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| Toshiba NB300-108 10.1-inch Netbook (Atom N450 1.6 GHz, 1 GB, 250 GB, 6 cell battery, WLAN, WebCam, Win 7 Starter (Black)) |
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Toshiba NB300-108 10.1-inch Netbook (Atom N450 1.6 GHz, 1 GB, 250 GB, 6 cell battery, WLAN, WebCam, Win 7 Starter (Black))
Toshiba
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| Ready to Order |
List Price: £279.00
Currently out of stock
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| Product Details |
ISBN/ASIN: B0035KZBOW
Release Date: 2010-02-25
Sales Rank: 18842
Average Rating: 
Media: Electronics
Audience Rating:
Product Group: CE
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| Customer Reviews: Average Rating: 4.5/5 | | Excellent: Rating: 5/5 |
For some months now I have been dithering over a laptop or Netbook. A friend at work bought the NB200 and has had it set up for work. He has to visit customers and was sick of carrying around a Dell brick. After testing his and watching him work on his NB200 with a key board, mouse and monitor connected I was impressed.
So I bought the NB300, and I have to say I am very impressed. I have been a hardended PC desktop owner since the early 90's 386 era. And to impress me was tough.
I am well into digital photography and this really suits my needs. It fits into my camera bag (which isn't designed for laptops) with my Nikon D5000, lens, book, water, binoculars, kitchen sink etc... I have a Lowpro Slingshot 200 bag.
As to speed, it's not bad at all.
Windows 7 is good, seems fast enough.
Microsoft Office software works fine, 2007 edition is installed. Just loads a touch slower.
I have Nikon NX and Transfer installed and they run fine.
I have photoshop 6 installed and it too runs fine.
Tansfer from my SDHC card took 1 minute and 20 seconds to transfer a gig of data, which was great.
I have a DVD writer, mouse, hardrive and nothing has failed yet, all connecting using the usb 2 standard.
Battery does last one hell of a long time, I had it out in a field for 2 hours will I transferred photos for viewing and when I got home it said there was 6hrs left (assuming that was correct).
Internet surfing is fast on "N" standard, however the small screen is odd to look at if you are used to 20" wide screend like me.
Photos look fine and as I said this is perfect for a digital photographer out in the field. You do have to get used to the small screen. And in theory you can take a photo, upload to the netbook, connect to the internet (with a mobile dongle) order a a print and collect it on the way home.... Technology? Isn't it great.
This netbook is ideal for anyone who needs light weight portabilty with a bit of cpu pace. And lets face it at the prce it's at (and this will get lower), if it get lost, damaged or stolen it's not the end of the world. Just back up your data though.
PS a sensible upgrade would be to 2 gig of ram, never have too much ram
| | Great netbook, light, well-made, long-lasting battery: Rating: 4/5 |
I've owned this netbook for around three weeks and I'm delighted with it. Generally I no longer need to lug a laptop around; this does all I need. Performance is fine, faster than I had expected. The keyboard is great, and I can type as fast as I can on a desktop keyboard; it also has a full set of 12 function keys. Most of all I love the lightness, portability and long battery life. I get between 8 and 9 hours, which is amazing if you are used to laptops that expire after an hour or two - ideal for train or plane.
That said, getting this how I wanted it was harder work that I would have liked. I upgraded the RAM to 2GB, which means throwing away the existing RAM unfortunately, but it was not too expensive. Next, I uninstalled most of the bundled software. For example, I find Microsoft's free Security Essentials fine for anti-virus, so the bundled trial of a commercial alternative had to go. Finally, I upgraded Windows 7 to the Professional version. I needed to do this because I wanted to join it to a Windows domain; otherwise the supplied Starter Edition might have been OK. Fortunately I have a Microsoft subscription that allows this; otherwise you could end up spending more on Windows than the cost of the netbook.
There are a few other annoyances. Sound from the built-in single loudspeaker is poor quality and too quiet - forget it, and plug in headphones or an external loudspeaker. Second, there's no bluetooth, which I did not realise when buying. Apparently some models have this, as it is mentioned in the manual, but mine did not. Third, the webcam is poor quality; but well, what do you expect? It should be OK for its intended purpose, video chat.
It's also worth mentioning, if you are not familiar with netbooks, that the screen resolution is shorter than a laptop or desktop display. This means more vertical scrolling for viewing web pages, documents and so on. One or two applications do not cope well at this resolution.
There's far more that I like. Three USB ports is generous. The screen is high quality and text is easy to read. Not only is the netbook small and light, but so too is the power supply, though it has a long cable - ideal. Wifi works very well.
If you are still carrying a full-size laptop, I highly recommend trying a gadget like this - so much lighter and more convenient, and did I mention the long battery life?
| | Small and perfectly formed: Rating: 4/5 |
It is always going to be a compromise, deciding whether to go for a 10" netbook or 11" ultra notebook. On the one hand, the larger 11 inch display enables 1024 x 768 resolution and thus less scrolling - but that requires a physically larger system. The 10 inch display enables 1024 x 600 and frankly, that is quite manageable - especially if a browser other than IE is used [IE takes a lot of screen real estate these days].
I bought the Toshiba NB300-108 when a brand new 11 inch system from another top manufacturer turned out to have a hardware fault once I tried to link to my wireless router.
The Toshiba looks and feels a quality product, though the glossy outside finish quickly gets smudged - something quickly sorted by putting on a Lapjack or other such skin.
The keyboard is excellent and the pad is simply the best I have tried, as it scrolls up and down and across, selects on a tap, and is very sensitive. While I had expected to move the wireless mouse from my full size laptop, I don't think I need to as using the pad is so natural and a doddle.
The display itself is good and clear, and so far, the battery seems to have a very acceptable life [early days yet].
The system comes with Windows 7 Starter and in reality, that is all that is needed. Nevertheless, I have ordered an Anytime Upgrade from Amazon to Windows 7 Premium. That is for fairly frivolous reasons and is not a must.
What is a must to add - for me, at least - is an external DVD drive. I elected for a cheap option - I save any DVD cutting for my desktop system. I found
Slimline USB External CD-RW, DVD-ROM Drive for Laptops, Desktop and Netbooks
to be highly effective, though there are quite a few available at Amazon and elsewhere.
I have successfully loaded a fair amount of software onto the system and it all works - the software is quite resource intensive, so I'm impressed.
I removed the antivirus software that was preinstalled and put on Norton Internet Security 2010 which is the product I use for all my PCs. It works fine. I also installed Microsoft Office Home though there is a trial version on the system anyway. It works fine.
The NB300 linked immediately to my router and works effectively wirelessly. The 250 Gb hard drive works quickly and soundlessly.
The camera is a rudimentary affair, but that is all that I need as anything better just shows up my blemishes more.....
In summary, the Tosh is a good, and robust system. I find myself surprised and happy that I can do a lot more on it that I had anticipated on a netbook. I recommend it! | |
