One of the first factors to pay attention to is the potential battery life you’ll have. Just because you’re choosing a smaller machine, doesn’t mean you want to be shortchanged on how much power you have.  Typical battery life will be about four hours, however all mini notebook computers will be different and there is actually a large range.  Also remember that a larger battery means a larger and heavier computer.

Of course when you’re looking into mini notebook computers you’re clearly interested in keeping size and weight down to a minimum. You should be able to find a mini notebook that weighs between 2 and 3 pounds with the battery.  However, many models are a bit heavier, weighing closer to 4 or 5 pounds. Either way, you’ll be ending up with something that’s extremely portable and easy to carry around.

You also have to realize that one of the key tradeoffs when opting for mini notebook computers is the hardware that your computer will have. You’ll be dealing with serious space restrictions, which means that hard drive size will be limited on most models. That means you may be interested in either removing all software besides the essentials that you intend to use or purchasing an upgraded hard drive for more space.

It also means that you’ll need an external CD and DVD drive instead of having one built into the machine.  For someone interested in gaming or watching lots of movies this may be inconvenient, but for other business and personal uses it should not be a problem.

Mini notebook computers are extremely popular these days, and they provide many benefits. They are small, light, convenient and easy to carry around. Best of all they are extremely affordable.  Just remember to pay attention to the above factors to ensure you end up with the mini notebook that matches up with your needs and desires.

Size and Weight
Obviously the size and weight of a laptop is important. Ultraportables offer light weight and sizes but sacrifice items such as drives. Desktop replacements have equivalent power to desktop systems but they are heavy and bulky making them difficult to carry around. When shopping for a laptop, make sure to pick up the systems and verify its something you are willing to carry.

Memory (RAM)

Laptops are generally more restricted in the amount of memory they can have compared to desktops. When looking at computers you want to make sure to check out the maximum memory the system can handle as well as the amount that is installed in the computer. It’s also useful to find out if a memory upgrade can be done yourself or if it has to be done by a technician.

Displays and Video
The video on a laptop computer is comprised of the display and the video processor. The display is defined by the screen size and the native resolution. The larger the display, the higher the resolution will typically be, but it also will impact how portable the system is. The graphics processor will determine the performance of the computer in things such as 3D graphics and high definition video acceleration.

Drives
How much storage space will you need? Hard drives are fairly straight forward in terms of the size and the performance may be impacted by the rotational speed. Optical drives play a more important role when purchasing a Laptop PC.

Networking
The ability to connect to the net is integral to most laptops today.

Battery Life
How good is a portable computer going to be if you are only able to get 30 minutes of computing time on a single charge? Look to get a system with at least 2 hours of battery life under normal conditions.