Toshiba NB305-10F review

This refreshed version of the Toshiba NB305 is almost identical to the one we reviewed back in July, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. At the time, we said it was one of the best netbooks around.

From the outside it’s difficult to notice any differences in this new model. The smart textured lid and silver case remain unchanged, as do the Chiclet-style keyboard and large touchpad. The keyboard is still comfortable to use, but minor issues such as the small tab key and relocated backslash are still annoyances. The overall design of the keyboard tray hasn’t changed, and as such looks slightly dated compared to the current netbook competition. The two individual touchpad buttons have excellent feedback, while the touchpad is just as responsive as the old model’s.

The 10.1in screen has a glossy coating but it was fine to use in well-lit areas and didn’t create distracting reflections. Although viewing angles weren’t fantastic, there was plenty of screen tilt for finding the perfect angle. Contrast was average, brightness wasn’t dazzling and colour reproduction was slightly inaccurate. White images had a slight yellow tinge, giving the overall picture a slightly washed-out look. The 1,024×600 resolution is the standard for this screen size, but everything looked sharp. Audio was disappointing: the downward facing speakers were both very quiet and poor quality.

At least Toshiba includes its excellent software suite. As well as a helpful backup and restore system which can rescue Windows in the event of a system crash, the toolbox software monitors the hard disk for vibration. When an impact is detected it stops the disk temporarily to avoid damage to both your hardware and data. While this is useful and rarely found in laptops of this price and size, it was activated by even slight vibrations, so we hard to decrease the sensitivity.

The main change in this updated model can be found inside. The processor has been upgraded to an Intel Atom N455, which supports DDR3 memory. Although the clock speed hasn’t increased, the faster memory should improve performance slightly. Unfortunately, this wasn’t apparent in our testing: an overall score of 16 in our multimedia benchmarks was average for a netbook.

The three-cell battery managed a little over eight hours in our light-use test, which is respectable. After this length of time the underside became warm to the touch, but the keyboard remained cool. The fan was also reasonably quiet, but at very close proximity there was an audible whine.

While six months ago this was a fantastic laptop, other manufacturers have had time to release better models that not only look better, but last longer and have improved screens. If you already own the original NB305, there’s no point upgrading. If you don’t, you’re better off with the cheaper Acer Aspire One 533.