The strength of this netbook is that it has an extremely long battery life (up to 14 hours). Its performance and design is pretty decent as well. In terms of specs, the Eee PC 1005PE-PU27-BK sports an Intel Atom N450 1.66 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, and 250 GB hard drive.
Below is the top 10 best selling netbooks of July 2010.
If you want to learn more about ION and non ION netbooks (i.e. the difference between them, and which is more suitable for you), then read the entire post.
Which netbook is the best fit for me?
This is a question that everyone should ask before purchasing a netbook. First lets see what are the available options. I like to categorize netbooks into 2 groups: ION based and non ION based.
ION Based Netbook
ION Base netbook is those that come with Nvidia ION, a GPU that’s paired with Intel’s Atom processor to provide a better multimedia experience on mini notebooks. It helps to offload the graphics computations onto a separate chipset (ION) so the weak netbook processor doesn’t have to carry the processing burden.
Characteristic of ion-based netbook:
Most of them have a 12-inch display with 1366 x 768 resolution, and HDMI ports for outputting video to the big-screen.
More expensive compared to non-Ion-based netbook, typically between $450 and $500 or more.
Capable of gaming and HD video playback.
Shorter battery life due to the discrete graphic card draining more power from the battery. For example the Asus Eee PC 1201N, one of the best performing ION based netbook, has only 3 hours of battery life. (The next generation ION 2 with Optimus technology will have much longer battery life with even better graphic performance. Netbooks with ION2 is not available on the market yet, but is expected to be released soon).
Typical Ion based netbook comes with Intel Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 250GB HDD, Nvidia ION platform, and Windows 7 Home Premium Operating System.
Non ION Based Netbook
Non ION base netbooks are those with Intel integrated graphic chipset. They typically have 10-inch screen and extremely long battery life, but is incapable of playing high-definition video or any other computing task that require high processing power.
Characteristic of non Ion based netbook:
Majority comes with 10-inch display and 1024 X 600 resolution.
Cheaper than the ION based netbook, typically below $399 and gets as low as $299.
Incapable of 3D gaming or HD video playback (Some netbooks in this category have built-in Broadcom Crystal HD Accelerator chipset, which enable them to play HD video smoothly. One example is the Asus Eee PC 1005PR)
Extremely long battery life (7 hours and up) — Eee PC 1005PE have 10 hours of battery life which is the longest among netbooks.
Typical non Ion based netbook comes with Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB/250GB HDD, Intel GMA3150 graphics, and Windows 7 Starter operating system.
Which one is better?
Depending on what you plan to do with your netbook, you should pick the category of netbook that can fulfill your need. If you plan to use your netbook to check email, surf the web, and do some document processing tasks on the go, you should go with the non Ion based netbook. Not only they are cheaper and have longer battery life, their smaller size enable you to conveniently carry them along when traveling.
If you plan to get a netbook as a replacement for your laptop, which you will be using for all sorts of computing and multimedia task such as watching movies and playing games, then you need an ION based netbook with 12-inch display.
Other Factors To Consider
After you have decided which category of netbook you are going to get, there are a few more factors to consider. Since most netbooks have almost the same specs, there won’t be much difference in terms of performance. Instead, you should be paying more attention to the following aspects of a netbook:
Battery life – Standard netbook comes in either 3-cell or 6-cell battery. A 3-cell typically provides around 3 to 4 hours of battery life while the 6 cell can provide up to 10 hours of battery life (though it also depends on whether it’s an Ion or non-Ion based netbook). While a 6-cell battery will cost you more, it’s recommended for travellers since a single charge will last you a whole day of usage, and this is especially useful when you are travelling.
Keyboard & touchpad design – This is important especially if you are planning to get a 10-inch netbook. Due to its small size, some manufacturers tend to shrink the size of the keyboard and touchpad, making them hard to be used. Netbooks that have the best keyboard and touchpad design are the Toshiba Mini NB305 which really make good use of the available space, and provide a spacious keyboard and touchpad. Rule of thumb – the larger the keyboard and touchpad are, the better.
