Toshiba Mini NB305-N440BL 10.1-Inch Netbook (Royal Blue) – $379.99
Let’s get real here. Netbooks AREN’T replacements for those of you those who must be looking for a NOTEBOOK. Having owned no less than 4 Toshiba notebooks up to now and currently on my first Sony notebook, I’d expect those machines to do the heavy lifting… serious Photoshopping, DV editing, CAD modelling, rendering, moderate gaming, etc. It’d be irresponsible to ding netbooks on how inadequate they’re at these tasks. With this in mind, the Toshiba NB305-N440 fills an exceedingly helpful role for those of you who have already got an entire-fledged notebook or desktop chugging away within the background.
The Toshiba netbook’s 3lb weight and size makes it incredibly portable, handleable, and stowable. Grab it single-handedly on the palmrest, grab it on the hinges, or scoop it up from underneath; it’s construction feels sturdy and solid where you don’t need to worry about something falling off from this type of abuse. For you existing notebook users, ever feel such as you ‘re devoting 80% of your backpack to carrying around that bohemoth… or how about attempting to use a fifteen” screen at the dining tray within the cattle-component to an economy flight? ESPECIALLY once you’re just using it to compose a number of paragraphs for a gathering, class, or email rant? The NB305 netbook remedies this exactly. The ten.1″ screen may be comfortably angled faraway from you even if the passenger in front decides to remain reclined inside the flight. Size and weight. Advantage? Netbook.
Unlike other netbooks, Toshiba’s NB305 has a design that accomodates a 6-cell battery as standard. No outrageous goofy protrusion as in HP and Sony’s extra-cost offering. With the lid closed, the total package remains as svelte and stowable as lesser competitors with their 3-cell designs. And as the Toshiba NB305 has a 6-cell Li-Ion as standard, real-world usage equates to a 5-7 hour run-time with the brightness set at max while pounding away at tasks that make the hard disk thrash around. Coming from a decade of using 2-hour notebooks, its amazing to be far from an AC outlet for that long.
How about useability for a 1.66ghz machine? With the Microsoft-imposed configuration of 1gig RAM, I had my doubts about Windows 7 Starter edition. It seems the NB305-N440 boots into the desktop in an affordable period of time and easy websurfing, emailing chores are handled without issue. Sites that utilize Flash like Hulu, Youtube, and a myriad of different flash-navigation stuff is incredibly surfable in this netbook. The VGA webcam offers adequate resolution and has a large enough capture angle to make this netbook suitable for video Skyping. Where it falls short is the speaker volume. It really is pandemic of all netbooks. When inside the boundaries of your individual space, the dinky speakers are barely audible enough for a talk in all however the emptiest of coffee shops. Those of you hoping to offer this sort of to grandma as a dedicated Skype device should hope grandma doesn’t mind wearing headphones. No issues with the netbook’s mic because the other party will hear you fine. Did this netbook decelerate? Eventually. By the point I had Skype fired up, two tabs in IE8 loaded on sizeable pages and a 3rd tab buffering a show on Hulu, the 1gig ram needed to swap stuff into the harddisk. Bumping as much as 2gigs DDR3 RAM would help, but you’ll ought to yank out the present one.
At first unboxing, the Toshiba NB305-N440′s brightness is about midway; passable, but not something I’d like to scowl at for greater than an hour. Crank up the brightness settings and the Toshiba’s efficient LED backlit screen shows itself to be very crisp, very readable, quite bright. The following several hours was spent installing personal stuff, Win7 updates (224megs), and removing the thankfully small amount of Toshiba bloatware. All that point the brilliant screen was legible and comfortable at the eyes. Even after Windows Update did everything it wanted, the netbook still booted up within the same 40-ish second span. That’s kinda impressive considering they’re still using a non-SSD traditional hard disk drive. Portion of this is often attributed to the reduced amount of OS baggage in Windows 7 Starter edition. On that note, there has been hardly anything I missed on this OS-lite. Can’t change the wallpaper? No big deal. The best plausible nit this is that Win7 Starter lacks multiple user accounts… so those hoping to fasten things down and hand it to their tots may have to upgrade beyond “Starter Edition”.
