Many choose to travel with their laptops. And not just business travelers; backpackers too. Standard notebooks were once the only choice for long flights and hotel rooms. Now there is an option that is like a miniaturized version of the notebook; the netbook.

A netbook or mini laptop is a highly portable, light and compact PC with everything you need to do basic computing tasks and web browsing, minus the DVD/Blu-Ray player.

Here are a handful of items you should consider before you buy.

• Weight - Most standard laptops weigh around five pounds. A mini laptop can weigh less than half of that, depending on the model of course.
• Size - Netbooks of 12″ or smaller fit into your day bag a lot easier than their larger brothers, and of course it will weigh less as well.
• Price - Mini notebooks are getting cheaper all the time. It has become a competitive market and the big manufacturers such as Dell, Sony and Asus are there to take their slice of the pie.
• Battery power - Battery life depends on how you plan to use your laptop. If you’ll mostly be working in hotel rooms, airport lounges, coffee shops and other places with power, then it’s not such a big deal. If you plan on being away from power sources a lot, then make sure you can get a good few hours of power with any juice.

Dell Mini 10

Dell’s entry into the mini notebook market means it’s time to take these cheap, low-power PCs seriously. The Mini 10 is an excellent example of the form, if not radically different from the competition.

The glossy widescreen is gorgeous and so is the design.

Features:

• Intel Atom Z530 (1.60GHz/533MHz FSB/512K L2Cache)
• Glossy 10.1 inch widescreen display with seamless display surface
• 1 GB RAM
• 160GB SATA Hard Drive

Get it on Amazon.com

Dell Inspiron Mini IM10-2863 10.1-Inch Obsidian Black Netbook

Lenovo IdeaPad S10

The Lenovo IdeaPad S10 is a nice ultra-portable notebook priced for less than $500.

It has built-in Bluetooth. Every netbook should have this feature but more often than not, they don’t.

Features:

• Intel ATOM Processor N270 Single Core ( 1.60GHz 533MHz 512KB )
• 10.2 ” WSVGA AntiGlare TFT Display
• 1 GB RAM
• 160GB Hard Drive

Get it at Buy.com

IdeaPad S10 1GB 160GB Blk

Asus Eee PC 901

The Eee PC 901 does what it is supposed to do - provide a low cost highly portable device for web access and simple computing such as word processing and spreadsheets.

The solid state hard drive, although smaller than the others, can take some major abuse; making it great for travel.

Feaures:

• Intel Atom (1.6 GHz)
• 8.9 in TFT Active Matrix Display
• 1 GB RAM
• 20GB Solid State Drive

Get it at Buy.com

ASUS Eee PC 901 Intel Atom CPU, 1GB, 20GB Solid State Drive SSD, 8.9 Widescreen, Webcam, Linux OS (Pearl White)