This paper presents a novel small-size dual-band metal-strip antenna promising to operate as an internal laptop antenna for WLAN operation in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands has been proposed, fabricated and tested. The antenna is especially suited to be employed in the narrow spacing between the top edge of the display panel and the casing of the laptop computer. The antenna is formed by using two inverted-L metal strips, including one driven strip and one parasitic shorted strip, stacked together to achieve a compact configuration, which is different from the traditional shorted T-shaped monopole antenna or planar inverted-F antenna. This compact configuration leads to a small lateral length of 20 mm for the proposed antenna. The antennapsilas two resonant modes can be easily fine-adjusted to cover the desired operating bands. For the fabricated prototype studied in the paper, good radiation characteristics over the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands have been obtained. It is perspective that the proposed antenna will become a promising internal antenna for 2.4/5 GHz WLAN operation for laptop computer applications.