First of all, the build quality and general feel of the netbook is very good. I really liked the good feel of the keyboard, which was a major influence on my purchase (that and battery life). The device feels solid, and it’s easy to upgrade the ram (just a small screwdriver is needed to open the cover on the back of the case). I think the size is just about perfect (it fits into my camera backpack), and even though the battery sticks out in the back, it still sits flat and is not obtrusive. Also, the larger battery doesn’t look like some genetic mutation like some of the other larger battery optioned netbooks.

The netbook comes loaded up with bloatware. There were 55 running processes in it’s factory configuration. After uninstalling a bunch of stuff, and doing my normal windows XP tweeking, I got it down to 24 without an antivirus suite (it comes with norton, which is a resource hog – uninstall it!). And I still have the toshiba power profiles function and hard drive protection. The performance and boot time is noticeably better after doing this.

The wifi was acting up when I took it to hawaii. sometimes it couldn’t connect, or would take 15 minutes to finally lock into a signal. I went to Toshiba’s support website and downloaded the new wifi driver (it’s dated May 2009). That completely fixed the problem and I had flawless wifi connectivity afterward. You don’t need any of the wifi utilities (I just use the built in windows wifi wizard).

It has a USB port that remains “hot” even after the netbook is shut down. so you can charge your cell phone or other usb device without having to turn on the netbook. I personally disabled this feature, but it’s there if you need it.

There is a new audio driver that increases the volume of the speaker, though it doesn’t really make it sound much better, so you’ll want to use headphones if you are in a noisy location.

The resolution does cut off some menus/windows, but the screen will automatically pan up when you move your mouse pointer to the bottom of the screen, and enables you to see the portion of the menu/window that was cut off.

I got this netbook mostly for travel entertainment, and it didn’t disappoint. I recently used it on a 5-1/2 hour flight from L.A. to Hawaii, and watched a movie, a few episodes of top gear, and listened to music with it. I was able to use it for two more nights in my hotel to check emails and browse the web without having to plug it in. I got very close to the advertised 9 hrs of battery life. I always have BT and wifi turned off when they are not in use, and I have movies/videos running off an SD card which is probably more efficient than running them off the hard drive.

I also installed an old copy of photoshop CS on it, and it seems to run just fine (though I do have 2gb of ram now), So it’s a very capable netbook for being so portable.

Verdict: clearly designed for those who type a lot on the go (especially on long rides or flights) this net book was built for work not play… and only work sent and recieved via SD Card not wireless internet.

I agree with you, the bezel size is due to the keyboard.

If the laptop were to be any smaller, all good reviews about the full-size keyboard and superb typing experience would have not been there. If Toshiba were to make the screen any bigger, screen resolution would have to be increased as well and it wouldn’t have cost just $399. If NB205 were to hit over $400, there would more complains about the price than the bezel.

In short, NB205 is best at what it is now.

It also has an awesome webcam, Bluetooth 2.1, 160 HD, and an unbelievable RAM config of up to 8 Gig!!! (It only comes with 1 Gig, though.) I saw the white, brown, pink and cheaper black model. I think the brown looks the classiest. It was on sale for $398. Now that I have had a chance to research the NB205 and have read about the battery’s duration and what it looks like (not so cool), I think I will still buy it.

Hope this helps.

Peace,
BMR

The bezel is the size it is because of the keyboard size.

Aesthetics look very nice, and the price is right. Can’t tell, but it might be a little chunky. I’m leaning more in the direction of the 1008HA and the original HP Mini 1000 these days. As long as this is under an inch thick (ignoring the massive battery shown here), that’s fine.

Not sure this is a staggering breakthrough though. The 6 cell sticks out an awful lot. I’d be inclined to go for the 3 cell to keep the system size and weight within reason. I really don’t normally need 9 hours of battery life. Maybe the 3 cell can do 4.5 hours? Also, that right shift key concerns me. Haven’t we all learned the lesson of the early netbook keyboards? Couldn’t they have just put the PgUp and PgDn keys on either side of the cursor up and left the shift key full sized? The fact that YOU didn’t have a problem with the shift key size, doesn’t mean somebody else with bigger hands won’t.

Also, that bezel is ridiculous if they’re not planning on building one with an 11″ higher rez display. I assume that indicates this is quite a bit bigger than the typical 10″ netbook in size, even before allowing for the battery.

Also, having the USB ports at the front isn’t a good idea, even if having them powered when the unit is off is (hopefully this is configurable).

You don’t mention… upgradability (the panels on the bottom look encouraging), whether Toshiba will be offering the unit with an SSD option (I assume not, but I’m not buying a netbook that doesn’t use one), multitouch support on the trackpad (?), where the hell the speakers are (on the bottom which might be problematic).

All The Netbooks that I know have backlighted-LED display, including my old Eee PC 8G; And all my netbooks have USB ports with sleep-and-charge (while they are conected to the transformed – unless you talk about doing this in battery mode – without being plugged to the wall). Nothing special about this notebook, although the design is very elegant…

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