Toshiba Mini NB205N230 10.1Inch Black Onyx Netbook 9
October 28, 2009 by admin
Filed under $300 - $400, Best Sellers, Products, Toshiba
Our affordable, super-compact 10.1-inch diagonal Toshiba mini NB205 is a stylish companion PC that raises the bar when it comes to portability. It’s also the first mini notebook that lets you enjoy all the benefits of today’s fast-moving digital world, putting you in touch with your favorite people, sites, networks and digital media in ways and places you never imagined. Though small enough to throw in a purse or bag, it’s designed with smart features like a full-sized keyboard and touchpad, long battery life, USB Sleep-and-Charge ports and a hard drive impact sensor that protects your data. So it picks up where smart phones leave off and makes many of today’s netbooks seem like a waste of time. What’s more, to take the worry out of taking it along, the Toshiba mini NB205 also comes with international limited warranty coverage, plus our award-winning service and support. NOTE: All Toshiba Netbooks (no matter the model) are packaged with the NB200 series model# on the outside of box. ....read more Average Customer Rating
Brand: Toshiba Model: PLL28U-00700Y Price: $379.99 |   | |
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4 out of 5
Nice, even though it’s not a mac!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I needed a light laptop to carry around and settled on the Toshiba because it has an excellent battery life, a pretty good keyboad and relatively large touchpad. I am a mac user, but can’t afford a MacBook Air, but for my purposes the Toshiba works nicely, for a pc. I did install an extra gig of memory before I used it and also bought an external dvd drive to make a system backup and install software. The color is nice but the appearance isn’t as sleek as I’d like because the battery is bulky, but obviously I can’t have everything! I do recommend it though, if you need a light laptop, it works.
I love it!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I love my Toshiba, aside for the OS this is a great purchase I am loving it, it is so small and easy to use… Great delivery service.
Simple, that’s the word to describe it.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
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.
Awesome Mini
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Light weight, great screen resolution. Long batery life. Went thru airport like a breeze. – buy a neoprene slip cover for protection. Only wish it had louder speakers.
Great Netbook! does what it’s supposed to do
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’m using this netbook as I type this review. I have had this netbook for about a week now and I enjoy using it so far.
Well, I researched many netbooks (looking at Eesus, HP, Samsung, Dell, Acer), and I read and watched so many reviews and I even tried them out in the stories too. I finally settled on this one because of the battery life (9 hours), size (250gb), OS (Windows 7 starter) and price.
I bought the netbook primarily for websurfing such as checking emails, reading blogs and watching videos on youtube. And when I’m feeling creative, I’ll type stories. I didn’t want any thing fancy so Microsoft Word and Works fitted my word processor needs.
I’m not one to heavily customized my netbook either so I didn’t mind the limitations of Windows 7 starter. I didn’t upgrade to the 2gb ram because I felt that I didn’t really need it.
Anyways, here are my cons:
strange touchpad
- I do agree with most users about the cursor jumping on the screen, but I realized that it happens because the palm of my thumb on my left hand unconsciously hits the touchpad whenever I reach for “t”, “g”, “b” and spacebar. Since by palm touches the pad without me realizing it, this makes the cursor jumps. Since the touchpad is off-center towards the left, my left palm has this tendency to touch it often, so the cursor jumps often. Well, I’ve always been used to resting my palm on flat surfaces so having to type like I’m playing the piano is something I’ll just have to get used to. However, I’ve noticed that wearing a long sleeve that covers my palm stops the cursor from jumping. Overall, I think making the touchpad centered would help a lot (cuz there is lots of space on the right side…). Also while the scrolling up and down functions work on the touchpad, the scrolling sideways function don’t. I dont really mind that the scrolling sideways functions don’t work since I hardly use it.
screen brightness is not dim enough
- I have sensitive eyes, so when I tried to lower the brightness of the screen, I realized that it didn’t go completely dark. There are only 8 levels of brightness and at the lowest one, I find it still bright for my taste. This is just my own personal preference. So I dont think others will mind it.
glaringly bright power switch
- So when the screen is at the lowest brightness, the huge power switch with its glaring white light hurts my eyes. I have a small paper covering it, but still, I think it would have been nice to have the power button backlit instead of being so bright.
no time remaining for battery life
- The netbook tells you the percentage of battery life you have left, but not the time remaining. I tried seeing if there was an option for changing that and so far I haven’t found any which I thought was weird. In the end, I just figured it was 100% = 10 hours and worked my way from there. I mean after awhile, I started to get a hang of how long I should stay on before it asks me to recharge.
