A small laptop is an extremely small and lightweight portable computer. It includes all the features of a standard laptop and runs all its applications, with a size much smaller than an A4 paper notebook, but slightly larger than a handheld computer. Small laptops are also referred to as a sub notebook, palmtop, knee top or an ultra portable.

The screen of a small laptop is less than 10 inches in diagonal and the small laptop weighs less than one kilogram as compared to a standard laptop, which has a 15 inches screen, and weighs two kilograms or more. The size and weight are cut down mainly by omitting ports or having removable media or optical drives and compensated by connecting to docking stations.

The laptops have taken over from the desktop as the main type of personal computer but the real challenge lies in designing small laptops that are as powerful as the most popular and economical laptops that are too large for mobility. To make the overall size smaller, the components of small laptops are made much smaller than desktop or even their laptop counterparts. Small laptops come with LCD screens ranging from ten to eleven inches or even smaller than that.

Small laptops have incredible thickness or rather thinness, of less than one inch and this type of small laptops are of great demand in the market. Not only the size but also the weight of these laptops contribute to the popularity and demand of small laptops, where the weight is as low as five to seven pounds.

Small laptops have screen resolutions that are far better than phones or MP3 players, which also offer some of the features of a laptop. Therefore, it is much easier to browse through the Internet, keep up e-mail and in the long run, save a lot of time and energy.

Small laptops are ideal for those who travel and need to carry a laptop with them. Though the small laptops are a little more expensive than their other counterparts, they have a better battery life. Small laptops are useful for business people who travel frequently not only for luxury but for necessity too. Businessmen who travel by road and need to carry a PC with them always and also those who just have to carry laptop from the car to the office and vice versa, prefer small laptops.

Frequent travelers who want to consider getting a wireless broadband chipset and radio built- in, can get them in a small laptop with a few extra dollars.