 Perfect for what it is |
| Review Date: October 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: njpaddy, |
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. |
Tosiba NB 205-330
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| Review Date: December 1, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Helmut Rauch, Fort Myers, FL |
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. |
AMAZING LITTLE MACHINE!!!
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| Review Date: January 16, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Bryant Douglas Smith, |
I ordered this netbook after my old 2006 Toshiba Satellite died on me (piece of crap I HATE Vista!) After comparing and contrasting notebooks against netbooks, I decided that long battery life, a low price, and portability are more important to me than a big screen or high-tech gaming capabilities. I recommend upgrading to 2gb of RAM instead of 1, which I plan on doing soon. This should double your computer's speed. Also, DO NOT sign up for Norton, it stinks. Macafee is way way way better.
Oh and a little plus for you guys: you probably have all heard about the restrictions of Windows 7 Starter, and how it won't let you change your desktop/wallpaper. I've found a way to halfway get around this. Check the bottom of my review to find out how.
I've only been using this netbook for one day but so far it's met all my expectations, and exceded them, too! I will update again in a few days, just to let you know if things are still running smoothly, and a little more on battery life. But today I'm going to write a list of pros vs. cons below to help you guys decide if this is the computer for you.
PROS:
1. overall size: it is light (3 lbs) and has a little screen but the small size really hasn't bothered me, not even when watching a dvd.
2. screen res: the graphics on this netbook are AMAZING, better even than a regular full-size notebook! They're crisp, clear, sharp and bright. I have no complaints as far as the screen resolution goes.
3. keyboard: this keyboard is 92% the size of a regular laptop's board, which I find a great feature. They sure crammed it in pretty tight, there's hardly any space around the edges of the board, but it's not an eyesore. I haven't found myself making typos or excessive mistakes; it's easy and enjoyable to type on.
4. track pad: I have a cordless mouse that I use frequently, but it's nice to have a good trackpad for when I don't feel like lugging a mouse around. The trackpad is the same size as a regular laptop's, and it's nice that the buttons are underneath the pad instead of to the right and left, like on some other netbooks.
5. usb ports: there are three usb ports, one on the left and two on the right. There is a "sleep-and-charge" port on the left, which is nice if you have an ipod/iphone etc. The purpose is that you can have the computer in sleep mode and still charge up a device without wasting energy and battery.
6. webcam: don't buy this netbook expecting that you're going to get an amazingly crisp webcam. It's only 0.3 megapixels, so it's not much, but it will get you by. It's less grainy and pixely than I was expecting, though. There's a little auto-hide function on the left of the screen that you can pull up at a moment's notice to capture videos or pictures. Once you've taken them, they automaticaly go to "Windows Media Player." The webcam and built-in mic also work well for Skype and other video chats.
7. sleek look: this netbook is one of the prettiest I've seen. I went with the black one. To me, it wasn't worth paying $80 more for pink or blue...who cares? So i went with the black. I was very impressed upon opening it. The lid is a shiny and glossy onyx black, with lighter stripes cutting through it diagonally. It's gorgeous. The keyboard is very pretty too. The keys are shiny and nice looking. There is also a sparkly look to it on the screen border and palm rests. This is better than i was expecting.
8. battery life: I haven't had a chance to actually try out the battery for 9 hours, but I don't think battery life is going to be an issue. Everyone else's reports say that they were able to squeeze 7-9 hours out of it, so I'm hopeful. I'll update when I have more 1st hand battery info. Oh and a little side note: the battery takes about 3-4 hours to charge back up once it's depleted, so just take that into account. Personally, it doesn't bother me at all. For 9 hours of life, who cares if it takes a few hours to recharge?
9. if you're a serious gamer, don't think that this netbook will replace your notebook or desktop computer, because it won't. I love computer games, that's what I do in a lot of my downtime. But i figured that with 4 other computers in the house that are great for games, it really wasn't a big deal. I was prepared for the fact that gaming quality would be horrible on this netbook, if my games even worked at all. so i was actually very suprised when games such as Sims (Sims 3 didn't work but Sims Pet Stories did) and Harry Potter and Roller Coaster Tycoon and the like worked! The quality wasn't exactly what I was used to, but it wasn't pixely or grainy. Overall, I was VERY happy that i could still play games on this netbook. (oh and if you're planning on playing games that require a disc, you'll have to buy an external disc drive. I salvaged the drive from my dead computer and bought a $10 drive enclosure on amazon. You just put the old internal drive in the enclosure and you're done. It'll work just like any $150 brand new drive) So gaming was better than I ever dreamed it would be!
