Customer Reviews

Toshiba Mini NB205-N330PK 10.1-Inch Posh Pink Netbook - 9 Hours of Battery Life (Windows 7 Starter)

5 star:		(51)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Well, it looks like I'm first. I have this dream of having a laptop in every room that I use a lot in the house. Mainly my living room and bedroom. I already had two work laptops in my home office and call me lazy but I was tired of carrying the one I use out of the office, up and down the stairs, running out of battery and having to go get the power cord. I decided a netbook might be a good choice for my minor chatting and surfing.

I couldn't decided between this model and the HP Mini 311. I ended up ordering the HP and buying this one at my local store. This model is very slick looking. I got the Blue one and its very elegant. You wouldn't mind being seen out with this laptop.

When I got it home I took it out of the box. The battery was already in the netbook but had 0 power so I needed to charge it. I haven't yet tested how long the battery lasts, I'll come back to update that.

Out of the box the laptop had me name my netbook then it found my wireless router right away. That was really nice not to have to configure anything. I just put in my routers password and I was on. No work, no hassle no headache.

My unit is running Windows 7 starter edition. I see the Win7 has moved the programs you are running to the bottom of the screen, similar to Mac's Dock. Microsoft could have made them look a little better but that has nothing to do with this netbook.

I had a few concerns owning a netbook. My husband has one of the original eee Asus Netbooks and I can't type on those to save my life. Not to mention they get hot enough to cook on. So going in I knew I did not want these two issues.

I have on a pair of thermal (like long johns) material PJ's and this netbook has been surfed on and chatted with on Aim for the last 7 hours straight. I played a 7 minute youtube video about 10 times trying to get the bottom of the netbook hot. The netbook is a little warm but it never got so uncomfortable I needed to put a book under it. I can't tell you how happy I am about that.

The trackpad is nice and wide but I have on accident hit it a few times. I think once i'm use to typing on it, this will improve. If not, hopefully I can disable it.

The keyboard is the chicklet style I believe they call it. Similar to those on the MacBook. They are really pretty silver finish but they are also smooth and a little slippery. I think my biggest gripe with this is that they are evenly smooth across the keys. I think a dip in the keys would have given these a better feel. Still for a netbook the spacing on them is quite usable.

I really like the blue and silver color scheme of this netbook. Its small and light weight and I think I can fit it in my purse. And with 9 hours of battery life, I can see why netbooks are really taking off.

So far I've only ran into one issue. I had about 12 IE tab windows in total open and I was in chat and I hit a slow down where IE barely responded. At the time my memory was nearly 800MB. I think once I take this up to 2 gigs then it will be fine. I've since installed Google Chrome and its been even more snappy.

This unit has a generous amount of USB connectors. At 3 it has more then my MacBook has which is great in this tiny package. It also has a ethernet port, Mic and Headset jack, and of course a SD/SDHC card slot.

With its long batter life, like weight, great style, I think I am going to enjoy carrying this around and not minding it.

My youtube video up until I had to much running actually played quite well. I didn't notice any slow downs until I over taxed the system.

This notebook is almost perfect. The biggest gripe of all I have is the sound. Its nearly non-existent on this netbook. I think the biggest issue is the placement of the speaker. Its underneath the netbook and gets covered by your lap. Nothing a headset can't solve but I thought I would point it out.

**Update** I wrote this at 3am and in my rush to get to bed, I forgot to mention two important things.

1. The screen. The screen is just gorgeous for a netbook. Its bright, and colorful and even when you pull it off of AC power to go to the battery it dims a little but not so much that it becomes uncomfortable.

Keep in mind it does have a terrible 1024 x600 which only affects how much scrolling you'll do. As far as text goes, its very sharp and readable.

2. The Battery. I'm currently using the Netbook on battery and I find that it remains cool. It hasn't heated up on me after about an hour of use.

The next part about the battery is that it juts out the back about an inch so that its not flush against the netbook. This will probably mean you may have to get a bigger case besides the 10.1 inch size. Even though the battery sticks out the back, it does sit flat on a flat surface. The battery doesn't raise the back end up at all.

