Customer Reviews

Toshiba Mini NB255-N245 10.1-Inch Netbook (Black Oynx)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

I chose this laptop for the price and the keyboard. The latter is one of the few keyboards where the keyboard is "almost" as good as a full keyboard, and allows me to type fast and efficiently with adequate response. I havent tested battery life very thoroughly but suppose it to be in the average of 6 hours or so when used vigorously. I had to remove all of the Toshiba and Bestbuy bloatware. My advise is to remove at once the Norton Antivirus (their post expiration offer with a rebate for this is sheer misleading....see other posts) Once you have got rid of that ensure that you do not have more than one antivirus operating...if you have several it can effect internet functionality big time.

in order to get my companies MS office 2007 on the machine and supported I had to upgrade from the windows 7 starter to Windows 7 professional. If I hadnt needed to do that, I probably would have stuck to windows starter, which does most other things OK. The upgrading which cost an extra 100 dollars and a bit, was extremely difficult to do, but I got MS assistance with no extra charge (surprise surprise) from their customer service and it was of a very high quality indeed.

This little computer is really fast, faster than my office computer, faster than any other laptop todate....the pine processor is really satisfactory, There are more than enough USB ports and most of the time at home I hook it up to a widescreen monitor which looks good.

I have an Ipad as well as well as this Toshiba and find my usage split 50/50, the Ipad for sheer reckless indulgent consumption of media and reference material, but I have to resort to the Toshiba for actually doing anything creative or office work. Due to the fact that the Toshiba is barely noticeable when stuffed into a briefcase, if I had to have one or the other I would take the Toshiba.

This isnt a technical review, I am not that way inclined, but in conclusion I have to say that even if this computer only lasts a couple of years it will at this price point be great value for money.

I've never really used a PC for more than a few minutes at a time at a friend's house. I've been a Mac guy since 1992 when I began college and first got into graphic design. I have always hated Windows and I have always thought non-Macs felt like cheap junk, the interface always seemed difficult and clunky whether it was Windows 95 or XP. I have only tested Vista and 7 in the stores until I finally bought the bullet and just decided to get this little netbook... because, let's face it, Apple dropped the ball with that iPad crap.

Well, I've only had this thing for 3 days and it didn't take long to get used to. Some helpful people online told me which freeware to get to remove the extraneous crap Best Buy had installed on the machine and apparently I'm good to go with a couple free Antivirus programs. I probably won't be downloading any .exe or .zip files from warez, porn or music stealing sites on this thing just because I wouldn't really want to risk it; I'll do that on my mac. Not that I do that sort of thing.

I'm not sure what this is really good for. I have a text editor now so I can do some HTML/CSS/PHP in a pinch, but I'm not sure I'll ever really need to. Believe it or not, I pretty much got it just to test websites on the fly with IE8... since I do web design for a living, it just becomes inconvenient to always rely on browsershots, when I can check back and forth with my little buddy and see what's fugged up in Intercrap Exploder. It works for that just fine. The portability is an added bonus! And the price is right!

For people who want to write their novel in Starbucks or people who waste money on this sort of crap purely to surf the net, this would be a great choice! I'll be taking this on long trips for instant access to Google maps if I need it. For others like me who are not iPhone/Blackberry crazy, this is also useful for that kind of thing.

Youtube, Facebook, and pretty much any website I've tried (including some rather large ones I designed myself) look excellent on this thing. Fit on the screen well and not so small that it's hard to read. This is a great little thing to watch videos on when you're stuck somewhere without a tv, too... unlike an iPhone, which is painfully small to watch anything on for more than 3 minutes.

Keyboard is quality. Not junky feeling like most other PCs I've touched. Compared to the Acer, Dell and HP netbooks I've played with in the store, this thing feels like a Rolls Royce or something. Nice, solid little machine.

On a broadband wifi, it's as fast as you could ever want or need.

Toshibas don't come with a lot of bloatware, either. I only had to delete the Best Buy marketplace software and Norton Utilities.

Great battery life, great monitor brightness, color and clarity, Windows 7 is awesome!

All in all, a great purchase. Very satisfied.

EDIT: Never had anything die in less than a year. First the charger broke and now the screen will not turn on. Really unfortunate I will be going with acer (last 2 laptop purchases) when I go to purchase a new netbook.


Ordered this for school to do homework on the go and also be able to use the internet and everything else a windows computer can do. So far so good!

Pros:
- Sturdy build to it does not feel cheap when carrying it around and using it
- Keyboard is surprisingly big. The keys you use to type are just as big as a laptops keys meaning I can type just as fast as I can on my laptop and even my desktop.
- The screen is really bright and crisp. Beats out my laptops 15.4" screen for clarity!
- Windows 7 Starter runs much better than previous netbooks which had Windows XP. This thing boots fast and launches everything in no time!
- Battery life is amazing! Even with the screen on full brightness I have been watching flash videos and using mozilla firefox for hours.


