Toshiba NB200

Full Review

Following closely in the footsteps of NB100, the NB200 is Toshiba's latest netbook. Apart from the obvious change in form factor—NB100's 8.9-inch screen bumped up to 10.1-inch on the NB200—Toshiba doesn't seem to have changed a whole lot.

The Toshiba NB200 is a good looking netbook. It has a satin brown screen lid, polished and elegant. Similar finish on the bezel and hinge, while the keyboard, palmrest and touchpad are painted in silver gray. In terms of looks alone, it is reminiscent of the Sony Vaio W we reviewed earlier. Its 10.1-inch glossy screen is LED backlit, and its viewing angles are okay, nothing great. Although good looking and stylish as the Sony Vaio W, the NB200's build quality wasn't as good and left us wanting for more--the chassis, especially, feels too ordinary.

The Toshiba NB200's innards aren't different from most other netbooks. You'll find an Intel Atom N280 1.66-GHz processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and 160GB hard drive on the NB200—all standard these days. There's Windows XP Home operating system, but no Gigabit ethernet or Wi-Fi Draft-N, disappointingly. The NB200 has three USB ports, VGA-out, 2-in-1 card reader, and headphone and microphone jacks splashed around the chassis—we like its port placement, too; well thought out and intuitive. The whole thing weighs 1.3-kg with a 3-cell battery.

Based on standard netbook innards, it's no suprise the Toshiba NB200 performance is average. A WorldBench 6 score of 33 is good, in line with others like the Lenovo Ideapad S10 and HP Mini 110. We had no problems surfing the Web on Firefox with multiple tabs, while listening to some music over Wi-Fi. Its tinny speakers are average, and use them only if you don't have a headphone—audio is clearer and better through them. The keyboard has well spaced out chiclet-styled keys which don't offer a lot of flex. However, the keys are a little too tiny—especially the arrow keys and space bar are just too small for our liking. At least they aren't recommended for chunky fingers.

No complaints with the touchpad and mouse keys though—smooth and responsive, definitely larger than the one we saw on HP Mini 110. HD 720p video playback was poor, but DVD movies played just fine. The 3-cell battery lasted 2 hours 2 mins in BatteryEater's benchmark with full screen brightness and high performance preset, which is better than the Vaio W's. Expect over 3 hours of real-life usage with conservative battery presets.

Bottom Line

For Rs. 22,990, the Toshiba NB200's style statement is a lot more inexpensive than Sony Vaio W's. But keep in mind its ordinary build quality, and cramped keyboard. Not quite the Sony Vaio W, but the Toshiba NB200 offers average performance and good looks.