Toshiba Mini NB205N312/BL 10.1Inch Royal Blue Netbook 9
December 18, 2009 by admin
Filed under $300 - $400, Products, Small Laptops For Students, Toshiba
Our affordable, super-compact 10.1-inch Toshiba mini NB205 is a stylish companion PC that raises the bar when it comes to portability. It’s also the first mini laptop 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. ....read more Average Customer Rating
Brand: Toshiba Model: PLL20U-00Q01D Price: $399.99 |   | |
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4 out of 5
FANTASTIC !!!!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
FANTASTIC piece of equipment…………fast compact a pleaseure to travel with, very powerful.
Would highly recommend……..
Lovely computer except for…
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
My netbook arrived a week ago, so this is an early review. First off, I love the keyboard. It’s the best netbook keyboard I’ve tried–and in fact it was my main reason for buying this particular netbook.
One warning: Don’t buy the black netbook, which sells for around $50 less. It’s got a different, nowhere near as good, keyboard. It’s offered as one of the options on the same page as this N310, but it’s actually N210.
The only real negative I’ve found so far is the touchpad and its buttons. If my fingers are even slightly damp, the cursor won’t move. And the buttons are terrible, in my opinion. I like to set them so that pressing both together operates as double-click. However, when I try to use them this way, they often don’t work. I’ve tried pressing in different spots; I’ve tried all kinds of techniques, and they just don’t work consistently. They also don’t have a good feel. However, I’ll be buying a USB mouse soon, so that should deal with this problem.
The netbook comes with a schematic, which is helpful in setting up and getting started, especially if this is a first-time laptop/notebook purchase. However, the mini-manual that comes with it is useless. All it does is warn again dangers. The product manual does exist in PDF format, but you have to find it. Check the back of the schematic under “Need Help?” for locating it. It’s also available online.
I had some trouble connecting wirelessly to my home network. I was able to get an internet connection right away but had a hard time setting up email. For some reason I kept getting told I had no internet connection, even though I did.
Finally, I highly recommend the Toshiba netbook sleeve. It’s neoprene and stretches nicely to cover the netbook well. No zipper, which I thought I wouldn’t like, but the flap is great.Toshiba 10.1-Inch Netbook Soft Sleeve (Black)
Love it
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I recieved my netbook faster than I expected and it was in perfect, untouched condition straight out of the original packaging. would definity recommend this seller
when they say keep away from water they mean it!
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
I bought this netbook to replace my old Dell inspiron 5000.For the first few months i loved it BUT last week my son got a glass of water and dribbled a few drops (3) on the keyboard, something that has happened many times with my old Dell. I guess that because of the smallness and cramming everything in the case its so close together that WAM, it shorted out the whole computer. We are talking 3 drops here!
Im not blaming Toshiba! I loved my computer and I replaced it with a new updated Toshiba NB205 with windows 7 BUT beware the evil water!
Everything works but sound
Rating:3 out of 5 stars
First.. Just a word of warning. The “Black” version of this product is not the same as the “Frost White” version of this product. The Frost White version includes island keys and a larger touchpad and is missing a scroll bar. These features add $50 to the price and require you to choose a color other than black. I should also note if you use Karmic then the audio is buggy and requires some patching to get it working. If I had a choice then I would have avoided this machine and bought a Dell Mini which at least works right out of the box with my software.
Great laptop!
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
This laptop is perfect if you are looking for a light, relatively powerful laptop to take on the road. For its intended purpose, it is a great little machine not weighed down by a bunch of crap pre-loaded, taking HD space.
The only drawback I have encountered is that the monitor resolution is not enough to run Photoshop, which I use a lot. The workaround is to shoot tethered like always (I can run Lightroom) and save the PS work until I get back to my desktop.
Mini Toshiba
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
well I love this little computer, nice and portable and holds a lot of memory enough for everyday use! I would recommend this product to anyone in the age of technology.
Great netbook, quality feel, looks good
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I am very happy with my Toshiba NB205. I shopped netbooks for 6 months and it came down to the Toshiba and the Samsung. The Toshiba’s nicer keyboard, bigger mouse pad, and sharper looks (subjective opinion) won the day. One of the knocks on the Toshiba is that the battery sticks out the back of the netbook, a factor which almost prevented me from buying it, but as it turns out, the battery sticking out the back acts as a very useful handle giving a secure gripping point for carrying or moving the computer around.
I performed the highly recommended upgraded to 2 GB of RAM Crucial Technology CT25664AC800 2GB 200-pin SODIMM DDR2 PC2-6400 Memory Module, a five minute job which requires almost no technical skills. The performance increase is immediate and dramatic.
