Mini-Laptops - In The Spotlight

Smaller than traditional laptops but larger than handhelds, mini-laptops offer most of the features you get from their bulky ancestors - web browsing, document creation, editing, and email - just slightly scaled down in terms of both size and power. Most appealing of all, they're cheap. Mini-laptops range from $299 (for the most bare-bones version of the Asus Eee) up to $1,399 for a fully-loaded Fujitsu LifeBook U810. Though there's some category overlap, mini-laptops shouldn't be confused with ultra-mobile PCs (UMPCs), which more closely resemble handhelds and cost more (prices range from about $700 to $1,500) and the more-powerful ultra-portable PCs, such as Lenovo's ThinkPad X300, which sells for a pricey $2,420.

Of course, there are some tradeoffs that come with mini-laptops' bargain basement prices.

"You're not going get a super-powerful processor in there, and usually you're limited on storage space," says Ian Bell, editor in chief of Digital Trends, a consumer-technology analysis site.

In addition, most subnotebooks lack CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives so you won't be able to play movies on your computer.

Mini-laptops trace their roots back to the One Laptop Per Child project, a program started by an MIT professor with the goal of providing every child in the developing world with a $100 laptop. Computer manufacturing companies soon took advantage of the commercial opportunity these tiny laptops created. With the 2007 release of the Asus Eee, a surprise hit for Taiwan's Asustek, mini-laptops got their jumpstart.

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