A mini laptop (also known as a subnotebook or netbook) has a 10.2″ or smaller screen size, weigh less than 4 lbs and is usually priced somewhere in the $200-$400 range.

These lightweight mini laptops are obviously much easier than their larger siblings to take along just about anywhere, but they’re not for everyone. In order to make the mini laptops so small and light, features such as an internal CD/DVD drive are often left out, and you won’t be able to do any heavy graphic design or image editing on them, nor use them as gaming laptops, because of the smaller, slower hard drives and memory (“RAM”) as well as integrated graphics cards (as opposed to “discreet”, i.e. separate from the CPU).

Having said that, they’re still great for those who need an inexpensive mini notebook to take to class, on the road, or mainly use their laptop for word processing, email and internet browsing. And if you  need more space, you can always add an external harddrive.

So who makes pink mini laptops? Quite a few companies. With their increasing popularity (and advancements in technology), more and more are popping up on the market all the time.

Here are the ones currently available in pink (in alphabetical order by company):

• Acer Aspire One A150
• Asus Eee PC 1005HA
• Asus Eee PC 1008HA
• Asus Eee PC 1008P
• Dell Mini 10
• Dell Mini 10v
• HP Mini 110 XP
• Lenovo IdeaPad S10
• Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2
• MSI Wind U100-018US
• MSI Wind U100-280US
• MSI Wind U100-427US
• Samsung NC10
• Sony VAIO W
• Sylvania G Netbook Meso
• Toshiba Mini NB205-N313P

As far as the specs, they are all very similar and pretty clear cut, with few customization options. The notable exceptions to that are HP’s Mini 100XP and Dell’s 10 and 10v (click for full specs).

Operating System and RAM

They all come with Windows XP Home and 1GB of RAM.

Hard Drive

Most have a 160GB hard drive, the exceptions are Dell’s Mini 10v with 120GB (but you can upgrade it to 160GB or to a 16GB Solid State Drive), HP’s Mini 110 XP with a 16GB Solid State Drive (with upgrade options to a 32GB SSD or 160GB SATA), and Sylvania’s G Netbook Meso with 80GB. Dell’s Mini 10 can be upgraded to 250GB or a 32GB Solid State Drive.

Processor

Intel Atom N270 (1.60GHz, 512KB L2, 533Mhz FSB)
Acer Aspire One A150
Dell Mini 10v
HP Mini 110 XP
Lenovo IdeaPad S10
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2
MSI Wind U100-018US
MSI Wind U100-280US
MSI Wind U100-427US
Samsung NC10
Sylvania G Netbook Meso

Intel Atom N280 (1.66GHz, 512KB L2, 667Mhz FSB)
Asus Eee PC 1005HA
Asus Eee PC 1008HA
Sony VAIO W
Toshiba Mini NB205-N313P

Dell’s Mini 10 has an Intel Atom Z520 (1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K L2Cache) which you are able to upgrade to an Intel Atom Z530 (1.6GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache).

You can also upgrade Dell’s Mini 10v and HP’s Mini 110 XP to Intel Atom N280.

Graphics Card

All come with an Intel GMA 950 except for the Dell Mini 10 which has an Intel GMA 500.

CD/DVD Drive

None has an internal CD/DVD drive.

Battery

3-cell Li-Ion
Acer Aspire One A150
Asus Eee PC 1005HA
Dell Mini 10 (optional 6-cell)
Dell Mini 10v (optional 6-cell)
HP Mini 110 XP (optional 6-cell)
Lenovo IdeaPad S10
MSI Wind U100-018US
MSI Wind U100-427US

4-cell Li-Ion
Sylvania G Netbook Meso

6-cell Li-Ion
Asus Eee PC 1008HA
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2
MSI Wind U100-280US
Samsung NC10
Toshiba Mini NB205-N313P

Sony does not give you a number of cells, they describe their VAIO W battery as “standard capacity” and claim it lasts up to 3 hours.

Screen Size

8.9″
Acer Aspire One A150
Sylvania G Netbook Meso

10.0″
MSI Wind U100-018US
MSI Wind U100-280US
MSI Wind U100-427US

10.1″
Asus Eee PC 1005HA
Asus Eee PC 1008HA
Dell Mini 10
Dell Mini 10v
HP Mini 110 XP
Lenovo IdeaPad S10
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2
Sony VAIO W
Toshiba Mini NB205-N313P

10.2″
Samsung NC10

Weight

In the interest of saving space, we’ll just list the lightest and heaviest here (the others fall in between)

Lightest
A tie between the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 and Sylvania’s G Netbook Meso, both at 2.2 lbs.