10. lights: there are little lights on the bottom right of the netbook that are a nice feature, most computers have them, but generally netbooks do not. There are 7 of them, for things such as showing you power, if it's charging, etc. There's also a light that shows you if you are connected to the internet. Not a big deal but still kinda cool.
Oh boy! Now onto the cons.
CONS:
1. fingerprints: the lid is a total fingerprint-magnet! I've tried wiping off the prints with the cuff of my sleeve, but really only suceeded in smudging them. I think to really get them all off, I'll have to use a wipe made specifically for computers. Not that big of a deal overall, but it's just something to take into account if you have OCD.
UPDATE! Months later, I don't notice anymore lol.
2. speakers: the speakers were put in a really stupid place! Under the keyboard?! Really toshiba??? Wow, thoughtless. You can barely hear your music and the quality is...well...terrible! But with a headset or earbuds, you'll be good to go.
UPDATE! I bought a cheap little pair of external speakers, now my music is gorgeous again.
3. headphone jack: the headphone jack is another badly-placed feature. It's on the left side of the laptop. Pretty much every other laptop I've seen has the jack right on the front of the computer. If your headphone cord is fairly short, you might have a little bit of a harder time making the phones reach long distances.
4. power light brightness: when the computer is on, the power light at the base of the screen lights up brilliantly white. If you're in a dark room trying to watch a movie, the light will be distracting or even annoying. It's so bright! Way brighter than the screen. If it really bothers you, cover it up with a little piece of matching electrical or masking tape.
5. trackpad jump: I've heard this from a lot of other people. It hasn't been too bad for me yet, maybe only happening a few times, but I've noticed that when typing, sometimes my palm will brush the trackpad, sending the cursor jumping up a few lines. The trackpad is verrry sensitive, so I would turn the sensitivity way down if I were you.
6. Windows 7 Starter: umm wow. Microsoft, I've been a very faithful follower for many years, but you guys lost some of my respect on this one. Windows 7 Starter is soo dumb and restricting! Maybe it's just the Starter edition (I'm planning on upgrading to Home Premium ASAP), but this is ridiculous.
7. battery size: just so you know, the battery sticks out the end of the netbook about an inch. This is not a big deal, but you should know that because of this, your laptop will not fit in a 10.1" inch case. Go for a 10.2 or larger.
DESKTOP CHEAT:
Alright, I'm gonna be very honest here. Not being able to change my backround really pissed me off. It's not so much that I didn't have the capability to change it, but that Microsoft is cheating me out of something so basic and easy! They want our money. They know that some of us will pay for the $80 upgrade just so that they can change their wallpaper. I see this as a bit of an insult. I mean, not even being able to change your desktop? What is with that? But i've found a way to make it a little more bearable. The generic unchangeable desktop for Windows 7 Starter is a blue screen with the Windows logo in the middle. I didn't like the logo, it was boring, so to jazz it up a little and give it a more personalized touch, I used a slideshow gadget to cover up the logo with my own pictures. Now, I'm not saying that I was able to change the entire screen, just a 3 inch long box in the middle of the desktop that covers the logo. Here's how you do it.
1.Close all the windows, so that you're just looking at the desktop.
2.Right-click somewhere with no icons.
3.A little menu will pop up. Scroll down to the bottom of the list. The last label will say "Gadgets." Click on this.
4.After clicking on gadgets, a box will pop up with options. Double-click on the one labeled "Slide Show." It should have a thumbnail of tulips.
5.Next, a smaller box should appear at the top right-hand corner of your screen. If you hover your mouse over it, you get 2 bars with icons for options.
6.First, click the one called "Larger Size," with an icon of an arrow pointing right. The box should triple in size.
7.Now you're going to click and drag it from the corner to the center of the screen. It should cover the Windows logo. Your computer is now a little more personalized.
8.(optional)Once again, hover over the box to get your bars, but this time click the one that looks like a wrench and is labeled "Options." Once in the Options Menu, you can pick which folder you want the pictures to cycle through. You also have the option of shuffling the pics, choosing transitions, and time intervals.
*The point of all this is so that you can pick what YOU want, not what MICROSOFT wants. I'm sorry that this doesn't work for the entire screen. If I knew of a way to bypass this silly rule, I would share.
UPDATE!!!!!!!!