Cons:
- Like ALL big name computers it comes loaded with a bunch of crap you don't need. I quickly deleted norton antivirus and installed the free and powerful microsoft security essentials. Which I might add runs nicely on this netbook completed a virus scan in under 20 minutes.

- The only con is the sound. Although I will be ordering a usb powered logitech z205 speaker which clips to the top of the netbook and provides very good sound as compared to any laptops/netbooks onboard speakers.

Logitech Laptop Speaker Z205

** 8/7/2010
All the negative reviews, including mine, were moved to NB305 last week somehow.
Potential buyers should be able to see both positive and negative views, so I copy mine again here.

**
This is on NB255-N245.
I am returning mine, which I have never done.
Given her good reputation, I don't want think this product represents the Toshiba quality and assume I got a lemon. This is the reason I gave 2 stars instead of 1.

The problems I have are;
1. Fn key suddenly stops working and I have to reboot the unit each time.
It looks that F8 + Fn, on/off of WiFi, often triggers this but not always.
2. Short battery life. With power saver mode on and other saving measures such as half-dimmed screen, no external device attached and frequently turned-off WiFi, I get only about 5 hours at max.
The claimed is "up to 8.3" hours.
- I am using this mostly for internet and word processing, no heavy stuff.
3. Although not always, Skype doesn't work properly.
- I can hear but not be heard. The "check setting" message of Skype says my computer is too slow to make a call.

Away from my specific problems, this is my take on this netbook.
My expectation on netbook are:
1. Long battery life, at the least 6 hours with reasonable work load.
2. Capability to handle web surfing, MS Word and Skype.
3. Small size and light weight since I travel a lot.
4. Low price.

I chose this Toshiba due to the following facts:
1. Lower price tag: ~ $300.
2. New products: Thought accumulated experience makes a better product...
2. New CPU, N455: I know practically same as N450 but doesn't hurt.
3. Wireless-N.
4. Great brand name.
No complaints about the speed of the CPU, Windows 7 starter, small screen, 1G RAM and the lack of recovery disc, which are granted in the first place.

Pro's:
1. Keyboard is full size and feels big.
2. Probably, USB Sleep and Charge, although I never used it since I cannot afford to divert any power from the unit.
3. Price.
4. All the nice things generally applicable to netbook such as small, light, ....

Con's:
1. Battery life.
- Mine is not satisfactory but, to be fair, I saw a review at Netegg claiming 9 - 10 hours(!!).
2. Hard to read icons on the hotkeys.
- They are small and in dark gray on black keys. It is hard for me but maybe not for other people. You can enlarge one of the pictures and check it.
3. Protruding battery pack.
- I knew it and thought it a trivial. But after carrying the unit everyday, I found it is very annoying and it also makes the unit bigger than other netbooks. When thinking of the extra stress applied to the two connecting points and the fact this is a battery, it is a bit concerning for me.

Although this doesn't bother me, maybe applicable to some people.
4. Built is very cheap and feels very cheap.
Basically a mass of cheap black plastic. If you are a kind of person who puts a cover on your Blackberry or iPhone, this is not for you, definitely. I kind of like this "in-your-face" attitude, refreshing.

Although I never planned to expand to 2G, one of the reviews here says it is not upgradable.
If this is the case, I see very few reason why people buy this netbook at the price tag of about $300 or even 250.

I think this is a fantastic netbook. I played with several others but they all felt very cheap to me and their keyboards especially felt like toys. The Toshiba definitely is a smaller keyboard so is not as nice to type on as a full-sized laptop keyboard, but it is the best I saw on a netbook and is very usable with a little getting used to. I bought this Toshiba for my mom who loves it. We have an older Lenovo widescreen laptop that is pretty large, but my mom loves how small and light the netbook is and brings it to the table every morning while she reads the paper and has coffee. She still uses the Lenovo for typing long emails, but everything else she now does on the netbook. Keep in mind that it comes with Vista Starter edition, which is fairly limited in terms of functionality. My main complaint is that she wanted to change the background and Starter edition doesn't allow you to do this (although there are several small programs that allow you to do this, but they must run in the background..normally only consuming less than 1mb of RAM).

The mouse touch pad is also very large on this Toshiba, bigger than the average laptop. Some of the other netbooks had these raised dots on the touch pad that was an interesting idea, but I just didn't like the feel of it.

I would definitely recommend the Toshiba, and based on what else I saw out there right now, this is definitely my favorite.

I purchased this netbook to accompany me on a week-long road trip and having just returned from that trip, I'm writing this review.

I needed to be able to access the Internet via WiFi during meal breaks and rest stops and at night in my motel room and the Toshiba performed this function well. I also expected to use this for watching YouTube, Hulu, CNN, etc... at the end of the each day and that's where I was somewhat disappointed.