The heat vent at the left side emitted therms concerning the equivalent of holding your hand up near a fluorescent desklamp. It’s there, but under no circumstances bothersome.
While Senor Jobs positions his iPad to be a “consumption” device, there are those people who want to stay productive and the cause of a netbook’s existence is to sport that keyboard. The Toshiba NB305 netbooks don’t disappoint here. Touch-typists will appreciate chicklet keys that feel as nicely spaced as the entire other keyboards they’ve worked on. Toshiba saved space by narrowing the traditionally long caps-lock, shift, and enter keys. The touchpad is sweet too… full-size similar to most big-boy notebooks. Possibly the largest of ANY netbook. Dedicated left and right buttons are within the appropriate expected spot.
The last and most prominent nit is that the NB305 lacks built-in Bluetooth. Bluetooth would allow the Toshiba netbook to simultaneously control a mouse, feed a wireless headset, and transfer files between your smartphone. Being internal, it wouldn’t eat up a USB slot. Alas, neither the preconfigured units or ToshibaDirect offers internal Bluetooth of their netbooks. (Oddly, the Bluetooth SOFTWARE stack is already installed) The best recourse is their low-profile USB Bluetooth 2.1 dongle. Speaking of USB, among the many three slots in this netbook offers power even if the machine is off. This suggests only having to hold a USB charge cable in your phone in place of a bigger dedicated wallwart when travelling lite.
This leaves the last de rigueur issue, High Definition. It’s seems the fad to pair up HD with netbooks nowadays. I’m some of the biggest HD snobs on the market, but after using a netbook for several hours, forcing HD right into a netbook form factor is simply pointless… moreso when it only serves to kill the battery life with its high CPU/GPU requirement and the high-capacity battery requirement itself. Having the ability to stay productive for a 6-hour stretch on a Toshiba netbook trumps the notion of hunching over a ten” screen squinting at a “high definition” file for 2 hours. If I’m missing a show, I’m willing to “settle” for a 480P stream from Hulu on a Toshiba NB305-N440 instead of quit two thirds the quantity of battery life in these kind of HD netbooks. Want a portable high-definition playback machine? Get a whole-fledged notebook; full-HD widescreen, larger/louder speakers, blu-ray drive. I suggest this from first-hand experience.
Need to be productive while staying highly mobile? This Toshiba NB305-N440 is suitable for THAT task. i will’t really ding it for loss of internal Bluetooth now that Toshiba offers their low-profile dongle. Yes it takes up a precious USB port, however it’ll make up for it by its versatility in handling a (Bluetooth) mouse, headset, smartphone, pen tablet, etc. The streamlined 6-cell battery and other forward-thinking features like LED backlight, USB charging, diminuitive AC adapter, and draft-N WiFi makes this a well-focused netbook. In its pricepoint, the NB305-N440 netbook offers an excellent degree of functionality out-of-the-box, exudes a very good amount of durability, comes with a three year warranty, and is born from an organization that’s been into mobile computing for almost twenty years now.
More Details
- 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N455 processor
- 1 GB DDR3 RAM
- 250 GB SATA hard drive
- 10.1-inch LED backlit widescreen display; Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 video processor
- Microsoft Windows 7 Starter, 8.3 hours of battery life
Benefit from the lighter, brighter side of mobility with our award-winning, super-compact NB305 netbook – a companion PC offering a sensible, comfort-driven design and exclusive convenience features for light, on-the-go-computing. Thanks to excellent high-speed connectivity, the renowned Intel Atom processor, and up to an eight-hour battery life rating, this innovative best-in-class netbook lets you enjoy all the benefits of today’s fast-moving digital world, putting you in touch with your favorite people, sites, networks and media in ways and places you never imagined. Though small enough to throw in a purse or bag, it comes with a 10.1-Inch diagonal display, and provides smart features to enhance your mobile life – like a generous full-sized, raised tile keyboard and touchpad to ease input, USB Sleep and Charge, plus a durable textured finish and eco-inspired design. So it picks up where smart phones leave off, and makes many of today’s netbooks run a distant second.
