Like everyone else, we here at LAPTOP are enamored with mini-notebooks, but we’re concerned about the size of the keyboards. While the HP Mini-Note sports an almost full-size keyboard with much more finger real estate than the Eee PC or the 2Go PC, it still has those awkward side-mouse buttons.

As we sat around the conference room mini-bar with our mini-notebooks, we thought, “what better way to test our notebooks than with a knock-down, drag-out mini-notebook type-off?”

We searched the far corners of our office for the fastest, the slowest and the fiercest typists to take on the challenge of typing Hamlet’s most famous soliloquy on a mini-notebook. Our four challengers and their typing scores on a regular-sized Lenovo Thinkpad are below:

Avram “The ESC Artist” Piltch - 80 WPM
Emily “Key Crusher” Kizer - 80 WPM
Jeffrey “Hands of Steel” Wilson - 42 WPM
TJ “Furious Fingers” Fink - 53 WPM

Our fearless typists plot to take each other down in the newest arena of combat– the tiny keyboard. Watch as their fingers fly to the minature Backspace key, only to insert a “=” instead. Experience the joy, the frustration, the light-sound of clicking.

We’ll test different mini-notebooks throughout the week. First the ASUS Eee PC 4G XP, then the HP Mini-Note 2133 and finally the CTL 2Go PC. On the final day, we will announce which notebook has the mightiest keyboard of the minis.

Key Crusher won our first type-off with a score of 57 words per minute on the Eee PC. Furious Fingers and The ESC Artist tied for second with 42 wpm and Hands of Steel finished a strong third with 38 wpm. All our contestants had a lot to say about the good and bad qualities of the Eee PC keyboard.

Check out our typing gladiators in action below.

Get the latest Flash Player to see this player.

All Rounds of the Mini-Notebook Type-Off:

1. Eee PC
2. The HP Mini-Note
3. The 2Go PC
4. The Final Results