The Toshiba NB100 netbook weighs in at less than a kilo and is compact and stylish, it measure 8.9 inch and has advanced multimedia and communication capabilities. You can get two... more
8.9 inch screen and an impressive list of features the NB100 is perfect for educational use and provides a great option as a secondary laptop. Features Intel At...
8.9 inch screen and an impressive list of features the NB100 is perfect for educational use and provides a great option as a secondary laptop. Features Intel At...
A review by suehome on Toshiba NB100 August 26th, 2009
Author's product rating:
Speed
Fast
Look & Feel
Excellent
Comfort & Portability
Good
Robustness & Durability
Excellent
Value For Money
Satisfactory
Advantages:
Compact and Powerful
Disadvantages:
Fiddly
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
I am really fond of my old Toshiba laptop. It’s big and it’s clunky, only has a 15 inch screen, but it’s familiar: loaded with lots of useful stuff and frankly too valuable to tote about where it might get lost stolen or broken. Furthermore the notion of accessing e-mail or the internet on a mobile phone device is just too fiddly and beyond my ageing eyesight. Yet, when out and about I still want to be in touch, able to access information, data and send meaningful ( not text speak or hieroglyphics) out to friends and relatives. Enter then the concept of a Netbook computer. You will have seen many examples in the high street shops and white goods outlets, and it even seems that some mobile phone contracts offer them as an incentive. (I rest my case then that there is no competition between the versatility and usefulness of such powerful miniscule computers compared to the compromises built into scaling such functionality so far down so that it fits on a phone). I am happy to carry my phone separately and just boot up my Netbook PC when the need dictates. With a plethora of choice for me familiarity and trust in the Toshiba brand attracted me to the mini marvel. I gleefully selected My Toshiba NB100 from Amazon, electronically submitted payment of £249.98 and waited for the postman to arrive. This he did some two days later in April 2009 bringing a simply boxed package containing a Toshiba NB100-12A 8.9-inch Netbook, Intel Atom N270 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD, Windows XP Home When you look on Amazon now you will see this model has already been superceded by a version with 160 GB HDD,…… but what the heck I am really quite pleased with mine.
Reasons For Believing
Once I had opened the box, plugged the power cord in and pushed the start button I was away; up and running. This little gizmo which is not much bigger than a paperback book, sports an 8.9 inch screen (meaning it’s actually bigger than many portable DVD players that do such yeoman service keeping the kids quiet in the back of the car) and with all the familiarity of Windows XP. Not for me the intricacies of mobile windows or Linux operating systems, my trusty XP makes it easy to transfer and load existing files and shortcuts. I quickly disposed of the ‘free’ Norton Antivirus software, loaded my own and happily set up Mozilla Firefox as my browser. I quickly discovered that the touch pad although sensitive and convenient really does not suit me, (any more than it does on it’s big Toshiba brother) so opted to plug in to one of the three USB ports a small retractable corded mouse. This made things much easier and I was soon flying about the screen setting all my personal preferences. It has the solid feel of a Tosh, the image on the screen is crystal clear, but yes. it is still quite small, and on a busy page can be quite awkward to read even with the help of my glasses. Opting for large fonts does not make things much better, you just have to scroll about more to read the whole contents of the page, so I opted for the standard settings. Battery life is claimed to be up to 3.5 hours, but I have never managed more than 2, before dire warnings of meltdown if you don’t plug, in are sounded. I suspect 3.5 hours is realistic if you just say work in Word, don’t change any other applications or pages, nor load the internet and type very very carefully. So 2 hours longevity as I crash round from programme to programme; to mail and web pages is probably the more realistic!
A Communication Tool
Reasons for wanting such a compact gadget were obviously to capture data and information but also to be able to use it’s inbuilt communication channels. Here this gadget excels. Wireless connectivity easily searches out the hotspot options around you and connecting is just as easy as being at home. Armed with a mail2web account, you can pick up your e-mails remotely and initiate or respond just as you would do from the comfort of home. There is even a tidgy integrated webcam for those amongst you who want to stream pics whilst you chat: although I must admit I have not got around to mastering it yet, and to be honest I am not sure that I will be bothering. The keyboard is small, compact even, but all the keys are discreet and I quickly got the hang of picking out most letters. If there is one complaint it’s that in scaling things down some of the keys have been moved from where I am used to finding them, in particular the ubiquitous ‘Delete’ key ……..which has somehow migrated to the bottom right of the keyboard, where I still have trouble finding it!
