A Small Guide to Small Notebooks

The ASUS Eee PC  did more than pioneer a new breed of notebook; it required a new name to describe its class. While some have lumped the Eee PC, the HP Mini-Note, and their ilk into the UMPC and ultraportable categories, we politely disagree. These “mini-notebooks” have distinct sizes, weights, and features that separate them from the other small notebooks on the market.

We’ve put together this small-notebook guide, sorting out both the differences and similarities among them, to help you correctly identify each class of small notebook and what you can expect from systems in each category. It’ll help you make a more educated decision when buying a small system, and you’ll be able to hold your own in a heated nerd debate.

Mini-Notebooks

A mini-notebook, such as the ASUS Eee PC, is designed to serve as a user’s secondary system: a small, lightweight notebook that you can toss into a bag and take with you to a coffee shop, park, or other location without sacrificing functionality.

Mini-notebooks typically weigh less than 3 pounds and feature battery-saving, ultra-low-voltage processors, 7-inch to 8.9-inch displays, 512MB to 1GB of RAM, solid-state drives or traditional hard drives, Linux or Windows operating systems, and sub-$600 price tags. You won’t find high-end graphics, and the keyboards are usually cramped (a trade-off for a footprint that’s about the size of a paperback book), but if you’re looking for a low-cost, highly portable machine that will let you get online in a pinch, this is the way to go.

Ultraportables

The ultraportable category comprises systems such as the Apple MacBook Air and the Lenovo ThinkPad X300, notebooks that weigh less than 4 pounds and typically measure less than an inch thick. These featherweights usually pack 12-inch displays and retain the classic clamshell design. The trade-off? You'll pay a hefty premium for the small size (usually $1,800 or more) and only some of these notebooks have full-size keyboards or optical drives.

On the plus side, ultraportables often feature optional mobile broadband for connecting to the Web when outside of a hotspot range.

UMPCs

Of all the small notebooks, ultra-mobile PCs (such as the OQO model 02) come with the most defining specs. The product of the Origami Project (a joint venture by Intel, Microsoft, Samsung, and other big names in tech), UMPCs demand certain spec requirements to fall into the category: an 800 x 480-pixel resolution (or higher), touch capabilities, 256MB to 1GB of RAM, a 30GB hard drive, 2.5 hours of battery life, and a 900-MHz Intel Celeron M, Pentium M, Core Solo, or Via C7-M processor.

UMPCs usually pack QWERTY keyboards, but some ditch them in favor of virtual dial keys or an onscreen keyboard that lets users input text and navigate menus with a stylus. Like ultraportables, UMPCs frequently include integrated mobile broadband for go-anywhere Web access.