Screen Type (glossy vs matte) – Most netbook has glossy screen which makes it difficult to see when you are under the sunlight or in a very bright room due to reflection. A matte display do not have this issue. On the other hand, glossy screen has a higher contrast and brightness because they have a smooth, high-gloss surface; while matte screen have less contrast and brightness. Think about where and how you are going to use your netbook. Glossy will work great for you if the lighting in your room doesn’t create any glare on the screen.
If you are not sure of the screen type and battery life for a netbook model, use our netbook comparison tool to find out!
The design of Toshiba NB305 is one of the best among all netbooks. It has a large touchpad, a spacious metal keyboard, and a textured lid that helps to keep fingerprint and smudges away. 8.5 hours of battery life is also one of the best in industry. ( Product Details | Customer Reviews )
The Asus Eee PC 1001P provides the best value for the money. At $299, not only is it cheaper than many other netbooks out there, but it also have a long battery life, and great external design. ( Product Details | Customer Reviews )
(for more non ION based netbook recommendation, see the Top 10 Netbooks section)
The Asus Eee PC 1201N is the only netbook that comes with Intel dual core Atom processor and Nvidia ION platform. It’s said to be the most powerful netbook to date. The only drawback is the short battery life — around 3 to 4 hours of battery life. ( Product Details | Customer Reviews )
Similar to the Eee PC 1201N, this Ion-powered netbook features good graphics performance and a great keyboard, but only around 3 to 4 hours of battery life. ( Product Details )
The HP Mini 311 is the first ION based netbook to hit the market. Different from the other 2 ION based netbooks that we recommended, the HP Mini 311 has a smaller 11.6-inch display. Graphic performance is similarly good as the previous 2 ION netbooks. ( Product Details | Customer Reviews )
One of the most important characteristics of a netbook is being portable. And how well it works on the go depends on its battery life. Below is a quick comparison of the battery life for some of the most popular netbooks on the market. All of them have a 6-cell battery and run on Intel Atom N450 CPU with integrated GMA 3150 graphics. Results are based on LaptopMag and Cnet battery test.
You will notice some difference between Laptopmag and Cnet result, and that’s because they use different methods for their battery test. Laptopmag perform continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi until the battery is completely drained; while CNet use video playback to drain the battery. Both tests show that the Asus Eee PC 1005PE-PU17 is the netbook with longest battery life.
In order to provide more choices to consumers, netbook manufacturers will normally release a netbook model in multiple variation. And as consumers, it’s important for us to realize the differences between these variation so that we can pick the one that’s most suitable for us. I have written a post about Asus Eee PC 1005PE vs 1001P before, and in this post I will do the same for Toshiba Mini NB305, the first netbook from Toshiba that comes with Intel Pine Trail platform.
There are 2 variation available for the Toshiba Mini NB305 netbook: NB305-N310, and NB305-N410. Table below shows the comparison between these 2 models. Text in blue are the differences you should pay attention to.
Toshiba Mini NB305-N310
Toshiba Mini NB305-N410
Price
$349.99
$399.99
CPU
Intel Atom N450
Intel Atom N450
RAM
1GB
1GB
Storage
160GB
250GB
Display
10.1″ LED (16:9) 1024×600
10.1″ LED (16:9) 1024×600
Battery Life
11 hours
11 hours
Bluetooth
No
No
Wireless
802.11 b/g/n
802.11 b/g/n
Keyboard
Normal
Chiclet
OS
Windows XP Home
Windows 7 Starter
Colors
Fusion Finish in Black Onyx
Texture Finish in Royal Blue / Frost White / Java Brown
As you can see, the NB305-N410 is the higher-end model compared to the NB305-N310. For extra $50, you get:
– a higher capacity hard drive
– a metal chiclet style keyboard which is more comfortable to type on
– a textured lid which prevent fingerprint, and also with more color choices (blue, white, and brown)
– Windows 7 starter instead Windows XP Home
Both models are highly rated by customers (4 out of 5). Check out the customer reviews here.