Heaviest
Toshiba Mini NB205-N313P at 2.93 lbs.

Size

Again, we’ll just list smallest and largest here:
Smallest
Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 at 9.8×7.2×0.7″

Largest
Sony VAIO W at 10.5×7.1×1.3″.

As you can see, all these mini laptops are pretty similar. If you’re looking for the smallest and lightest pink laptop available, the Lenovo IdeaPad S10-2 is the way to go. Asus and Toshiba get high marks for battery life, and the Champagne Pink MSI Wind U100-018US and HP’s “Pink Chic” Mini 110 XP (a dusty pink with pink and white flowers) win in the looks department (in my opinion at least).

Dell’s line of super-portable laptops – “netbooks” – are similar to the Asus Eee Pc and Acer Aspire One in that they’re basic, small, lightweight, and inexpensive.

This being Dell, upgrades are available, but if you want to keep the cost down, go with one of the basic systems. The least expensive configurations of the Mini 9 and 12 come with the Ubuntu Linux operating system, but don’t let that deter you. If you haven’t used it before, you can do basic Linux training at their (Linux’s) website to see if it’s something you think would work for you.

If you’re looking for a “go everywhere” basic laptop (or “netbook”) and mostly use it for email, accessing the Internet, and basic word processing, the Inspiron Minis are all great choices.

Inspiron Mini 9

The most economical version of the Mini 9 is only $249 – for the black one. If you want it in pink, you have to add $30, but Dell donates $5 of that to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, so at least part of it goes to a good cause. Other specs for the least expensive base configuration include:

• Linux 8.04.1 operating system
• 1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache Intel Atom processor
• 8.9″ display
• 4GB SSD (solid state drive)
• 512MB memory at 533MHz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 4-cell 32Whr battery

Optional upgrades available for the basic model are:

• 2GB DDR2 at 533Mhz memory ($75)
• 64GB solid state hard drive ($150)
• Built-in Bluetooth 2.1 capability ($20)

The most expensive version of the Mini 9 sells for $412 (which includes the pink color), and comes with:

• Widows XP Home
• 1.6GHz/533Mhz FSB/512K cache Intel Atom processor
• 8.9″ display
• 16GB SSD
• 1GB memory at 533Mhz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950
• 4-cell 32Whr battery

No additional internal upgrades are available for this model

All Mini 9 configurations measure 9.13×1.07×6.77″ and weigh around 2.28 lbs.

Inspiron Mini 10

Slightly larger (10.28×7.19×1.25″) and heavier (2.86 lbs) than the Mini 9s, the Mini 10 comes in 6 colors. “Promise Pink” is one of them and costs $30 extra – again, $5 of that goes to Susan G. Komen. The most basic configuration sells for $399 (+30 for pink) and features:

• Windows XP Home edition
• 1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor
• 10.1″ screen
• 160GB 5400RPM hard drive
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
• 3-cell 24WHR Li-Ion battery

For an additional $50, you can upgrade the processor to 1.6Ghz.

Dell also mentions the following features, which will be available on the Mini 10 “at a later date”:

• Internal GPS
• HD screen
• Internal digital TV tuner

Dell has not set a date for when that might happen, so keep checking back.

Inspiron Mini 12

The next step up is the Mini 12, where the least expensive, basic configuration sells for $399 (+$30 for pink) and comes with:

• Linux 8.04.1 operating system
• 1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor
• 12.1″ screen
• 40GB, 4200 RPM PATA hard drive
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
• 3-cell 24WHR Li-Ion battery

Optional upgrades available for the basic model are:

• 1.6Ghz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor ($50)
• 80GB, 4200 RPM PATA hard drive ($50)

The most expensive Mini 12 configuration costs $549 (+$30 for pink) and features:

• Windows XP Home edition
• 1.33GHz/533MHz FSB/512K Cache Intel Atom processor
• 12.1″ screen
• 80GB, 4200 RPM PATA hard drive
• 1GB DDR2 SDRAM at 533MHz
• Wireless 802.11g Mini Card
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 500
• 6-cell 48WHR Li-Ion battery

And again, for $50, you can upgrade the processor to 1.6Ghz.

All Mini 12s measure 11.77×9.02×0.92″ and the starting weight is 2.72 lbs (that’s with the 3-cell battery).

Don’t miss my post on Dell’s newest pink laptop – the Inspiron R.

Note: None of the Mini laptops come with an internal DVD/CD drive, so if you want to be able to access or burn CDs and DVDs, you need to get an external drive.