| Toshiba may be new to netbooks, but the company | | | | Chiclet-size cutout keys just big enough, and by sinking |
| are no stranger to petite. Toshiba's NB205-N310 ($400) | | | | a large touchpad. This is simply the best netbook |
| jumps into the market and takes a top spot in rankings. | | | | mouse pad to date. As entrants, the surface area of |
| This primo portable not just delivers where it counts | | | | the strike zone is bigger than that on many full-size |
| with the longest battery life up to now, it does so with | | | | laptops! Next, the beefy mouse buttons camp at the |
| flair and some great design decisions. Briefly, Toshiba | | | | south edge of the machine--easing hand strain. My |
| has come a long way since flaming trails with its | | | | physiotherapist would approve. |
| Libretto subnotebooks in the 1990s. | | | | The N310 has good (though occasionally damped) |
| I am going to begin this review with the NB205's only | | | | color replication and supports an within reason precise |
| real "downer": its pedestrian speed and guts. The guts | | | | resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels on its shiny 10.1-inch |
| are a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU, 1GB of RAM, and | | | | screen. I noticed a few dark spots that got washed |
| a 160GB 5400-rpm hard drive, which conjointly earned | | | | into a splotch or two--but otherwise, the images looked |
| the NB205 a rather standard performance score of | | | | plenty sharp. |
| thirty-six in PC WorldBench 6. But that's about the only | | | | Its configuration appears fairly basic on the surface: |
| thing that I'd relegate as "average" about the | | | | three USB ports, an SDHC card reader, a Webcam, |
| NB205-N310. | | | | one VGA-out, ethernet, and headphone and |
| Toshiba spokespeople say that the NB205-N310's | | | | microphone jacks. But it's put together in a 2.9-pound |
| six-cell battery may last for almost nine hours. Wrong. | | | | package and with an sense of style that does not look |
| In our tests, the NB205 survives an astonishing 9 hours, | | | | or feel cheap the least bit. |
| 53 minutes. For a little perspective, that's easily the | | | | Toshiba also adds a couple of extras to the |
| longest time thus far that a netbook has been capable | | | | NB205-N310 that are sure to charm to people on the |
| to run--and this is with the basic battery aboard. That | | | | go--and even truer to IT departments looking for |
| alone catapults this netbook's worth to a big top pick | | | | cheap PCs to a mobile workforce. One known perk is |
| on the charts. | | | | a pass-through USB port that enables users to charge |
| A killer keyboard and a touchpad to couple are | | | | USB-powered devices while the computer is off. This |
| essential for a champion netbook. After all, how useful | | | | netbook also allows an internal accelerometer to |
| is an machine if you can't type on it without paining | | | | protect the hard drive in case of falls and it offers |
| your hands? Toshiba scores by making the | | | | wireless WAN support as an option. |