I am nitpicky so I pointed out things that others might overlook just because it doesn’t really bother them. But does that mean this netbook was bad? No. My cons just means that I wasn’t as comfortable as I thought it’d be using it. But do they hinder me in using it? Not really because I know that I’ll get used to them. Personally, I am quite satisfied and content with the netbook so far.
Especially the battery life. When the balloon pops up asking to recharge, I forget that this isn’t my computer!
I’ve got to say that battery life is awesome. I haven’t tested it, but I normally start the day at 10AM, waking up and turning this netbook on. Then I put it to sleep whenever I’m in class which is about 3-4 hours of sleep. When I’m done with class, I turn on the netbook. I’m surprised that only a few percentage was used in sleep mode. I stay on the netbook surfing around until 10PM where I get the balloon telling me to recharge. Charging isn’t too bad. It takes about 3 hours. So even tho I dont know how long the netbook actually lasts, lasting a whole day is quite good! It also depends on what you’re doing and what applications you’re running too. I realized that when I was scanning my netbook, it took up more power. Most of the time, I’m just online so I dont have much running.
And the volume is louder than I expected. A lot of people complained that it wasn’t loud enough, so I thought it wouldn’t be but at 100% volume, I could still hear it from where I’m typing. However, I’m also sensitive to noise and my ears start to hurt after listening to it on speaker because the quality sounds screechy. Of course it’s much louder and the quality sounds much much better with headphones. And I dont mind headphones.
Overall, I like this netbook. It has performed what I want it to do: surf the web and type stories and it lasts all day!!! Therefore I am quite pleased with my decision.
Very Pleased!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I just got my NB205 in the mail yesterday and I can say I LOVE IT!.
I think of myself as a very computer savvy guy (not some bum).
It is perfect for what I bought it for: taking notes in class and traveling.
- What I like about is the fact that it is a fast little thing for what components are in it.
-The battery life is very good they say 9 hours but its really around 7 (that’s still really good).
-It looks very appealing, very pretty.
-Full key board is nice, some of the buttons (enter and the right shift) are a bit small but i got used to it.
-writing papers on this thing will be very nice!
Things to keep in mind:
-Windows 7 starter – It is not a “full” OS though if you don’t care about style/personalization/etc this works well.
Though I care about having my full OS so i bought a student copy of windows 7 (ultimate) for $30[...].
Take in mind that you need to be a student (or at least have an email address that ends in .edu.
-If you want a computer to mostly just be on the internet ITS PERFECT! Don’t get this if you are wanting to get any game play or lots of hard processes.
-The mouse pad is easily touched by your thumb while typing, though there is an easy fix for this. Go into your mouse pad software and look for something that says “tap click” and there will be many options to play with. (if you install a “Real” copy of windows 7 you will have to download the Synaptics driver enable to do this.)
- The cam sucks; .2 mgp is not good at all, very pixelated images. You are not buying this for a webcam you are buying this to have a small computer. If you want a better webcam for this computer go to the store and drop $30 on a nice webcam.
-Upgrade your RAM its cheap, on here i got it for $44. I did research and found that it is the cheapest you will find it any where else (if the price has gone up, I’d look around a bit). You do have to install it yourself, though this is super easy: unscrew a panel in the bottom of the NB205 and take out the old one and pop the new one back in. Screw the panel back in, and POOFFFF you now have two gigs of RAM!
