Toshiba Mini NB300 Review
Pros:
Huge touchpad, Low price, 9 hour battery life (tested)
Cons:
Windows XP
Bottom Line:
The Toshiba NB305 is a fantastic netbook available for $323.54
See all Toshiba NB305 netbook models
Full review continued after the break
Full Review:
Quick Product Specs:
Intel Atom N450 1.66 GHz Processor, 1 GB RAM, 160 GB Hard Drive, Windows 7 Starter (see full specs
Design:
The netbook is less than 1 inch tall in the front (tapering) and in the back it is a little under 1.5 inches high after the battery bulge of the 6 cell battery, so it's a relatively thin netbook. There is a tapering around the outside of the netbook on both the top case and bottom case. The lid has a glossy black finish that is sadly a haven for finger prints. Inside the netbook the all black theme continues throughout the entire inside of the netbook. As was mentioned before, the touchpad is huge on this netbook at 3 inches wide and just over 1.5 inches high:
Usability:
I'm satisfied with the keyboard on the Toshiba NB305; however, I still believe the future for keyboard design is in island style keys with slightly raised edges (i.e. Lenovo S10-3). With that said the keyboard is still completely usable and it makes up for an area the Lenovo S10-3 falls well short of - touchpad size. Ever since the Toshiba NB205 the netbooks made by Toshiba have offered huge and roomy touchpads. Combine the touchpad with the keyboard and you have one of the most effective 10 inch netbooks around.
The screen resolution found in this model is 1024 x 600 and again as I've mentioned in past reviews I'd love to see netbook manufacturers move away from 1024 x 600 and to instead go with 1366 x 768 instead. If you need a higher resolution 10 inch netbook look at the Sony Vaio W or ASUS Eee PC 1005PR; however, both of these models are more expensive.
Battery Life:
The Toshiba NB305-310 has a 6 cell battery that provides a manufacturer rated 11 hours battery life; however, I found this number to be more close to 9 hours of battery life under normal usage. I rarely get the same target battery life a manufacturer gets, but the key point here is that even if the usage you see is somewhere between 9 and 11 hours that should be more than adequate.
Performance:
As expected you'll get typical performance from this netbook. You'll be able to play farmville, watch YouTube, use MS office suite, and just about any other tasks you can think of besides playing intense PC games and HD video viewing. I ran PC Mark 05 tests on this netbook and got 1389 which is typical of most netbooks (without Nvidia ION inside) so there weren't any surprises here.
Overall Performance:
Overall I believe the Toshiba NB305 is a worthy netbook in low $320's price range. The keyboard is sufficient, the touchpad is huge, and it has a great battery life. The only complaint some shoppers may find is the decision to go with Windows XP for the OS. This saves you some money by bringing the total cost down to $323.54
See all Toshiba NB305 netbook models here
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Used Options:
 |
US $152.50
Tagged: featured, Toshiba Mini NB305-N310
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I think it’s not NB305, but NB300 (my wife has the exact same model with yours but it comes with Win 7 Starter).
NB305 has different finish and also different keyboard with NB300. I would say that NB305 is better.
NB300 is more like a cheaper version of NB305.
Anyway, thanks for the review
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[...] This month's best selling netbook is the Toshiba Mini NB305-N410 priced at $355.99. I reviewed the Toshiba Mini NB300 a few weeks ago and loved it. The only difference is that this unit has Windows 7 and a larger hard [...]
You consider Windows XP to be a Con on this model.
I would prefer a proven, full operating system than a toned down operating system (Windows 7 STARTER)
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