** End of Update One**

**Update Two**

As promised I said I'd be back after testing the battery. I unplugged the AC power at exactly 12 Noon. Between 12 noon and 12 midnight, I've had a 2 hour nap, and 1 hour watching my favorite TV show. The netbook set idle and went into sleep mode during those times. Before I went to sleep I stuck my iPhone on it so it could charge it. This took my battery down to about 94% by the time I awaken again. It is now 11:55PM or five til midnight. That's 12 hours being off AC power. I am at 13% battery life.

Subtracting time for my nap and TV watching, I had roughly 9 hours of battery life. This was only using it to surf and chat. I haven't run youtube videos or anything like that. I didn't do any energy savings to try and get more life from it. I used whatever it defaults to and I'm really happy with it. Before when I tried to conserve battery the screen would be so dark I could barely see it. This has been a pleasure to use.

I've used it on my lap all day. No heat issues. The palm rest stays cool and the bottom is barely warm. I've yet to install any ''real'' programs on here besides Aim. I will attempt Microsoft Office 2007 once I have that 2GB stick and i'll let you all know how that goes.

I have a 2GB stick coming tomorrow. I will update more later.

Also, I'm completely use to the keys now. My one point off is for the sound. Its REALLY low. It is a netbook, but if sounds important to you without using a headset, this isn't the netbook for you.

**End of Update 2**

**Update three**

I plugged the net book in last night a little after midnight at 10% remaining charge. I find while the battery last a long time, it takes a long time to charge. I took about 3 hour and 40 minutes give or take a few minutes to go back to 100% charge. Still, for the battery life you get I think thats small, however it may stop you from wanting to buy a second battery.

Another side note, I'm finding a few of my XP/Vista programs won't install. Microsoft messenger and Aim installed fine. My 3m Post-it-notes (XP and Vista compatible)won't. This isn't because of the netbook but because of windows starter. Apparently if you upgrade to one of the the other Windows 7 offerings, their is compatibility with XP and Vista. Windows 7 Starter is crippled because of this. They've even taken away your ability to change your desktop background, you have to pay the 80 dollar premium if you want these features. I thought I would point this out, while 80 for an Upgraded OS is not bad, it is expensive when its nearly 1/4 the cost of the netbook. XP while old was still a full OS and I myself never had a problem with it getting the job done. If you wait until there is a Windows 7 Version you'll be fine but it could mean buying software over you already own, making Microsoft's upgrade cheaper in the end.

I just popped in 2GB of memory. I can confirm the one spot that gets warm on the netbook is the memory. I'm very surprised I feel no heat from the hard drive.

This review has turned into a book. I may comeback if I find anything worth while to inform you about.

**End of update Three**

**Update 4**

Per request, I've started testing video playback. I played a couple of YouTube videos and the playback was pretty smooth. I didn't notice any jerkiness and it was actually better then I thought it would be. I also watched a few clips on Hulu and as long as it wasn't in full screen mode, playback was pretty smooth. In full screen model I notice some very subtle frame drops or skips. I say subtle because I was studying it to see if I noticed anything. If I hadn't been looking for it I'm not sure if it would have hampered by experience or not.

I finally tested a pair of headphones and Music playback was smooth and nice and loud, so a headset won't be an issue with this Netbook.

I noticed when I'm installing programs that the memory does heat up. Thats the only time I noticed it heating up beyond its normal temps. I wish I had a temp monitor so I could see what idle temps are. If I find one I'll post it.

If you want better Video playback, go with the HP 311. The Nvidia ION 9400 is going to be a lot better for video and output in HD.

**end of update.**

**Update December 10,2009**

I wanted to revise and add a new negative to my review. First the sound I discovered once I plugged my headset in and the realtek manager pops up showed the sound wasn't all the way up. So my sound isn't as weak as I thought. However it is still low just not nearly as bad as I first thought.

My main negative, I notice every now and then when using the touch pad that it won't response to my finger swipes. This last for 1 to 5 seconds and then its fine again but it is annoying when it happens. I would say it happens several times a day now for me. I did some searching around and it seems this is a issue a lot of people are having. It cropped up on Toshiba's forums if anyone wants to do a search on it.

Since my sound isn't quite as horrible and now I have this touch pad issue, I'll leave my review at 4 stars. Hopefully Toshiba will come up with a fix.

