Toshiba mini NB205 pros:
+ Unique design
+ Long battery life
+ Comfortable keyboard
+ Large touchpad
+ Hard drive protection
+ USB port charges device when system is off

Toshiba mini NB205 cons:
- Longish boot time
- Too large display bezel

Design:

Toshiba mini NB205 measures 264/193/33 mm and weighs 179 grams. The netbook is available in 4 different colors so you can choose the perfect one for you. The Toshiba mini NB205 has some raised horizontal lines and shiny hinges and silvery finish on the bottom deck to stand out from the crowd of netbooks. The keyboard is responsive and almost full size and although it may take some time to get used to it after some time it feels very comfortable. The touchpad is also of very high quality and as it measures 3.1 x 1.6-inch it is relatively big for a netbook. The right side of the Toshiba mini NB205 features a Keningston lock and two USB port, whereas the left side houses the third USB port, Ethernet, VGA-out and audio in/out.

Performance:

The Toshiba mini NB205 features a 10.1-inch screen working in 1024 x 600 resolution. The image is bright and colors look very natural. The viewing angles are quite good and much better than in the Samsung N120. Above the display you can see the 0.3 megapixel camera which works just fine. Unfortunately the Toshiba mini NB205 has quite poor speakers so on some occasions you might have to use headphones. The recently reviewed Samsung N120 has better camera and speakers so if the viewing angle is not your priority you might be more interested in the latter netbook.
When it comes to the Toshiba mini NB205’s processing power it seems that the netbook is a winner. With its 1.66-GHz Atom processor it can run a few applications at a time and show a high quality movie without any glitches. The PCMark05 test results also confirm that with the score of almost 1500. The graphics chip in the Toshiba mini NB205 is powerful enough to enable you to watch a 720p movie and although you will not be able to play the latest 3D games it seems that for other tasks the Toshiba mini NB205 will be just perfect.

The Toshiba mini NB205 comes equipped with a 160GB hard disk working at the standard 5,400 rpm. The startup time is a bit below netbook average but this might be due to the trial software installed on the netbook. In any other test the Toshiba mini NB205 scores above netbook average. If you do not overuse the netbook too much and use it mainly for browsing the Internet it might run for even eight hours so its battery life is outstanding.
Although Toshiba does not plan to offer upgrade options for the netbook you can easily upgrade its RAM to 2 GB on your own to improve its performance even more.
All in all, the Toshiba mini NB205 is an extremely powerful netbook and it is surely worth considering, especially if you look at its price and specs.

Selected Toshiba mini NB205 features and specifications:

• Manufacturer

Toshiba

• Model name

Mini NB205

• CPU type

Intel Atom

• CPU speed

1600 Mhz

• Graphics

Intel GMA 950

• OS

Windows XP Home

• Display Size

10.1″ 1024 X 600

• RAM

1024 MB

• Hard Disk

160 GB

• Keyboard

YES

• Mouse Pointer

YES

• Physical Interfaces

Ethernet 10/100
Line-out / Headphone (3.5mm)
MIC-in
VGA
USB2.0 (x3)

• Wireless Interfaces

802.11b/g
BT 2.0 (On some models)
No Wireless WAN (e.g. 3G cellular)

• Additional Specs and Accessories (can vary)

WebCam

• Pirce: below $400

Other recently reviewed laptops:
Samsung N120, MacBook Pro, SONY VAIO VGN-SZ71XN/C

Samsung N120 pros:
+ Very good resolution and overall screen quality
+ Excellent battery life
+ Comfortable and responsive, full size keyboard
+ Windows XP

Samsung N120 cons:
- Smallish touchpad
- Poor viewing angles
- no optical drive

Design:

Samsung N120 measures 10.7 x 7.4 x 1.2 inches and weighs 2.8 pounds. The netbook is available in black or white and its body resembles some older Samsung netbooks. However, in order to accommodate a larger keyboard it is a bit larger than its predecessors. As the netbook is still very small and comfortable to hold and carry around I don’t think it is a big issue. This also affected the bezel around the screen which now accommodates speakers making the sound quality commendable.
The Samsung N120 features the standard set of ports sufficient for the normal, day to day work. And so it has to USB ports and an Ethernet port on the left, whereas the right side features the VGA-out, Kensington lock, audio in/out, and a third USB port. You can also find the 3-in-1 memory card reader hidden under the front lip.
Samsung claims that the N120’s keyboard is full size, yet it is not quite so. All the key are slightly smaller than on a standard, full size keyboards, but you can hardly notice it and for suet it does not have a negative impact on writing. All the keys in the Samsung N120 are well placed and provide nice feedback. The trackpad is a bit smallish, but very responsive and pleasant to use also its buttons are responsive and behave as expected.
The Samsung netbook’s 10.1-inch screen works in 1024 x 600 resolution and shows bright colors. However, the viewing angles are quite poor not only horizontally, but also vertically. The Samsung N120 also comes with a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam which works pretty well.

Performance:

Samsung N120 features 1.6-GHz Intel processor which achieved a good result in PCMark05 test (1,515) so the overall performance is commendable. The Samsung netbook features the Intel 945GSE graphics chip which also does its job quite well and although you will most probably not be able to play the latest 3D games you can seamlessly watch a 720P HD video. Samsung N120 has a 160 GB working at 5,400 rpm so you can’t expect it will save and open files as fast as the latest MacBook Pro, but it will should be okay for browsing the net and for basic work with multimedia.
The wireless performance of Samsung N120 is in line with the netbook average, yet its battery life test performance might be surprising. The Samsung N120 has strong enough battery to allow you to browse the Internet wirelessly of up to 7 hours.

Conclusion:

All in all the Samsung N120 is a very powerful netbook for a reasonable price (about $420) which will not disappoint. With its very good battery it is prefect for long travels and as it can run HD movies effortlessly it is also very good for fun.

Selected Samsung N120 features and specifications:

• CPU

1.6-GHz Intel Atom N270

• RAM Included

1GB

• RAM Upgradable

2GB

• Hard Drive Size

160GB

• Hard Drive Speed

5,400rpm

• Hard Drive Type

SATA Hard Drive

• Display Size

10.1

• Native Resolution

1024×600

• Graphics Card

Intel 945GSE

• Video Memory

128MB

• Wi-Fi

802.11b/g

• Bluetooth

Bluetooth 2.0 EDR
Mobile Broadband

• Operating System

MS Windows XP (SP3)

• Ports (excluding USB)

Ethernet; Headphone; Kensington Lock; Microphone; VGA

• USB Ports

3

• Card Slots / Readers

3-1 card reader

• Warranty/Support

One-year standard parts and labor/24/7 toll-free phone

Other recently reviewed laptops:

SONY VAIO VGN-SZ71XN, MacBook Pro