Mini-Laptop: Toshiba NB205-N310

Design. The design style of Toshiba NB205-N310 doesn't look or feel cheap at all, with a fingerprint-resistant white, blue, brown, or pink textured lid and a silver keyboard tray. It has boxy chassis design and rounded corner.

Keyboard. The keys of the keyboard are widely separated. The distance of each key is close to what you'll find on full size keyboard. So the keyboard is comfortable and easier to use. The touch pad is more than 3 inches wide (3.1x1.6-inch), the biggest on mini-laptop, make it easy to navigate the desktop. The two dedicated right and left mouse buttons are comfortable.

Screen. The 10.1-inch screen has color reproduction and support 1024x600 pixels. Images look plenty sharp on the screen. The LED display makes the screen thinner and uses less power.

Performance. Score of WorldBench 6's performance test is 36 - it is standard performance score. Like the other mini-laptop, the system offers enough computing power for the basic tasks. Mini-laptop are design for web surfing, working on documents, and some basic multimedia playback. Intel's Atom processor, N280, used in this NB205 slightly faster, particularly in single apps tests. The NB205 boot Windows XP in 1 minute and 25 seconds. According to Laptopmag.com, the boot time is longer than the 55-second mini-laptop average.

Battery life. The six-cell 5800mAh lithium ion battery can last for almost 9 hours, 53 minutes (PC World). Almost the same, Laptopmag.com also test the battery (continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi), it lasted 9 hours and 24 minutes. On Cnet.com's test, the battery run for 6 hours and 14 minutes on video playback battery drain test.

Sound. Its sound quality is not good.

Special Features. The netbook provides an internal accelerometer to protect the hard drive in case of falls (much as the HP Mini 2140 does). The mini-laptop has sleep-and-charge technology. It allows you to charge or power USB devices from one of the three USB ports, even if the laptop is sleeping, hibernating, or off.

SPECS. CPU: 1.66GHz Intel Atom N280;　RAM: 1GB, 533 DDR2;　HDD: 160GB 5,400rpm;　OS: Windows XP Home;Dimension　(WxDxH): 10.4x7.6x1.3 inches;　Weight: 2.9 pounds;　Screen: 10.1 inches;　Audio: speaker, headphone/microphone jacks;　Port/Slot: 3 USB 2.0; SD card reader;　Connectivity: Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth;Webcam: 0.3 megapixel.