The NB205 has worked great for streaming Netflix and watching iTunes downloaded TV shows but the speaker volume is very weak. I either use earbuds or an external speaker for music or viewing. Check out the $20 iHome Rechargeable Mini Speaker
Very pleased with the Toshiba NB205, highly recommend!
Only 1-2 complaints, overall excellent
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I’ve been using mine for a few hours now, downloading updates & installing programs I want. The battery was charged to 98% right out of the box so after testing the AC adapter I unplugged it to test the battery capacity. I had to bump up the screen brightness (a shortcut off the keyboard, which I appreciated) to be able to see things clearly. With brightness at maximum, the processor working overtime installing and uninstalling programs to customize the computer for my needs, after about 3 hours the battery is still only at 83%. Nice.
The only major complaint I have is the position of the touchpad. I have pretty big hands and can type comfortably on the keyboard (tested it in the store prior to buying it) but the mouse moves because my left thumb gets too close to the touchpad. The touchpad itself is positioned about an inch left of center, if it were centered this might not happen. I plan on getting a wireless mouse and disabling the touchpad which will be a first for me, I’ve been using touchpads for years.
The maximum screen resolution allowed is 1024 x 600 so Yahoo Plus warns every time I open it that resolution is too low to “enjoy the full effect.” Once I acknowledge this warning however the Plus version looks just fine to me.
I still give the computer 5 stars because the price is right, it suits my needs (Office, Facebook), and there are 3 USB ports for accessorizing. Enjoy.
Screens on these devices are too small
Rating:2 out of 5 stars
The Toshiba comes with one gigabyte of ram; some of the reviews recommended two gigs of ram. It didn’t cost much more, so I ordered it with a two gigabyte ram card. If you plan on giving net books as gifts, I would not recommend the extra ram card. It is not extremely easy to change these cards and there are no instructions available to do so. Also, it leaves you wondering why you are throwing away a gig of ram to upgrade to two.
The net book is very small and operates about like any other PC. It has a nice size keyboard, 9 hours of battery life, the newest version of Windows, and a very bright screen. But…the screen is extremely small. It and all of the other brands of net books use a screen that is the HDTV aspect ratio. Windows is designed for the HD ratio, but with much bigger screens in mind. The program menus at the top and bottom of the screen take up 2-4 inches of the screen. This is fine when the screen is 20 inches height but at 7 inches, there is not much room left. This super short and fat ratio seems inappropriate for looking at web pages. I want to turn the screen on its side, like I do on the iPhone. In fact, the screen is a lot like using an iPhone to look at a webpage in landscape. Thankfully, some programs have a full screen function; however, you lose the convenience of the menus. It does come with a trial version of Office good for 25 uses after that; it costs $100.00. Thank goodness it comes with a trial version because Office was NOT designed for net books. The menus take up more screen than the document. Fortunately, you don’t need to purchase Office to read the Word documents. You can set-up the computer to open the Word documents using Microsoft Works.
I wouldn’t say that I don’t like the net book, but by far, the best feature is the cheap price. If size (volume), ease of use, weight, battery life and general usability are your only criteria, you would want the Mac Book Air for about 5 times the price.
Had it for 4 months, and love it!
Rating:5 out of 5 stars
I think I read every review Amazon had on this netbook before buying it. I’ve had it for 4 months now, have used it extensively, and absolutely love it.
Thanks, Johnny Chan, for your excellent review – it was a great help both before and after I bought the unit.
I’ve not experienced any of the problems mentioned in some of the reviews – I’m not even sure where they are coming from, in some cases.
I bought the unit primarily for travel. If I’m taking a short or casual trip, it was starting to concern me that I was hauling along my “big” laptop, with lots of critical files on it, just so I could have web and email access. So, I got this to take on such trips, and I keep any personal files (mostly) on a removable SD card which I keep on my person. At this point, I’d hate to lose this little guy, but if someone walks off with it, at least they won’t be getting any of my personal files.
And between trips, I’ve found it really handy to have this available to grab and do quick reference searches from any room in the house, or to load up some photos and take to a friend’s house for a quick brag session. They generally like my photos, but everyone is impressed by the netbook!
I always leave the netbook in hibernate mode between uses. I have no idea how long it can stay there between uses – maybe months – but it boots quickly out of hibernation and is ready to go. Unless I’m really using the machine heavily, I plug it in for a few hours once a week to recharge the battery.
