Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Toshiba NB100: say no to this netbook

Toshiba is often regarded as Totoya of the laptop world, churning out millions of models ranging from affordable to super-rich with the taste most consistent quality and innovation. Unfortunately, we are more NB100 Trabbi strike as East Germany, as if the boffins Toyota decided to make a third-rate car specifically for Jeremy Clarkson to tear apart mercilessly on Top Gear. That may be a large bird, but if you buy a NB100 joke on you.

Why are we so down on this NB100? What ever do for us to get angry like that? Short of it is that this could be brilliant if the Toshiba netbook just put some more effort into it. More effort, to be honest.



NB100 is probably the most pedestrian of all the netbooks we have seen to date

The blueprint is a bog standard 'netbooks 101': Atom N270, 1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive (one of his own mid-range Toshiba 5400rpm 2.5-inch model) loaded with Windows XP Home. Three USB ports, Wi-Fi 802.11g, Bluetooth, webcam, memory card reader, yadda yadda yadda.

This should make it easier to craft an outstanding netbook as a general floorplan lets you focus on bringing your own power to package and nail aspects of your competitors miss. This should work harder to make Toshiba's first netbook to distinguish them from others.

So you can understand our frustration when NB100 comes from looks like a cheap and rushed disappointing exercise 'me too'.

Design and usability
The design is worse than just a starkly utilitarian - it is ancient, like something found in a time capsule buried under the Toshiba HQ. With a chassis that chunky, black plastic panels and silver plastic trim around the edge of the NB100 is an unwelcome blast from the past who screamed and "Hello, 1980!" Brings us back to an era when the laptop will never be more than a boring business tool.
 
 

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