**End of Update.**

I think that about covers it. Feel free to comment and leave questions and I will answer them if you need help deciding if you want to buy it.

I will be real curious to see how this stacks up against the HP Mini 311 when it comes in.

Before buying a netbook, I did a lot of research and determined that the Toshiba NB205 series would be best for me. Instead of buying it immediately and having Windows XP as my OS, I decided to wait a few days until Windows 7 was released. The only problem I encountered was that the scroll built into the touch pad stopped working. I figured that it had something to do with the 6 Windows updates I did, so I restarted the netbook and it worked fine again, and I haven't had the problem since. After getting used to the netbook, I decided to download some wallpaper, so I searched for some good 1024x600 images, and discovered what everyone else with Windows 7 Starter quickly found out: you can't change the wallpaper. While not critical to the operation of the netbook, this is a pointless and very annoying feature to leave out. When searching for a solution to this, I found several other features that Windows 7 Starter leaves out;

You can't change themes

No personalization

Can't log out

No DVD support

No XP mode

There are more features left out, but the point is, there is no reason I should be paying more for a netbook with Windows 7 Starter than the same netbook with Windows XP, when 7 limits what I can do. Right now I am considering trying to return this for a full refund or seeing if I can load a Mac OS on. Again, the netbook is a good choice, but pay attention to the operating system before buying.

I actually bought the NB205-N330BN, pre-ordering it from amazon, so this review is by an actual owner. In addition to this netbook, I also own 2 desktops (one I built myself) and two laptops. Before buying, one needs to realize the limitations of a netbook. It's not meant as a replacement for your desktop or laptop. I bought it for remote access to my company's server so I could prepare reports from the road and not have to drive 1-2 hours to my office. For this and for internet browsing, it has been perfect. Two others in my office have Asus and HP netbooks and this Toshiba blows them away, if for nothing else the keyboard layout. Wi-fi reception has been much better than the laptop I previously used, so I have no complaints at all. Windows 7 Starter has been fine. I didn't need all the bells and whistles and stupid Windows tricks. No wallpaper? Who cares?

All I can suggest is that you do your research to make sure a netbook fits your needs. Read the reviews and visit a retail outlet to check out the various models, keyboard layout, etc. At this time I highly recommend the Toshiba. I thought my wife might complain about the brown color, but she and everyone else loves it. A nice change from black or blue.

I've been browsing around for awhile in search of the right netbook and I finally (sorta) settled down on this Toshiba mini NB205 N330. I say sorta because I actually haven't bought it yet but I've tested it--as well as other netbooks--numerous times whenever I visit an electronics store.

A great feature of this netbook is its keyboard. I'm mainly using this netbook to takes notes in class and the buttons are the right size for my fingers which makes typing a whole lot more efficient and satisfying. I find myself making less typos with this extra space in between each button than when I was testing with other netbook keyboards.

There is a ~$20 difference between the Toshiba N225 and N330. And that's because the N330 can hold 250GB (instead of 160) of HD space and supports bluetooth.

Currently, all netbooks won't have any other versions of Windows 7 other than the Starter so its unfair to rate a netbook off of its OS. Theres a hidden link on Microsoft's website that allows students to order Windows 7 Home Premium or Professional for only $30 (offer expires January 3rd I think) so take advantage of that if you're a student. I've already ordered mine so I won't have to deal with Windows 7 Starter when I get my netbook.

This netbook is a chip away from being perfect only because the speaker is terribly placed underneath the netbook which makes very poor sound. I really hope Toshiba is listening to reviews and fix the speakers.

One more downside is the battery pack that sticks out a good inch or 1/2 inch. That means you won't be able to get a 10.2in case but rather go for something a little bigger OR a 10.2in case with a flap top.

As for now, I will await for Black Friday and pray that this NB205 N330 will be on sale that very day. Even better would be if they release another version with improved sound and slap it on sale for black friday.

After two weeks of use I am very happy with this netbook. I like the way in looks and feels, high quality. The upgrade to 2GB of ram was money well spent. It was 5 minute job (including the time it took to find a small screw driver) to change the ram chip and I immediately saw a noticeable increase in performance. I also purchased a Samsung USB 2.0 8x DVD Writer External Optical Drive for Mac and PC SE-S084C/RSBN (Gloss Black)for installing software, ripping CDs, and watching movies. If you want to watch movies from the DVD I suggest that you install VLC Media Player, it works fine and it's a free download. The Nero software that came with the Samsung drive didn't work.

