Netbooks (also called mini laptops) are famous for being small enough that you can take them with your wherever you go. Mini laptops, however, also lack many useful features that you would normally find in a desktop PC.

Thankfully, along with the proliferation of mini netbooks, a plethora of accessories netbooks are also available for purchase. Here are the top five accessories that you must attach to your mini laptop.

1. External USB DVD player and burner

The biggest disadvantage of mini laptops is that they do not have optical drives. You cannot play your favorite CD or DVD, or install software from a cd, on them. Even more important is that it can be difficult to troubleshoot or reinstall the operating system on your mini laptop without an external DVD player and burner. The best DVD drives that you can buy are those USB drives. Why? Because they don't need a power outlet to use them. You only need to plug one to your mini laptop's USB port.

2. Flash memory cards and flash disks

Except for the pricier and upscale models, most mini laptops come with a limited memory. But you can always expand your storage with a memory card. Mini laptops typically have a built-in memory card reader. Flash disks are also another important accessory for storing small files. Flash disks can typically store up to 2GB of data.

3. External USB Hard Drive

You will need an external hard drive if you are dealing with large amounts of data, or if you need to back up your data. External hard drives are usually two inches thick and store 120GB of data. With USB 2.0 interface, you won't need a power adaptor to use an external hard drive, you only need to plug it to a USB port.

4. Wireless Keyboard and Mouse

Because mini laptops have such small keyboards, it can get very uncomfortable if you use them for an extended period of time. Frequent users often hook up their mini laptops with an external keyboard and mouse.

5. Wireless Router

You will need a wireless router to connect your mini laptop to the internet when you are at home.



Source by John Kessler