I said that if I found a bypass, I would share. And I have! It's called the "Oceanis Change Backround W7." You can google it, go to "sevenforums.com" or use this link:
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/47294-desktop-background-change-windows-7-starter.html
I had my doubts when I first heard about this, but I took the risk and figured my antivirus would tell me if anything was wrong. I downloaded it, and it WORKS LIKE A CHARM! Within minutes, my screen was filled with a pic of me, my friends, and my man. And it was the whole screen, not just a little box! Now it rotates through gorgeous pictures of the beach. It changes to a new scene every day.
DO NOT hesitate to download this software, it is risk-free and amazing.
Well, all in all, this is a great netbook, in my opinion the best one on the market. 5 stars, easily. I spent hours and hours (maybe 48?) online trying to find the best netbook for me, and this is it! Don't hesitate to buy this, I promise you won't regret it! =)
Oh also, thanks to my dad for letting me use his amazon account and his credit card haha, love ya Daddy!
-Hannah
***UPDATE #1***
By now I've had this netbook for about a week, and I still love it! My cons don't seem so terrible anymore, except for the crappy speaker quality, which continues to bother me. It's alright if you're just watching a Youtube vid or playing a game, but I found that for music or dvds, I couldn't enjoy them without a headset.
I have more 1st-hand info on battery life. I'm used to always having to worry about battery life, and if my computer is going to die on me when I need it the most. Not anymore. As a general rule, I get about 7 1/2-8 hours of life out of this netbook. This was with the default settings. Pretty soon, though, I decided that a brighter screen was more important to me than 8 hours of life. With the default settings, whenever I would unnplug the power cord, the screen would dim. A LOT! So I went to control panel and turned the battery brightness all the way up. Now, when I unplug the computer, there is no dimming. With the brightness turned up, I now get an average of about 7 hours. It's worth it to me. If there's some occasion where I need all 8 hours, I can always turn the settings to default again.
I have run quite a few Youtube videos. The quality is still great, they still load very quickly, and there's little to no pixelation. I'm very happy with how fast this thing load vids.
One of the first programs I installed was iTunes. It installed in about 15 minutes, a little faster than normal. It loaded all my music automatically, and downloaded all the album art. It's a pleasure to use iTunes on this computer.
Well, I'm still very happy. Sorry, I know this review is more of a book than a review, but I wanted to let everyone know what an amazing little machine this netbook is. I would buy it again in a heartbeat. |
Best in Class
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| Review Date: November 28, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Mitchell S. Davis, Irvine, CA United States |
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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An Excellent Choice!
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| Review Date: December 24, 2009 |
| Reviewer: M. Ray, Camarillo, CA |
I spent hours researching different netbooks and decided to go with the Toshiba.
It has the speed and power expected with excellent battery life. I use MS Office 2007 with Word, Excell, PowerPoint, etc and this netbook has no problems in running these. I even use Proshow Gold to create videos on it.
It is light weight and stylish. I made a Skype video call and had no problems.
While I would never recommend a netbook for high resolution games, I do recommend this netbook for the web, research and other productive duties where a small package is desired.
The clarity of the LCD is the best of all of the others in it's class as far as I am concerned. |
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Reviewer: LiveFromMichigan, Benton Harbor, MI USA has me a little confused, what are you reviewing, the HP Mini 311 or the Toshiba Mini NB205-N330? The thread is titled “Toshiba Mini NB205-N330.” Thank you, chris
Toshiba is the very reliable product and it’s vary popular in the hardware parts..
I purchased the ASUS EeePC 900HA Netbook shortly before Christmas. It’s everything that was promised, and more. The keyboard is more than large enough for easy usage, it’s faster than my desktop, and small enough to be slipped into a purse or tote to go anywhere. With a 160 GB hard drive, I can pretty much do anything on it that I can do on my desktop or any other computer. I love this little machine — it’s so much more than a “phone” when it comes to the internet, and I can stay connected anywhere that wireless service is offered.
Battery life is excellent. The battery holds the charge completely when disconnected from the charger and it runs for about 5 hours at a time. I’ll probably never use my laptop again.
I love my NB 205!! At first I was a little hesitant since there were so many options out for mini laptops. I went to Best Buy and purchased mine for a reasonable price. I love the look, shape, and weight. It’s super trendy and sharp looking too. I get a lot of compliments on my NB 205.
My only concern is the heating, I couldn’t finish a movie without it getting extremely hot. I would recommend getting a cooling pad for it, I have one with a fan that you can plug right into the laptop and it works fantastic.