Quick Review: Toshiba NB100 netbook
Tom on March 09, 2009
With thanks to Hugh Cameron.
Toshiba has entered the netbook fray – a market frothing with new competitors introduced every other day, with the 8.9-inch NB100. This model is the Business specification – is designed to be a good performer on the business scale and slide easily into the briefcase, or handbag.
While Toshiba’s PR stays remarkably true to its word on the performance scales, it’s clear that the NB100 has been aimed squarely at the medium-to-enterprise business crowd. If you imagine a 2004-era Tecra business notebook, scale it right down, and add a webcam, you’ve probably imagined something like the interior of the NB100.
It’s not boring, but it is utilitarian to the maximum level.
On the plus side, the specification that has become known as standard fare on netbooks – the 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 120GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, 8.9″ screen size – works very well in this model.
The low-voltage processor powers along with standard office and productivity applications, and if using the standard Windows XP iteration with simply Internet Explorer, Office 2007 and ‘Pinball’ for entertainment, there shouldn’t be any performance problems.
Try more intensive games, though – which may be difficult due to the lack of an optical drive – and the fun most likely stops there. There’s no discreet graphics, and therefore no dedicated video memory. However, the lack of an optical drive and a pittance of graphics ability is basically accepted in the netbook market.
It would be nice to see that changed, though, and Toshiba could have tried to innovate a little more with this product, especially judging on the brand’s improvements on its design and innovation over the past year or so.
The body style could be described as quite square. The outside edges are all “just-rounded” squares, and there is an unfortunately protruding normal-specification battery. This is pretty much unforgivable, since no other major netbook needs for their battery to stick out.
The glossy black lid is probably the most exciting aesthetic feature of the notebook, but it’s a fingerprint magnet.
Moving inside, we find a good, bright, crisp screen which operates at 1024×600 resolution. Not great, but fine for office activities. A shortfall is the absolutely tiny keyboard that takes a while to become accustomed to. Toshiba – HP has mastered the art of the comfortable netbook keyboard. Why can’t you?
The reason they can’t is the fact that they’ve squeezed in the F11 and F12 keys and heaps of probably unnecessary shortcuts. But mercifully, they have included a good-sized touchpad with the buttons in the right place. And here, Toshiba have trumped HP’s Mini and Acer’s Aspire One.
If you work for a medium-sized business through to an enterprise-level company, who mainly employ Toshiba products, it’ll be likely that you can get your hands on one of these netbooks easily. If you’re a consumer, they retail for around A$900.
Quite frankly, Toshiba could have done better with this netbook.
Luckily, a few saving graces – such as a good screen and proper touchpad buttons, as well as the feeling you’re working on a normal laptop rather than a downsized, underpowered “Happy Meal” of a notebook, bring it home.
They should have called it the Tecra M0.5. Everything except the glossy lid screams Tecra. Like the glossy lid, but everything else is outdated.
Comment by Nate on June 22, 2009 at 3:57 pm