I have read some reviews citing problems with the wifi and a Linksys router; I have that setup and have experience no problems. I did stay at one hotel in France where sometimes the wifi would work and other times it wouldn't but I could never figure out if it was the Toshiba or the hotel. Two other hotels worked without a hitch.

Pros: excellent keyboard, large mouse pad, finger-print resistant design, and high quality feel.

Cons: over-sized battery, lo-res webcam, lack of N wifi, and old-school mouse pad (no pinching or rotating).

I received the Toshiba netbook two weeks ago. Needless to say, I spent some time setting it up for my preferences. This is my first Windows 7 PC. I found that the Windows 7 has some limitations with background settings, etc. I also noticed that the nice Windows Mail program (from Vista) was no longer available. I now use GMAIL. ANOTHER CON:The loudspeakers sound anemic and I needed earphones to really enjoy music.

I especially like the keyboard. I got the hang of it in a very short time and was able to type emails and word documents with almost the same speed as on the full size keyboard on my desktop. After about one day I convinced myself that NB 205 with 1 GB of memory was rather slow. So I ordered the 2 GB extra memory from Amazon. After replacing the 1 GB with the 2GB, I found that the speed and response time picked up remarkably. I achieved even better speed and response times when I inserted a 4 GB high speed SD card into the available slot and activated the Speedbooster function.(Available in Vista and W7) It uses the faster flash memory for paging instead of using the slower, hard disk. By now, this little netbook computer performs just about as well as my 6 GB HP desktop with Vista and a 2.4 MHZ processor. I like its looks, the small size, the keyboard, the speed. Quite a package.

The display is crisp and clear. Battery life - outstanding. I used the NB 205 for 8 hours on batteries only, and never missed a beat. Wireless transmission seems to be working just fine.

I ordered this netbook after my old 2006 Toshiba Satellite died on me (piece of crap I HATE Vista!) After comparing and contrasting notebooks against netbooks, I decided that long battery life, a low price, and portability are more important to me than a big screen or high-tech gaming capabilities. I recommend upgrading to 2gb of RAM instead of 1, which I plan on doing soon. This should double your computer's speed. Also, DO NOT sign up for Norton, it stinks. Macafee is way way way better.

Oh and a little plus for you guys: you probably have all heard about the restrictions of Windows 7 Starter, and how it won't let you change your desktop/wallpaper. I've found a way to halfway get around this. Check the bottom of my review to find out how.

I've only been using this netbook for one day but so far it's met all my expectations, and exceded them, too! I will update again in a few days, just to let you know if things are still running smoothly, and a little more on battery life. But today I'm going to write a list of pros vs. cons below to help you guys decide if this is the computer for you.

PROS:

1. overall size: it is light (3 lbs) and has a little screen but the small size really hasn't bothered me, not even when watching a dvd.

2. screen res: the graphics on this netbook are AMAZING, better even than a regular full-size notebook! They're crisp, clear, sharp and bright. I have no complaints as far as the screen resolution goes.

3. keyboard: this keyboard is 92% the size of a regular laptop's board, which I find a great feature. They sure crammed it in pretty tight, there's hardly any space around the edges of the board, but it's not an eyesore. I haven't found myself making typos or excessive mistakes; it's easy and enjoyable to type on.

4. track pad: I have a cordless mouse that I use frequently, but it's nice to have a good trackpad for when I don't feel like lugging a mouse around. The trackpad is the same size as a regular laptop's, and it's nice that the buttons are underneath the pad instead of to the right and left, like on some other netbooks.

5. usb ports: there are three usb ports, one on the left and two on the right. There is a "sleep-and-charge" port on the left, which is nice if you have an ipod/iphone etc. The purpose is that you can have the computer in sleep mode and still charge up a device without wasting energy and battery.

6. webcam: don't buy this netbook expecting that you're going to get an amazingly crisp webcam. It's only 0.3 megapixels, so it's not much, but it will get you by. It's less grainy and pixely than I was expecting, though. There's a little auto-hide function on the left of the screen that you can pull up at a moment's notice to capture videos or pictures. Once you've taken them, they automaticaly go to "Windows Media Player." The webcam and built-in mic also work well for Skype and other video chats.

