitasking and of course it improves the overall gaming and HDD video experience.
The 6 cell batteries offer a lot of autonomy unplugged, similar to the smaller netbooks, while the weight of a small laptop it’s only about 1.45 kg.
Some of those notebooks are no more then netbooks on steroids and the increase in performance will not be always as visible. But if you chose the best mini laptop you can find, you’ll be sure to squeeze a bit more FPS with a game, or with movies in HDD format.
The sound coming from those devices is not very good, same problem as for netbooks, but a good pair of headphones or even some cheap 2.1 speakers you can take around in a voyage could save the day.