Curiously the device comes with a back up CD which is interesting since there is no inbuilt CD drive, so any recovery would have to be initiated form another PC, whereby you may as well have accessed the Toshiba website directly for the recovery data to load onto a flash drive. No doubt this will be a cost saving in future versions!
Sound quality and graphics are adequate for most general media files and the speed of the machine is not nearly as dire as I had anticipated. In fact it’s not really that much slower than either my desktop or the ancient laptop itself, so this should not be a factor to deter you. Instruction booklets are adequate, but the this is so simple and self explanatory, I have mot really needed to use them. The Toshiba website is superb and any imaginable question or support issue could be resolved with persistence.
Will it Catch On ?
For me I have to say the jury is still out as to the future of these mini netbooks. They are powerful and compact, much less fiddly than a web enabled phone, but still cannot really compete with the clarity and comfort of a 15 inch laptop. Much more portable so ideal for travellers I really have to question the claim it would be an ideal replacement for the larger screened version if you have the space. However withe its memory, speed and functionality just like the larger brethren for me it’s just so much easier than a smart phone.
Advantages: Small and portable, Ubuntu tweaked for use on a netbook makes it simple Disadvantages: Can get warm, driver issues
...down version of any other Toshiba laptop. It's not the most stylish but I like its shiny case. The battery sticks out of the back but that's to make room for a bigger keyboard. Doesn't look that bad though! As well as this, the netbook comes with 3 USB ports and a web cam which are all nice extras. Build quality of the whole thing is sturdy and there are no rattles when it's moved. Overall, I recommend this net book but if you are going to get it, ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Attractive outlook, useful bundled of softwares, very very useful networking options. Disadvantages: stuffed keyboard, poor ram, expensive, almost useless webcam, poor resolution.
...Having said that, this Toshiba netbook is not something outstanding or standout choice to go for. It does not perform exceptionally poor or exceptionally better than other netbooks. The processor is intel atom N270 with processing 1.6 GHz. It's a single core processor with modest speed. Atom 200 series is designed as single core with having the ability to perform 2 instructions per cycle. So, just for very normal office works it's alright. Though ... ...up to 1GB. Still, why Toshiba put 512 mb ram here, I absolutely have no clue. Resolution is not up to the standard as well. Though it says that, it is compatible upto 1024 x 600 but it only works fine up to 800x600. There is very poor camera on the top of screen. It's only 0.3 mp, which is actually good for nothing. It comes with bundled of installed software which is highly appreciated and helpful for daily office works and net surfing. The os for ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
Advantages: Nice look, good battery life. Disadvantages: Too small.
...it runs as such.
Overall
The Toshiba NB100 is great if you're japanese and/or believe things should be made as small as humanly possible. However, personally, I'd rather have a laptop where I can type without looking and feeling as if my wrists have been tied together. ...
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Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful
The Toshiba NB100 netbook weighs in at less than a kilo and is compact and stylish, it measure 8.9 inch and has advanced multimedia and communication capabilities. You can get two versions of the NB100 both that are powered by the 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, one with Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition and the other with Linux Ubuntu 8.04 with OpenOffice 2.4.
Networking
Networking: Network adapter
Wireless LAN Supported: Yes
Data Link Protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g
Expansion Slots Total (Free): 1 ( 0 ) x memory, 1 memory
Interfaces:
1 x microphone - input - mini-phone 3.5mm
1 x headphones - output - mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm
1 x display / video - VGA - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15)
3 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type A
1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - RJ-45
Miscellaneous
Features: Security lock slot (cable lock sold separately), administrator password, system password, hard drive password
Compliant Standards: ACPI, CE
Power
Power Device: External
Voltage Required: AC 120/230 V ( 50/60 Hz )
Operating system / software
OS Provided: Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Software: OpenOffice.org Office Suite, Mozilla Firefox, Chicony Camera Assistant Software, F-Spot Photo Manager, Totem Movie Player, Gnome Sound Recorder, Evolution Mail and Calendar, Pidgin Internet Messenger, Rhythmbox Music Player
Environmental standards
EPA Energy Star Compliant: Yes
Manufacturer warranty
Service & Support: 1 year warranty
Service & Support Details: International warranty - parts and labour - 1 year - pick-up and return, International warranty - 1 year
I always like to be ahead of the crowd and when I saw this phone I just had to have it.
Its on Vodafone (only) at the moment and as far as I know only on PAYG.
On first sight it looks very much like a mirror compact. Its sleek, silver design... more
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