The good: Excellent battery life on the six-cell version; good keyboard with few compromises; ConfigFree's wireless device search is useful.

The bad: Gigantic Toshiba logo on the back will annoy some; glowing power button in the middle of the hinge may distract; notification LEDs on the lip can't be seen when using the laptop.

The bottom line: Another day, another Netbook. Toshiba's NB200 is a good one. We just wish the platform would evolve already.

Read full review of the Toshiba NB200 »

By Craig Simms, CNET.com.au
Jun 25, 2009

The first Toshiba Netbook, the NB100, may have been a hoo-hum machine with uninspired design and features, but its 10.1-inch successor is a total revamp on how the Japanese company makes a low-cost minilaptop. Decked out with a full-sized keyboard and good battery life, the Toshiba NB200's attractive design and great build quality justifies its rather high price tag.

Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com.au. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Do check directly with your local distributor for details.

Design

Toshiba's top-of-the-line NB200 is certainly one of the more attractive Netbooks we've seen. A mixture of silver, pearl and white diagonal lines stripe the lid, monitor bezel and trackpad.

The white lid features a positively gigantic logo, and will instantly turn off anyone who doesn't feel like being a company billboard. Internally, the pearl bezel is much more subtle, with the usual Webcam and microphone embedded at the top.

The shiny silver hinge, powder-coated silver keyboard and matte-silver body give it a touch of class usually unseen in the Netbook range.

The vertically squashed, separated keys require a period of adjustment and swearing as you continually hit "s" instead of "a", but you do eventually get used to it. The response is excellent, and Toshiba hasn't cut corners, either, supplying two full-sized shift keys and all 12 "F" buttons. The only real compromise has been on the tilde key which has been shifted to the left of the spacebar.

All of this is just on our S$899 (US$639.72) supplied review model, which comes equipped with a 5,800mAh, six-cell battery that extends beyond the chassis and a 160GB HDD. It is also available in indigo silver and matte copper.

LED status lights run across the right side of the lip; however, these are effectively useless when using the laptop as they simply can't be seen.

While the centrally placed power button on the hinge is unusual, it doesn't get in the way. More concerning is the white glow it gives off, its central position making it distracting when trying to focus on the screen. While we found we got used to it, some may find it too annoying to deal with.

Features

Three USB ports (one of which is able to charge devices when the laptop is off), 100Mbps Ethernet, VGA-out, an SD card reader, microphone and headphone outputs fulfil the port quota. Internally a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N280, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Bluetooth and 802.11g keep things pumping.

There's no WWAN (3G) capability in the NB200 yet, although Toshiba is working on this. Given that there are several vendors which have succeeded in this area, we'll be happy if the Japanese company manages to join the ranks given the usefulness of this feature.

The 10.1-inch glossy screen features a resolution of 1,024 x 600, and is bright and pleasant to use. If you find that some programs have elements which appear off the screen, the graphics drivers support a virtual resolution up to 1,600 x 1,200, allowing you to pan the larger-than-screen resolution around to find what you need.

Software-wise, a bevvy of WildTangent trial games are included, handily wasting space on your hard drive. Toshiba's ConfigFree networking software is also included, its wonderful Wi-Fi scanning software giving you an instant picture of signal strength and available networks in your vicinity, in the vein of a solar system-esque diagram. The access points update too frequently though, which makes tracking the moving access points in busy and congested areas quite difficult.

Also present is the seemingly ubiquitous Symantec Norton Internet Security 60-day trial, its nagware as aggressive as ever, the close button disabled on its popup. Eventually a "remind me later" link appears after you've clicked "Next" twice while omitting to enter your email, a practice which could trap lesser experienced users into creating a Norton account just to get rid of the nagging screen.

We should note that the S$899 (US$639.72) price for this model reflects its high build quality, but may turn some potential buyers away. There are other Netbooks available for a couple of hundred dollars less. And at close to the S$1,000 (US$711.59) mark it may be worth considering a mainstream laptop with more grunt.

Performance And Battery Life

Being a Netbook, performance expectations of the NB200 should be kept modest. It's fine for day-to-day Internet and office productivity tasks, but don't expect it to be suitable for gaming or playback of high-definition YouTube content. The hardware simply can't keep up.

It's battery life that's the most important on these tiny laptops, and in this regard the NB200 performed excellently. With screen brightness and volume set to maximum, power-saving features turned off and a DivX file played back, it lasted a very impressive 5 hours 50 minutes and 19 seconds. This is a brutal, worst-case scenario test--you'll certainly get significantly longer usage through moderate tasks such as Internet browsing.

The Toshiba NB200 is an excellent Netbook--we just wish someone would evolve the Atom platform already. But with Microsoft and Intel holding the reigns, it doesn't seem set to happen soon.

Service And Support

Toshiba offers a one-year carry-in warranty for this machine, with options to upgrade the coverage period at the point of purchase. For greater convenience, you can register the warranty online instead of mailing it in. Prompt assistance is available through a toll-free number for over-the-phone support and troubleshooting. An online support database called IRIS (Instant Response Information Service) features a search engine for solutions to commonly encountered problems. If the issue still cannot be resolved, the unit will have to be brought down to a Toshiba service center for repair. A list of service centers can be obtained from Toshiba's Web site, which also hosts updated drivers and utilities.

Tags: Netbook, Laptop Computer, access point, Toshiba NB200, online support

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