This is my first netbook and I didn't expect it to be the equal of a desktop machine or even a laptop but I was pleasantly surprised at its functionality. The small screen is quite readable and the keyboard is very good. The biggest disappointment for me was the audio. I wasn't expecting theater-quality sound (really I wasn't) but the little monophonic speaker inside this netbook can't even compete with my Ipod touch. In my motel room, with the A/C running, it was impossible to hear even with the volume at maximum.

The solution is to plug in a pair of headphones but there's a problem with that too. When using the charger, the headphones have a slight 60 hertz background hum that's very annoying while listening to audio books or quiet music. The hum is only there if you're charging, so I did my book listening on battery power. My longest battery-powered session was 4 hours after which the charge indicator showed about 50% life remaining and I was happy with that performance.

It's a pretty nice machine but if I had it to do over again, I would sacrifice some portability for audio that would allow me to listen without headphones.

There are other reviews mixed up with this Toshiba NB255... are they similar?

I'm working on a writing project on the side and needed a netbook that I could carry around with me (to work, travel, etc.) without lugging around more than was necessary. I took a trip to Best Buy to check out the netbooks on hand... Dells, HPs, Asus, Samsung, and this Toshiba netbook. With all honesty, this Toshiba NB255 had the best keyboard, in comfort, style, and function. I would have bought it right then and there but checked Amazon and it sold for $40 less (at the time). Now it sells for $60 less on Amazon.

One piece of advice: BUY THE 2gb MEMORY UPGRADE. If you don't, you'll be waiting for programs to launch much longer than you should. When I received my 2gb Ram in the mail, I slid and popped it in (never did this before) and VIOLA! Processor speed was twice as fast. Look up on Youtube for tips on replacing RAM in your netbook.

Also, I had a Forrest Gump moment when I took this netbook out of the box for the first time... "This COM-pew-Tor is awful small Lieutenant Dan!" It's built sturdy and feels tough otherwise. Webcam is very good - video appears pretty clear but the built-in microphone is horrible. You will need to purchase a separate headset. Speakers are not optimal but what would you expect from a $300 COM-pew-Tor? You will also need to purchase a separate mouse because the built-in trackpad and buttons are so close together, you're bound to develop cramps in your hand after an hour of web browsing.

The only downside to this computer: Battery life is "OK". I notice when I take the AC Adaptor off the computer, a message pops up on the screen saying the computer is nearly out of battery power, even though right beneath that message, it states 100% charge. Retarded. And don't believe what they say... this computer is good for 3 to 4 hours of vigorous typing and light online browsing - even with power saving "ON".

I installed Linux Mint on this netbook and refuse to use Windows 7 for any lengthy period of time. Overall, this netbook is a keeper... hasn't failed me yet. I would recommend this to anyone who can't afford a Macbook (such as myself) and shopping for a light netbook alternative.

Additional note: SHAME on the US Postal Service for not delivering my netbook. On the USPS tracking website, they tagged my package as "DELIVERED". I waited two days and still no package. I finally called them and they gave me some doosh-bag excuse about a lost USPS package scanner that went rogue and they would get back to me by 5pm that day with a full report. Needless to say, they never called me back.

KUDOS to Amazon for replacing my netbook IMMEDIATELY. They overnight shipped it FEDEX (FREE) and said "sorry!". I received their FEDEX package just before I was supposed to go on a long trip (and had to do some writing). I was blown away with their customer service and quick replies / remedies. Great job, Amazon.

I will not get into the reason why not to buy a Toshiba, the lack of quality is well documented but I feel what is of value to people is to understand a little known fact on just how bad Toshiba is as a company.

When this break (and it will) you may luck out and it is still under warranty BUT YOU WILL HAVE TO PAY THE $21.99 TO SHIP IT TO THEM.

Toshiba does not pick up the bill for their broken NETBOOKS, they charge you 10% of what you paid just to get it fixed.

Why should we as customers pay to have something under warranty fixed.

If you agree with this point vote this review as useful as to be sure others see it and if you do elect to buy Toshiba at least now you know what Toshiba does not want you to.

Wanted a back up for my old laptop and decided to get a netbook. Was skeptic about the small screen at first but got used to it with time.
Has very good battery life and am glad about that because I was really particular about battery life.
The down side is that the volume is very low so I usually use headphones.
As per speed, it is ok though it can be slow at times, I intend to upgrade memory because I read in other reviews that once you upgrade the memory, it is quite fast.
The keys are like normal laptop keys although the back space key can be stiff at times but its not bad, I can work with it.
I was worried about the external lid when I got it but when it came, I fell in love with it because it is very chic!!!! Its very light which makes it handy.
Overall, I would say great product for a netbook and the price especially if you want something as a back up or even to use for everyday.

Great product, bought two one for my son and one for me.
I have big hands and the keyboard is about 1 inch wider than most
mini's. Im running dual boot and have shrunk the windows 7 partition
down to 40Gigs, installed EasyPeasy linux and updated the sound driver and upgraded
the memory to 2Gigs. Its a good travel PC no complaints.