There’s lot of bustle right now in the campus where I live. Students from across different countries in Asia, Australia, Europe, US, and more are coming back due for the start of a new semester. Students carrying laptop everywhere from the coffee shop, library, class rooms, cafeteria to almost anywhere would be a common sight. The institute have a student laptop program. This semester’s offered laptop for sale to student is DELL Vostro 1310 which cost around 780$ US. There’s also a subsidy program wherein new students are eligible to avail.

Finding the right computer for use sometimes takes time. One may find it a pain to sift through all the specs and models. There are new trends in laptops like the practical line of mini-laptops which cost around 500$ or less. These computer machines have become smaller at a size similar to that of a legal size paper. The solid-state hard drive is gaining acceptance also as an alternative to the heavier, hotter and power hungry optical hard drives. With that said, physically you want a laptop which is portable to be tag along around the campus, but still packs the power needed to do late night report or thesis writing.

Usually, screen sizes of 15.4-inch wide or 14.1-inch wide are enough for reading and writing purposes. The only downside of it is the weight of the laptop. I personally would go for the smaller screen which has lighter weight. Take note that the smaller the laptop, usually the more expensive it is, and naturally there are less features available. The advent of mini-laptop gives you smaller size with power packed features just enough to do the regular school work at an affordable price.

I find Asus EEE PC 900 as the king of all mini-laptops. This one have the biggest Solid State Drive (SSD) disk of 20Gb and has a 9-inch display screen. The display will have you scrolling around a bit to see a full web page, but the performance is more than what is needed for school. The Asus EEE PC 900 is also relatively cheap at around 650$, but I found one which is on sale from buy.com for only around $415 after rebate. A big savings on the pocket. When it comes to back to school computer, I will go for the Asus EEE PC 900 mini-laptop.