Since Intel officially announced the Pine Trail platform at the end of 2009, every netbook manufacturers have come out with new models that make use of this new energy-efficient platform. While the Intel Atom N450 CPU (that’s being used in the Pine Trail platform) doesn’t give much performance improvement to the netbook, it does give them longer battery life. The longest battery life that we have seen on a Pine Trail netbook so far is 14 hours on the Asus Eee PC 1005PE. And what’s really great about Pine Trail netbooks is that they are not expensive at all. In fact, some of the newest Pine Trail netbooks announced just recently have starting prices of less than $300. Listed below are all the cheap Pine Trail netbooks that are priced under $300:
The ASUS Eee PC 1005HA is probably the best netbook in 2009. It’s still one of the best-selling netbook as of January 2010. While having the same specs as most other netbooks on the market, what really makes it stand out from the crowd is the stylish design, ergonomic keyboard/touchpad, and excellent battery life.
With the arrival of the Intel Pine Trail, Asus has updated their netbooks with this new energy-saving platform, giving them an even longer battery life (up to 14 hours according to Asus) compared to their predecessor!
There are currently 2 models of Pine Trail netbooks from Asus: the Eee PC 1005PE and Eee PC 1001P, both come with Intel Atom N450 processor and Pine Trail chipset. Both models can be further divided into 2 sub-models, giving us a total of 4 variation to choose from: 1005PE-PU17, 1005PE-MU17, 1001P-PU17, 1001P-MU17. It’s not easy to tell the difference between these variation.. so we have listed them here side-by-side for you to compare and choose the one that’s most suitable for you.
Text in blue are the differences you should pay attention to.
Pine Trail is the code name for Intel’s next generation Atom platform. Pine Trail’s CPU, the single-core Atom N450 “Pineview” processor (confusing, I know), is a more highly integrated version of Atom that puts the memory controller and GPU on the same die as the CPU. As the diagram above shows, this move will shrink the number of chips in the Atom platform from three to just two.
Cindy Ng, Intel Netbook Marketing Team, demonstrates the Intel Atom Processor N450 for netbooks and the Intel Atom Processor D410 and D510 for entry-level desktops in the following video:
What To Expect From Pine Trail Netbooks?
The new processors will consume 20% less power and also feature a lower thermal design. What this means is that a Pine Trail netbook will get longer battery life compared to the previous generation netbook. Also, it will be easier for PC makers to design smaller, thinner, and occasionally fanless netbooks. According to Intel, there will be 80 over netbooks with the new processor showing up at CES 2010, which includes most major PC makers such as Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Lenovo, MSI, Samsung, and Toshiba.
List Of Pine Trail Netbooks
We have seen quite a number of Pine Trail netbooks being introduced in CES 2010. While not all of them are available for purchased yet, quite a number of them are already released to the market. Below is a list of Pine Trail netbooks that you can already find on Amazon and some other online retailers:
ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-PU17 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive + 500GB Free Web Storage, Bluetooth, Windows 7 Starter, 6 Cell Battery for up to 14 Hours of Battery Life, priced $379.99.
ASUS Eee PC 1005PE-MU17 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive + 500GB Free Web Storage, 6 Cell Battery for up to 11 Hours of Battery Life, priced $339.99.
Asus Eee PC 1001P-PU17 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, Bluetooth, Windows 7 Starter, 6 Cell Battery for up to 11 Hours of Battery Life, priced $339.99.
ASUS Eee PC 1001P-MU17 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, 6 Cell Battery for up to 11 Hours of Battery Life, priced $299.99.
Acer Aspire One AO532h-2223 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, up to 8 Hours of Battery Life, priced $299.00.
Acer Aspire One AO532h-2406 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, up to 10 Hours of Battery Life, priced $349.00.
Acer Aspire One AO532h-2067 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, up to 10 Hours of Battery Life, priced $329.00.
Lenovo Ideapad S10-3 – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, priced $379.99.
Lenovo Ideapad S10-3t – 10.1-Inch 180 swivel screen, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, up to 10 Hours of Battery Life, priced $499.99.
Gateway LT2108u – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, up to 8 Hours of Battery Life, priced $299.99.
Gateway LT2113u – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows XP Home, up to 10 Hours of Battery Life, priced $329.99.
Gateway LT2118u – 10.1-Inch display, 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 Starter, up to 10 Hours of Battery Life, priced $349.99.
