Our picks are perfect for students and creative types searching for a laptop with a smaller-sized screen, impressive battery life, a strong build quality, and a fast processor. Features like these are vital before you make the splurge on a new laptop because they prevent your device from becoming obsolete for as long as possible. You should look for a notebook with futureproof Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0 wireless standards. Translation? The bigger these numbers, the more detailed the picture on the screen will be, whether you're editing an image on Photoshop or watching Netflix. DisplayĪ great mini laptop should have a sharp screen with a Full HD resolution (1,920 x 1,080 pixels) or higher. 8GB of RAM is ideal, but 4GB will do for light use. Random access memory, or RAM, stores data your computer needs to access, and helps your computer run multiple applications at a time.

Compared to your computer's RAM, which is essentially short-term memory, the hard drive is your computer's long-term memory: It stores the stuff you want to open and access throughout the lifetime of the machine. The hard drive (HDD, SSD, or eMMC) stores all of your data, including your operating system, games, documents, music, and movies. Regardless, battery life can make a significant impact on getting through your work- or school day, so make sure that the laptop you purchase delivers at least 8 hours of battery life before needing recharging. Given their smaller sizes, mini laptops just don't deliver a battery life as long as full-sized models are capable of. Affordable mini laptops with the latter are best suited for basic tasks like web browsing, streaming video, or typing Word documents. We suggest that you opt for a product with an Intel Core series chip because it's more capable than the entry-level Celeron series.

The newer the processor (CPU), the more power and better performance your new laptop will offer. Since choosing the right set of features will ensure you or a loved one will be happy with a mini laptop for years to come, I outlined everything you should consider before making the investment. I know reading the specifications of a laptop can seem a bit overwhelming (and quite boring), but they're the most important thing to pay attention to when you're shopping for a new computer - whether it's for you, your fourth grader, or a gift for a soon-to-be college student.

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