7. sleek look: this netbook is one of the prettiest I've seen. I went with the black one. To me, it wasn't worth paying $80 more for pink or blue...who cares? So i went with the black. I was very impressed upon opening it. The lid is a shiny and glossy onyx black, with lighter stripes cutting through it diagonally. It's gorgeous. The keyboard is very pretty too. The keys are shiny and nice looking. There is also a sparkly look to it on the screen border and palm rests. This is better than i was expecting.

8. battery life: I haven't had a chance to actually try out the battery for 9 hours, but I don't think battery life is going to be an issue. Everyone else's reports say that they were able to squeeze 7-9 hours out of it, so I'm hopeful. I'll update when I have more 1st hand battery info. Oh and a little side note: the battery takes about 3-4 hours to charge back up once it's depleted, so just take that into account. Personally, it doesn't bother me at all. For 9 hours of life, who cares if it takes a few hours to recharge?

9. if you're a serious gamer, don't think that this netbook will replace your notebook or desktop computer, because it won't. I love computer games, that's what I do in a lot of my downtime. But i figured that with 4 other computers in the house that are great for games, it really wasn't a big deal. I was prepared for the fact that gaming quality would be horrible on this netbook, if my games even worked at all. so i was actually very suprised when games such as Sims (Sims 3 didn't work but Sims Pet Stories did) and Harry Potter and Roller Coaster Tycoon and the like worked! The quality wasn't exactly what I was used to, but it wasn't pixely or grainy. Overall, I was VERY happy that i could still play games on this netbook. (oh and if you're planning on playing games that require a disc, you'll have to buy an external disc drive. I salvaged the drive from my dead computer and bought a $10 drive enclosure on amazon. You just put the old internal drive in the enclosure and you're done. It'll work just like any $150 brand new drive) So gaming was better than I ever dreamed it would be!

10. lights: there are little lights on the bottom right of the netbook that are a nice feature, most computers have them, but generally netbooks do not. There are 7 of them, for things such as showing you power, if it's charging, etc. There's also a light that shows you if you are connected to the internet. Not a big deal but still kinda cool.

Oh boy! Now onto the cons.

CONS:

1. fingerprints: the lid is a total fingerprint-magnet! I've tried wiping off the prints with the cuff of my sleeve, but really only suceeded in smudging them. I think to really get them all off, I'll have to use a wipe made specifically for computers. Not that big of a deal overall, but it's just something to take into account if you have OCD.

UPDATE! Months later, I don't notice anymore lol.

2. speakers: the speakers were put in a really stupid place! Under the keyboard?! Really toshiba??? Wow, thoughtless. You can barely hear your music and the quality is...well...terrible! But with a headset or earbuds, you'll be good to go.

UPDATE! I bought a cheap little pair of external speakers, now my music is gorgeous again.

3. headphone jack: the headphone jack is another badly-placed feature. It's on the left side of the laptop. Pretty much every other laptop I've seen has the jack right on the front of the computer. If your headphone cord is fairly short, you might have a little bit of a harder time making the phones reach long distances.

4. power light brightness: when the computer is on, the power light at the base of the screen lights up brilliantly white. If you're in a dark room trying to watch a movie, the light will be distracting or even annoying. It's so bright! Way brighter than the screen. If it really bothers you, cover it up with a little piece of matching electrical or masking tape.

5. trackpad jump: I've heard this from a lot of other people. It hasn't been too bad for me yet, maybe only happening a few times, but I've noticed that when typing, sometimes my palm will brush the trackpad, sending the cursor jumping up a few lines. The trackpad is verrry sensitive, so I would turn the sensitivity way down if I were you.

6. Windows 7 Starter: umm wow. Microsoft, I've been a very faithful follower for many years, but you guys lost some of my respect on this one. Windows 7 Starter is soo dumb and restricting! Maybe it's just the Starter edition (I'm planning on upgrading to Home Premium ASAP), but this is ridiculous.