As I always do with any new computer, I spent some time fine-tuning the machine when I first got it. Toshiba put a few things on it that I had to remove, but it wasn’t too bad – not as bad as many vendors. Things unique to Toshiba that I knocked out were a registration program that ran with startup, their Pinger service, and their TrayBar. I also always knock out a bunch of services that Microsoft always loads on but that I don’t want or need, and that might be part of the reason why the performance of this machine is so good for me.
I’ve probably loaded on a shameful quantity of applications, considering this is supposed to be a lower-powered unit. I’ve got the full Office suite, some higher-end graphics software, several audio and video packages, and my usual suite of security tools. I’ve only found one application that refused to run – a video ripper. A few apps create a window that is just a little too tall for the squashed aspect ratio of this screen, so you end up losing either the top or the bottom of the dialog box. But, I’m amazed at how well everything runs. It may not have the power of my big desktop, but it easily outperforms the laptops that were hot stuff just a few years ago.
I chose not to upgrade from the basic 1 GB memory, and the performance is good. I’ve noticed that paging starts kicking in if I open a lot of apps simultaneously, but that is rare for me, so I’m glad I didn’t waste the money on the memory upgrade.
Since I haven’t been using the hard drive for too much personal data storage, I’ve loaded it up with two things: movies and photos. I keep a dozen or so movies on the drive, and watch them on the airplane. The quality is excellent. I’ve found that watching a 2-hour movie seems to drain about 20% of the battery life. Although I haven’t tried, I guess that means you could watch 5 movies between charges! And, I take lots of digital photos when I travel, and I really like the ability to backup my photos each night to this netbook. I just pop the SD card out of the camera and into the built-in reader on the netbook, and copy the files.
The “most helpful” critical review currently on Amazon mentions jerky mouse movement. I’ve had none of that – either with an external (Microsoft) mouse or the touchpad.
A few reviews mentioned problems getting the unit to initially log on to WiFi networks. I too, couldn’t connect until I found that a box was checked that said, “Enable IEEE authorization” on the wireless connection. Once I unchecked that, I’ve never had a problem again, and I’ve logged onto dozens of WiFi connections since, both open and secured.
I bought a Case Logic LNEO-10 Ultraportable Neoprene Notebook Sleeve (Black) from Amazon for this netbook, and it is a perfect fit, although the case doesn’t have room for the power supply. I even passed through TSA once without opening the case to show the netbook. I just told the officer what it was, and he passed it on through.
So anyway… I love this netbook, and bet you will too.
Good netbook, poor speakers
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I’m happy with most aspects of the Toshiba NB205. My only real complaint is the fact that the speakers are barely usable. The sound from the speakers is more tinny than other netbooks I’ve used and the maximum volume is incredibly low. I have to use headphones to hear most sounds and using the netbook for video chat (e.g. Skype) without headphones is very difficult.
Fulfilled my expectations
Rating:4 out of 5 stars
I decided to get a netbook because I desperately needed to replace my two laptops, dying at the same time (one from former job, one personal). A netbook serves my needs for now until my financial situation improves–it does what I need, and the price is great. I got mine with Windows 7, well, Windows 7 starter, actually.
Through my research, the Toshiba 205 emerged as the clear winner. The two issues in all the customers reviews that concerned me the most were the non-responsive trackpad, and the cursor-jumping.
Trackpad:
I got lucky–my trackpad does work. The only issue is, that though it is much bigger than most netbook trackpads, the edges are not responsive, so I use only the middle. Not a problematic adjustment for me. A BIG plus is that the right and left click buttons are separate. I am accustomed to that from my other laptops, so this is nice–when I tried the single clicker in the store, it drove me nuts.
Cursor-jumping:
This was a HUGE problem the first couple of days. I thought I’d have to return this otherwise fine laptop, then, instead, I went online to look for a fix. The forums insisted that typists are inadvertently “hitting” the trackpad, causing the cursor to jump. I was sure I wasn’t, but I tried one of the fixes–disabling the “tapping” feature through the Control Panel, very simple, took a couple of clicks. And voila! No more cursor-jumping.
Sound, as predicted, is terrible, with the speaker inexplicably placed underneath the unit. But I knew that going in, and with headphones, the sound is fine.
I read on another review, that Windows Starter 7 will not play DVDs. Should I buy a separate player to plug into this, I will see if it is an issue, but for now, that just hasn’t arisen in my use.
I will likely, in a few months, establish a desktop/larger laptop system as my main system, as the smaller screen is definitely less than ideal for hours and hours of document-scanning/reading, but for now, this little gem, priced right, is doing the job.
Four instead of 5 stars because it did not come with the full Windows 7 version (apparently), and it does have the limitations of a netbook–small screen, bad sound, no CD/DVD drive.