Toshiba NB550D review

It’s not often that we get excited over a netbook, but Toshiba’s new NB550D is an exception. It’s the first netbook we’ve seen that uses an AMD Fusion processor, the first real competition for Intel’s Atom.

The dual-core C-50 processor inside the NB550D runs at a lowly 1GHz, but is still powerful enough for most basic tasks. In everyday use it felt just as responsive as an Atom-based netbook, running several browser tabs and Word documents without any slowdown. Serious multitasking is still out of reach though, as seen in our multimedia benchmarks. An image editing score of 18 is reasonable for a netbook, but the video and multitasking tests were just as slow as on a netbook using Intel’s hardware. On the plus side, the C-50 has a slightly smaller power draw than an Atom, which helps extend battery life. In our light use test, the NB550D managed an astounding nine and a half hours.

Although Fusion might not beat Atom in everyday applications, it has far better graphics support, courtesy of a DirectX 11-compatible Radeon 6250 chip integrated in the processor itself. It’s capable of playing Full 1080p video, although you’ll have to connect an external display to get the full resolution; the NB550D’s 10.1in screen has the same 1,024×600 resolution as most other netbooks. Gaming performance is definitely a step up from Intel’s integrated chip, but Fusion isn’t nearly powerful enough to play modern titles and Call of Duty 4 crawled along at 5.6fps.

Watching video on the glossy netbook display wasn’t a particularly enjoyable experience because picture quality was below average. Still images lacked contrast, even at maximum brightness, and colours looked cold. Both horizontal and vertical viewing angles are very limited, although there’s a reasonable amount of tilt. The huge glossy screen bezel is a fingerprint magnet and clashes with the matt plastic netbook body.

It’s a shame the screen isn’t suited to video playback, because the NB550D has some of the best sounding netbook speakers we’ve ever heard. Toshiba has partnered with audio specialists Harman/Kardon and the resulting audio quality is impressive. It was loud enough at maximum volume to be heard clearly across a room, without distorting. We could even make out bass notes, although they weren’t as powerful as a set with a dedicated subwoofer.

Beyond its refreshingly different internal components, the NB550D is a fairly generic netbook. The bright blue lid makes it easy to spot from across a room, but the textured design is rather bland.
The keyboard was rather disappointing; all the alphabetical keys are full size to make typing easier, but the half-size punctuation keys feel very cramped.

The typing position is fairly comfortable thanks to a slight bevel in the main netbook body, but the response from the keys themselves felt spongy and lacked tactile feedback. Applying minimal pressure is enough to make the entire keyboard tray flex. Thankfully the touchpad fared slightly better; it had an ideal amount of friction, letting us navigate the Windows desktop precisely. The touchpad buttons are colour-coded to match the lid and have very short travel times. We didn’t like how close they were to the lip of the netbook, but appreciated that they were two separate physical buttons.

Based on what we’ve seen, AMD Fusion processors are almost certain to find their way into more netbooks in the coming months. Performance matches that of a dual-core Atom in many areas but graphics power greatly exceeds what we’ve come to expect from Intel. Toshiba’s first Fusion netbook has wet our appetites, but its design leaves a lot to be desired. In spite of the excellent speakers, the average display and keyboard means that the Acer Aspire One D255.