7. battery size: just so you know, the battery sticks out the end of the netbook about an inch. This is not a big deal, but you should know that because of this, your laptop will not fit in a 10.1" inch case. Go for a 10.2 or larger.

DESKTOP CHEAT:

Alright, I'm gonna be very honest here. Not being able to change my backround really pissed me off. It's not so much that I didn't have the capability to change it, but that Microsoft is cheating me out of something so basic and easy! They want our money. They know that some of us will pay for the $80 upgrade just so that they can change their wallpaper. I see this as a bit of an insult. I mean, not even being able to change your desktop? What is with that? But i've found a way to make it a little more bearable. The generic unchangeable desktop for Windows 7 Starter is a blue screen with the Windows logo in the middle. I didn't like the logo, it was boring, so to jazz it up a little and give it a more personalized touch, I used a slideshow gadget to cover up the logo with my own pictures. Now, I'm not saying that I was able to change the entire screen, just a 3 inch long box in the middle of the desktop that covers the logo. Here's how you do it.

1.Close all the windows, so that you're just looking at the desktop.

2.Right-click somewhere with no icons.

3.A little menu will pop up. Scroll down to the bottom of the list. The last label will say "Gadgets." Click on this.

4.After clicking on gadgets, a box will pop up with options. Double-click on the one labeled "Slide Show." It should have a thumbnail of tulips.

5.Next, a smaller box should appear at the top right-hand corner of your screen. If you hover your mouse over it, you get 2 bars with icons for options.

6.First, click the one called "Larger Size," with an icon of an arrow pointing right. The box should triple in size.

7.Now you're going to click and drag it from the corner to the center of the screen. It should cover the Windows logo. Your computer is now a little more personalized.

8.(optional)Once again, hover over the box to get your bars, but this time click the one that looks like a wrench and is labeled "Options." Once in the Options Menu, you can pick which folder you want the pictures to cycle through. You also have the option of shuffling the pics, choosing transitions, and time intervals.

*The point of all this is so that you can pick what YOU want, not what MICROSOFT wants. I'm sorry that this doesn't work for the entire screen. If I knew of a way to bypass this silly rule, I would share.

UPDATE!!!!!!!!

I said that if I found a bypass, I would share. And I have! It's called the "Oceanis Change Backround W7." You can google it, go to "sevenforums.com" or use this link:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/47294-desktop-background-change-windows-7-starter.html

I had my doubts when I first heard about this, but I took the risk and figured my antivirus would tell me if anything was wrong. I downloaded it, and it WORKS LIKE A CHARM! Within minutes, my screen was filled with a pic of me, my friends, and my man. And it was the whole screen, not just a little box! Now it rotates through gorgeous pictures of the beach. It changes to a new scene every day.

DO NOT hesitate to download this software, it is risk-free and amazing.

Well, all in all, this is a great netbook, in my opinion the best one on the market. 5 stars, easily. I spent hours and hours (maybe 48?) online trying to find the best netbook for me, and this is it! Don't hesitate to buy this, I promise you won't regret it! =)

Oh also, thanks to my dad for letting me use his amazon account and his credit card haha, love ya Daddy!

-Hannah

***UPDATE #1***

By now I've had this netbook for about a week, and I still love it! My cons don't seem so terrible anymore, except for the crappy speaker quality, which continues to bother me. It's alright if you're just watching a Youtube vid or playing a game, but I found that for music or dvds, I couldn't enjoy them without a headset.

I have more 1st-hand info on battery life. I'm used to always having to worry about battery life, and if my computer is going to die on me when I need it the most. Not anymore. As a general rule, I get about 7 1/2-8 hours of life out of this netbook. This was with the default settings. Pretty soon, though, I decided that a brighter screen was more important to me than 8 hours of life. With the default settings, whenever I would unnplug the power cord, the screen would dim. A LOT! So I went to control panel and turned the battery brightness all the way up. Now, when I unplug the computer, there is no dimming. With the brightness turned up, I now get an average of about 7 hours. It's worth it to me. If there's some occasion where I need all 8 hours, I can always turn the settings to default again.

I have run quite a few Youtube videos. The quality is still great, they still load very quickly, and there's little to no pixelation. I'm very happy with how fast this thing load vids.

