Comments on: Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 10.1-Inch Black Netbook – 9 Hour Battery Life

By: Lori Peters

Lori Peters — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:47:55 +0000

I bought this off QVC and first it wasn’t available. I was going to get the Pink HP netbook with the fancy design. But, this Toshiba became available for 5 simple pays.

What a disappointment. I could not get it hooked up to my Fios Internet for more than 10 seconds. It even brought my Toshiba notebook that I had down. I spent so much time on the phone with the Verizon guy.

The stupid MS internet dial up on the screen kept trying to take over and I lost my signal over and over.

The keypad is horrible. It won’t go where you tell it to and is very flimsy. I like using a keypad instead of a mouse too.

The other thing that I really despised was the very crappy speaker. I had my fans on and couldn’t turn it up any higher and could not hear You’ve got mail from AOL on the speaker. 1 day was enough of this Toshiba for me. My notebook’s been a trooper. My sony vaio notebook sucked though. I reckon I just got a lemon.

The only thing that was nice other than the pink color was that it looked like my larger Toshiba’s baby. (LOL)

Maybe they’ll fix it in the future.
Rating: 2 / 5

By: Henry Wegner

Henry Wegner — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:17:32 +0000

1. Speakers are HORRIBLE sounds like a tin can. I downloaded an audio enhancer which helped a small. From what I would imagine the speakers will burn out in no time. It is unimaginable that these netbooks manufacturers place so small effort in sound quality. Shame on them all.
Read Consumer Reports ratings on most netbook speakers. They are 99% POOR. I must tell you that they were not kidding!!!!!!
2. Pre-Loaded software failed to provide a pre-loaded DVD decoder so no audio came on when I hooked up my external dvd player. I had to install a decoder. I was very surprised at this obvious omission.
1GB Ram is adequate. For safety sake I replaced it with a 2gb module.
The screen is barely adequate. I have 20/30 vision and I still need to use my reading glasses to use the unit to any satisfaction.
For such a high price Toshiba could have have done much better.
I’ll wait for the technology to improve before I get another one of these toys.
On the plus side. The Wi-Fi worked immediately after I entered by network access code and the pages loaded well.
I went to Radio Shack the other day and saw a 12″ Netbook and I must tell you that I should have bought it instead. The eyestrain is not worth it.
Rating: 2 / 5

By: Anon

Anon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:45:46 +0000

Built in camera appeared to be a Chicony 2. 0 USB camera, and had visibly lower quality than other laptop cameras in the store. Does anyone know the resolution of the camera versus other cameras? Perhaps it is lower draw by design to preserve battery life.
Rating: 4 / 5

By: Carl Nothnagel

Carl Nothnagel — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:54:39 +0000

I would have recorded a video review with my new mini laptop but it was broke.

First off I did not buy this item it was a raffle prize. When I first hooked it up to the charger and started charging it I couldn’t even wait to play with it. So I turned it on straight away and noticed there was a huge vertical distortion line that ran the entire length of the monitor. Needless to say I was able to load windows and attempted to connect to the internet where I intended to troubleshoot the problem. That is when I realized the WIFI was also inoperable. On top of this when the laptop was went an inch or so it would pop up with an “error” or status message stating the hard drive experienced some sort of jostling and the heads were going to a “safe place”. I can only assume the interior gnomes got motion sick and sabotaged my notebook in transit, and just to be mean gnomes, they continued to sabotage my new mini.

Anywho, if you intend to get any results from Toshiba don’t bother instead walk into a closet and scream into the blackness or better yet buy this item from a reputable dealer like Amazon who I like and stands behind their sales. So before you buy this item and let it sit around for more than 15-30 days try it out and make certain it is not DOA or you will lose the only support this laptop has. I mean only the warranty on this thing is loaded with awesomeness that wreaks of more attention to legal documents than product quality.

I have 2 Dell systems and have no problem getting a hold of someone to help me there. I do get transfered about 30 times but in the end I get some service and that is more than I can say from Toshiba.

Once I receive my replacement mini I will amend my review.

Sincerely mini-less in Johnsburg IL
Rating: 1 / 5

By: de la selva

de la selva — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:57:59 +0000

I got this netbook in part because it was advertised as having an led backlit show and was touted as being a “green” laptop. But after I bought it, I realized that it was anything but. I turned it over to find that it said the following. “Lamp contains mercury. Dispose in accordance with local, state and federal regulations. ” As we all know, led’s don’t contain mercury, ccfl’s do. So there you have it. . . in writing on the back of the netbook — this laptop is ccfl backlit inspite of being advertised as LED backlit. Also, it said in the manual that handling the cord will expose you to lead, a chemical know to the state of California to cause cancer, birth defects or reproductive harm. . . lovely. I tried asking Toshiba’s “technical support” about it and they were worthless. . couldn’t even pronounce led. Needless to say, I returned it as soon as possible.
Rating: 1 / 5