Before the summer of 2008, a couple of computer companies came out with some odd looking laptops. These laptops aren't your parents laptop. They are smaller, lighter, and more mobile than ever before. They are simply called "Mini-Laptops." I know what your thinking, "I thought laptops were mini enough." I thought the same thing until I read about these new machines. Some of the well known companies include: HP, Acer, Asus, and Sylvania. When I first seen the mini's I thought it was a new children's toy, but then I saw the prices. These mini computers start out around $400. But you may be a bit surprised to find out what's inside of them. The processors are better, but the RAM and Hard Drives are a quite small in my opinion. Most of the RAM I have seen has been around 512MB - 1GB, but some can go to 2GB. And the Hard Drive size is not much better, 4GB - 8GB of flash memory. (Some of the newer models may have up to 80GB.) Also, Microsoft claims they have stopped selling XP to the public, but most the Windows based mini laptops have XP installed on them. (We all know Vista will not run properly on anything less than 2 GB of RAM. Some mini laptops have Linux.) It may sound like I hate these machines, but I don't. I am glad to see computer companies are making travel easier with smaller laptops. Now instead of carrying around a huge laptop bag, you can carry around a computer that's almost the same size as you hand ( size anywhere from 7 in. to 10 in.). Below is a list I have put together of some different mini laptops. Fell free to read about them, and let us know what you think