Laptops have become normal in today’s society, with sales outstripping desktop computers and of people becoming more mobile. This model has remained largely unchanged, with laptop sales increasing every year.

Then in 2007, at COMPUTEX Taipei 2007, ASUSTeK unveiled the “Asus Eee PC - one netbook designed to be smaller, cheaper and lighter than conventional laptop computers. It was a logical idea, simplify. The original Asus Eee PC 7-inch Eee PC 701, is still for sale, but has evolved netbook. Asus has gone on to expand the series is Eee PC to include 9 and 10 inch models, the “top-of-the-game ‘Eee PC S101 and the technology used to produce it” Eee Top ” bereft of a computer screen, keyboard and mouse that is designed to be portable. Other companies have entered the map, such as Acer aspire is a netbook (happens to match the sales of Asus) and MSI - which first introduced the 10 inch netbook, wind, now pretty much the industry standard. Gradually biggest players have begun to notice with HP, Samsung, LG, Toshiba, Dell, most recently and Sony have entered the land in miniature laptops with more or less mimicking the pioneering efforts Asus. The only major company that seems to have disappeared from Apple is the fruit, but rumor has it they try to produce a touchscreen model combines the operating system Mac iPhone technology .

So the mini laptop market has already captured the hearts and minds of the producers, after all cheaper and simpler models are easier to market and sell. But what about consumers? What do you think?

A common complaint about a mini-laptop is the interface is simply too small. The keyboard is cramped with a poor aspect, the Touchpad is too small and the buttons are particularly positioned. Indeed, earlier netbooks have been a bit of mess - but their more recent summers are a long way from earlier attempts at producing a mini laptop. Now, more players are entering the market, the rivals are turning their earlier trial and error runs, incorporating their own lines of unique selling points and use their name for marketing their products. Today, the biggest brands “seem” to use more storage space - may be more profitable … Maybe consumers are warming to the idea of a mini-laptop, given the sudden wash the big brands now available on the market.

Another criticism is the lack of processing power and CD / DVD drive. Netbooks their early conception were designed to be simple and cheap, so build new Intel Atom processor was designed only to perform basic tasks such as word processing, browsing the internet and play light. The advantage of having such a simple processor that is more efficient leading to more battery life (which have also contributed a smaller screen). Lack of an optical disc drive (CD / DVD-ROM) is a prerequisite to intervene in the shed of the size and weight in addition - and for those who really grumble about that there is a solution! A disc drive USB external costs between £ 20-30, or splash on a ultra-portable notebooks such as Sony VAIO TT (the world’s smallest notebook Blu-ray), which is only 11.1 inches in diameter.

Lack of features compared to a laptop, although it is a flawed argument for most people. Sure, a laptop will be able to run software graphic intensive games or faster - they have the processors to do this, but it will remain inferior to a desktop computer. Most features on a laptop are inferior to a desktop, except for one. Portability of a laptop is its main selling point, and it is normal to think that is standard. But when moving around, like a laptop is, how often is it that you should be all that computing power? All other functions? All that extra weight and bulk? Everything costs extra? You would be better with something smaller, lighter and cheaper - a mini computer? (Worth adding some features such as inbuilt webcams, Bluetooth, embedded SIM cards and more are available as standard on laptops as they are on the netbooks)

Yes, there will be professionals who will need strong, but the power of portable computing, but so will tend to go “ultra-portable” range of laptop computers, however, devices such as Sony VAIO Series or Apple MacBooks (for graphic designers). Mini laptops and are increasingly sophisticated and all netbooks, are already in short time in existence they have managed to take aroundabout 10% of laptop market already.

I predict that the mini laptop will become the primary portable computing device, in addition to a desktop computer. Laptops will become a preserve of professional and will be marketed as such. Especially during these periods of economic gloom and Doom, people think smarter about where they splash their cash - so if you need to invest in a new laptop computer - stop and think. I have to pay several hundred pounds in addition to these features? I really need them? Can be bothered lugging that extra weight around in my bag?