Like I said: I just got this computer so I have not spent too much time with it. If I find any problems or benefits I will post them later on.
Be Aware of Windows 7 Starter Limitations
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
Windows 7 Starter has some features locked, including changing the wallpaper. So if you like to customize your desktop, you’ll want to upgrade to the Home version.
The netbook itself is very nice, although I haven’t yet had much time to test it. I charged it last night (took about five hours). Today I’m testing the ‘nine’ hour battery life. I’ll update you on that…
toshiba netbook
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
great little computer. works at many wi-fi sites. also can be uued with a router. it is small and takes some time to get used to. I bought it for travel and it works great and is very light.
Great device for Netbook-class hardware
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve had the NB204-N230 for about a week now, and thought it time to write up a brief review.
First, the unit itself is very well designed. It feels solid and well built, though the screen, when closed, does have a tendency to click the mouse buttons. This is a bit worrisome, but not horrible.
The screen, when open and on, is visually stunning. Graphics are crisp and clear, text is very readable and easy to use. Note that this is a NetBook, and not a full laptop, so you have a much smaller screen (1024×600) which you will need to get used to.
Battery power has been good so far. With WiFi running and apps going I can go for at least 4 hours. My guess is that the 9 hour quote was with WiFi off (which is pretty standard in vendor battery tests).
The hardware is sufficient to run Windows 7 with Aero (the new interface) turned on, including the Aero-Peek task-bar previews and effects. iTunes, Thunderbird, Word 2007 and other apps work smoothly, though video playback will stutter if there are other apps running.
All-in-all, this is a well built system that exceeds other NetBooks in terms of power and function. Keep in mind that you are not getting a laptop here, so trying to run major apps like PhotoShop won’t be a pleasant experience for you. The same goes for gaming and other high-processor useage apps. However, the NB205-N230 is remarkably adept at handling email and office applications, remote access to other computers and surfing most web sites.
Tosiba NB 205-330
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
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.
Just OK
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I just received this computer. It connected to the internet easily and seems to be working fine. Windows 7 starter seems adequate. Based on CNET and Consumer Reports reviews, I expect the battery to last for 6.5-7 hours, which is very good.
I have two complaints. First, the mouse tends to latch onto objects and won’t release when the mouse button is released. I have to press the escape button three or for times to get it to release.
My second complaint is the mouse buttons are noisy. They make an audible click every time the buttons are pressed. The buttons on my Dell lap top are completely silent. I did not even think about this potential problem when I chose this unit. I assume most people will not care about this issue, but for me it’s very annoying.
Best in Class
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
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!
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Cmon Amazon!!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
It went up 20.00 from the time I put in my cart until I tried to checkout.
Excellent netbook, happy with purchase.
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
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).
OK netbook, but do not get with Windows 7 Starter
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
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 1024×600 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.
Love the Toshiba mini NB205 N330 I just bought my wife!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
The Netbook I love! The OS is cheap…We Will upgrade from the Windows 7 Starter Edition, Should have been at least a higher addition! Still a great net book!
I love it!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I bought a pink one. Since I’m a student, I took advantage of the Ultimate steal discount from Microsoft and upgraded to Windows 7 Professional which cost only $29.99. Also, the Ultimate steal offered Microsoft office ultimate 2007 for $59.95. I also installed Crucial Technology 2GB Memory which cost $39.95. I bought a Senyx netbook case for $27.91. In conlusion, I paid $609.74 for a PC, a case, an increased memory, and a complete software set! I’m glad I decided to buy this when I’m still a student.
I really love the fact it starts and shutdowns so fast. People complained about the battery sticking out and not being able to fit in the case. You should buy the case from Senyx. They have exact ones for this netbook. Mines fits perfectly.
Perfect for what it is
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
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.
Nearly perfect
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
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.
Cannot change desktop — Crippled OS!
Rating:1 out of 5 stars
You cannot change the desktop wallpaper, unless you pay an extra $80 to upgrade to Windows 7 Home Premium.
Great little Netbook
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
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 10,2010**
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.