One of the first programs I installed was iTunes. It installed in about 15 minutes, a little faster than normal. It loaded all my music automatically, and downloaded all the album art. It's a pleasure to use iTunes on this computer.

Well, I'm still very happy. Sorry, I know this review is more of a book than a review, but I wanted to let everyone know what an amazing little machine this netbook is. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

I spent hours researching different netbooks and decided to go with the Toshiba.

It has the speed and power expected with excellent battery life. I use MS Office 2007 with Word, Excell, PowerPoint, etc and this netbook has no problems in running these. I even use Proshow Gold to create videos on it.

It is light weight and stylish. I made a Skype video call and had no problems.

While I would never recommend a netbook for high resolution games, I do recommend this netbook for the web, research and other productive duties where a small package is desired.

The clarity of the LCD is the best of all of the others in it's class as far as I am concerned.

I read a lot of Mini Laptop reviews before choosing this Toshiba, I own 3 Dell laptops of various sizes and I was on the Dell web site about to order the Mini10v for 300 dollars when I started reading the reviews. For an extra 30 to 50 bucks I decided on the Toshiba. It looks great, its fast, keyboard is easy to use. The wifi connected automatically to my home network the first time I turned it on, It immediately found my DLink router and just asked for the password. It was incredibly easy.

I am ok with the Windows 7 starter and see no need to upgrade to the Home Edition. The only thing that I miss is customizing the wallpapaer but I would not pay for that feature.

I bought the Microsoft Ultimate Steal bundle available to college students which inlcuded WORD, EXCEL, Powerpoint and Publisher. The installed software had a trial version. If you choose not to buy it after the trial, you get Microsoft WORKS,

The Mini is light and very easy to use. So far, its done everything my full size laptops do including internet, email and ipod itouch synching. Like all Minis, it does not have a CD/DVD drive.

The model numbers are confusing. The older versions using Windows XP and have a smaller hard drive. The current model comes in a variety of colors which can have a big impact on the price. Basic Black is the cheapest but it still look great and sleek.

Highly Recommended!

[...]

[...]

[...]

This is my very first netbook, so I'll start by saying that this netbook is good for what it was meant to be, and whenever you're lounging in your room and just want to check your favorite websites do your homework late at night, watch a few videos, reply on forums...that's about it. This review will be based about the "use" of the netbook. I'm not going to point out Windows 7 features because this is not a review for an Operating System, as I will not compare it to the performance of a laptop or notebook.

Before pointing out the strong, neutral and weak points of this laptop I'll note what I did after opening it from the box. First, I unpacked the netbook and charged the battery (It comes discharged, read the instructions), I turned it on after a few minutes, set up Windows 7 in about 15 minutes, uninstalled all the junk-ware it has (Norton, toolbars, Office 2007 trial, games...etc.) and installed Google Chrome, the latest Flash Player and Avast Antivirus. So far here's what I have to say about this little netbook (I will update later):

PROS:

- The packaging is very solid, the box is small and not heavy.

- It's great for everyday tasks, browsing, video-watching, music-listening, photos...etc.

- Runs Office 2007 without problems when you work with few documents at the same time.

- Slightly faster compared to other brands of netbooks that I have tried, thanks to the Atom N280.

- Long battery life, with normal use and standard battery setting (not Eco-Mode) it can hold up to 6-7 hours.

- I really like the overall design of the laptop, the power button in the middle is cool for turning it on without having to open the netbook.

NEUTRAL:

- YouTube videos run smoothly; however, they tend to "crack" when I try to view them in HQ.

- Glossy finish on the top, if you're used to these fingerprint magnets it won't trouble you. However, it has matte finish on the inside.

- The battery takes good 2-3 hours to charge (If not in use, else about 3-4 hours), but for a good 7-8 hours of real battery life I won't complain.

CONS:

- It can get considerably hot, not good for prolonged use on your lap; mind you, it will not burn you, but it's very uncomfortable.

- It has no Bluetooth connectivity, I bought a small Bluetooth dongle adapter separately. They're not expensive though.

- The sound coming from the speakers is horrible and very quiet(set at it's highest), you can listen to the sound but it won't sound pretty or normal; instead, get a pair of headphones or earphones.

- The trackpad gets in your way several times, it's too sensitive and whenever you type your palm can mess up what you were writting.