Foreword:

The Toshiba Mini NB205 is the latest entrant in the netbook battlefield with a 10” screen, a differently styled keyboard and a comfortable touchpad. After months of competitive analysis, Toshiba has launched a netbook that they believe have everything that the public has been asking for with their netbooks.

The Mini sports a matte-finish rather than the glossy finish that has become the de facto configuration in the netbooks of today. It is slightly thicker and not as curvaceous as most of its peers. It weighs slightly lesser than 3lbs and comes in Sable Brown, Posh Pink, Royal Blue and Frost White colors to add to the gamut of colors that the netbook market is filled with.

The six-cell (63Wh) battery is a marathon runner with a reported 8 hour 27 minute run that surprised everyone. Three USB ports (one of which offers the very useful sleep-and-charge function), VGA-out, Ethernet, SD card slot and built in webcam are staples of the netbook crowd except the sleep-and-charge function.

+Ves:

• The raised keyboard of the Mini NB205 is quite easy to type in, proving to be comfortable on the hands once used to. The keys are individually smaller and slightly rectangular but are well spaced-out making it easy for you to type with.
• A 3-inch wide touchpad, the largest on a netbook, is very comfortable and highly praised for its capability. The mouse buttons are oversized and provide a very good feedback – absolutely perfect for a device that will be used mostly for browsing the internet and clicking repeatedly instead of watching movies or listening to music.
• The sleep-and-charge function of one of its USB ports is a handy feature.
• The battery life outlasted everything that did not have an 8-cell battery at 8h 27m. It is nothing short of amazing to have such a long lasting battery life bundled with a spacious touchpad and an easy-to-use keyboard.
• Toshiba worked very hard to meet energy standards requirements. The NB205 is rated Energy Star 5.0, EPEAT Gold and is RoHS certified.
• Marginally faster 1.67GHz Intel Atom N280 CPU.
• 1GB RAM included that is upgradeable to 2GB.

-Ves:

• The battery is bulky and looks awkward when it sticks out of the netbook.
• The screen bezels are thick and they make the screen look smaller in comparison.
• The audio output is poor and almost inaudible in some environments.

Final Word:

Though it packs quite a bunch of input features, the Mini NB205-R is, on the whole, just another netbook at $400. It trails the 1000HE from Asus by a few seconds in video encoding, but for basic internet browsing and some light music (with headphones, of course) this netbook is just as good as any other.