And that’s it. The list will be updated when more Pine Trail netbooks are made available.
Since Windows 7 was released on 22nd October, most netbook manufacturers started to pre-install their netbooks with Windows 7 Starter edition instead of the Windows XP Home Premium. In terms of price, there isn’t much difference between these 2 OS.. so most people will naturally choose to go with the newer version. We have however seen quite a number of these customers, who choose to go with Windows 7 starter edition, being dissatisfied with the new OS due to the lack of some features on the starter edition. So when buying a netbook, it’s important to understand the limitation of Windows 7 starter, before deciding which version of OS to go with.
Below is a great video from com.puter.tv that explains the in and outs of the Windows 7 starter edition. In a nutshell, the limitation of the starter edition includes:
No Windows Aero features and effect (i.e. Glass (translucent borders) and Peek (thumbnail previews of open windows))
No Windows Media Center
Many of these limitations are in fact not needed by a netbook.. except for the desktop personalization feature (not able to change desktop background) which most customers are complaining on. Also, if you have spend $50 to get an external DVD drive, the Windows 7 Starter edition will not be the OS version you want to go with as there’s no DVD playback feature.
If you have already purchased a netbook with Windows 7 Starter edition only to find out later that this OS is not what you want because of the limitation, you can consider spending $75.99 to upgrade Windows 7 Starter to Windows 7 Home Premium. Or you can choose to go with other Linux operating system which are free.
Although late to the netbook game, when Toshiba released their NB205 netbook this year, it quickly becomes one of the best-selling netbook on the market due to its excellent battery life, unique external design, ergonomically large keyboad & touchpad design, etc.. (check out our previous review roundup of the NB205 netbook for more info). Since then, Toshiba has released a few variation of the NB205 netbooks in order to fulfill different customers needs. For average shoppers who aren’t following the netbook industry news, it will take some time and efforts to learn all the Toshiba NB205 netbooks variation that are currently available on the market. This guide will help you to faster and better understand all the variation of Toshiba NB205 netbooks, enabling you to make a smarter choice and pick one that’s more suitable for you.
Overall, the Toshiba Mini NB205 netbook can be categorized into two:
The black version that comes with lower price, Black Onyx casing, normal keyboard, and without Bluetooth feature.
The colorful version that comes with higher price, multiple color option (blue, white, brown, and pink), chicklet style keyboard, and with Bluetooth feature.
Both the black version and the colorful version of Toshiba Mini NB205 netbooks are further divided into several models:
The Black Version:
For those who can live without bluetooth feature, the Onyx Black version of NB205 is most suitable for them. Although you won’t have a cool chiclet style keyboard and the choice for colors, these factors will not affect the functionality of the netbook at all.
The Onyx Black version of the NB205 is available in 2 models: NB205-N210, and NB205-N230. Each model comes with slightly different specs as shown below:
Other than the differences listed above, other components are the same for both models: Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz Processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, and 6-cell battery that provides up to 9 hours of battery life.
The Colorful Version:
Besides having bluetooth feature, this version of Toshiba Mini NB205 comes with a chiclet style keyboard and are available in several colors including pink, brown, white, and blue. It also features a unique textured lid that’s fingerprint-resistant. This version is perfect for those who are willing to pay more for a netbook with higher styles and functionality.
The colorful version can be further separated into 3 group of models: NB205-N310 to N313, NB205-N325, and NB205-N330. The differences between each models are shown in the table below:
Other than the differences listed above, other components are the same for every models: Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz Processor, 1GB DDR2 RAM, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, bluetooth, and a 6-cell battery that provides up to 9 hours of battery life. There will be a color code attached to the end of each models — e.g. NB205-N330BL (blue), NB205-N330PK (pink), NB205-N330BN (brown), NB205-N330WH (white).
And that’s our simple guide on the Toshiba Mini NB205 netbook. Check out also the Toshiba netbooks section for more customer reviews!
This blog is constantly updated with the latest netbook reviews, news and videos on every popular netbooks on the market. We will also help you to find the best netbook deals on the Internet so that you can purchase a netbook with the cheapest possible price online. If you have any questions/comments, contact us here.