Netbooks have been a big seller at U.S. retailers for nearly a year, but Toshiba has been late to the game. The company’s first entry, the stylish NB205, makes up for its tardiness.
The $400 NB205 is one of the best-looking netbooks I’ve seen. It’s available in five colors (blue, pink, brown, black, and white), and its lid features a textured finish of raised horizontal stripes that lend an air of sophistication and professionalism that’s perfect for both students and executives.
Toshiba introduced its debut netbook in April, using that late-to-market timing to address users’ complaints about its competitors’ products. In particular, the NB205 touchpad is roomy for a netbook, and offers the standard left-click, right-click buttons. Unlike some rival models, there’s an Ethernet port built in, and a Kensington Technology lock connection to keep thieves at bay. The mini-laptop’s battery life is enough to get you through a workday — something that can’t be said for most portable computers of any size.
Opening the lid, a power button with a pearly illumination sits in the center, just below a moderately bright, 10.1-in., 1024 x 600 LED screen. The nearly full-sized keyboard offers nicely spaced keys that make typing even long memos easy, although I found that the silver-colored key coating made it tough to hunt and peck in low light. At 2.9 lbs. without its power adapter, the NB205 packs about the same heft as most netbooks.
A “Sleep-and-Charge” Device Charger
Like most laptops of this size, the NB205 is powered by Intel’s 1.66 GHz Atom processor, runs Windows XP Home Edition, and sports 1 gigabyte of memory [upgradable by the user to 2 gigabytes]. Built-in Intel graphics are capable of playing back 720p Web video, though the screen resolution is slightly below high-definition quality. A built-in 802.11g Wi-Fi card offers decent speed within…