Toshiba Mini NB305: Stylish, Highly Portable Netbook
Enjoy the lighter, brighter side of mobility with the affordable, super-compact Toshiba Mini NB305-N440BL, which weighs less than 3 pounds, is small enough to throw in a purse or bag, and has a brightly colorful 10.1-inch LED-backlit screen. Offering a durable textured finish and cover in Royal Blue, it features a full-size keyboard for comfortable typing and a larger touchpad with Multi-Touch Control, which enables you to navigate documents, web pages and images more easily.
With up to 8.75 hours of battery life, the Toshiba Mini NB305 offers a full day of computing without a recharge (see larger image). |
Brilliantly styled in Royal Blue (see larger image). |
The NB305 features a comfortable full-size keyboard, plus a full-size touchpad with multi-touch capabilities (see larger image). |
Combining the power of the latest Intel Atom N455 processor and NM10 Express chipset with a six-cell battery for up to 8.75 hours of battery power, you’ll be able to go through an entire day of school, work or errands without worrying about a recharge. The battery pack is neatly hidden under the casing of the netbook to preserve its sleek, ergonomic design.
The 250 GB hard disk drive is protected using an integrated 3D impact sensor which detects freefalls, shocks and vibrations. The Toshiba Mini also features a USB Sleep-and-Charge port, which allows external USB devices such as mobile phones and personal media players to charge from the netbook even when it is turned off. Other features include fast DDR3 RAM, an integrated webcam, and a mono speaker.
This Toshiba Mini comes pre-installed with the Microsoft Windows 7 Starter operating system (32-bit version).
Key Features
- 10.1-inch LED backlit widescreen display (1024 x 600-pixel resolution) provides richer colors and clearer definition–perfect for browsing the Internet.
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1.66 GHz Intel Atom N455 processor (512 KB L2 cache, 667 MHz FSB) combines performance and energy efficiency to explore the Internet and stay connected while mobile.
- 250 GB SATA hard drive (5400 RPM)
- 1 GB of installed DDR3 RAM (667 MHz; expandable to 2 GB)
- Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 video processor with up to 250 MB dynamically allocated shared graphics memory.
- Wireless Connectivity
- With its integrated Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking capabilities, this laptop provides up to five times the performance and twice the wireless range using 802.11n-compatible routers as you would with 802.11g networks. It’s also backward compatible with 802.11b/g networks (commonly found at Wi-Fi hotspots and in older home routers.
- With its integrated Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking capabilities, this laptop provides up to five times the performance and twice the wireless range using 802.11n-compatible routers as you would with 802.11g networks. It’s also backward compatible with 802.11b/g networks (commonly found at Wi-Fi hotspots and in older home routers.
- Included Toshiba Software:
- Toshiba Media Controller offers simplified media sharing. Using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, it lets you share videos, music and pictures from the media library on your laptop with compatible devices in your home entertainment network, or with other compatible laptops and devices, like an Xbox 360 game console. And you can do it all without moving equipment, burning discs or fumbling with cables.
- Toshiba Bulletin Board is an easy-to-use organizational and productivity app that lets you build your own personalized space on your desktop. With Toshiba Bulletin Board, you can quickly and easily manage your to-do lists and calendars, plus create your own custom work area by pinning your favorite photos, documents, links and more.
- Toshiba ReelTime helps you cut down the time it takes to search for files. The easy-to-use app takes traditional text-based file structures one step further to help you find what you’re looking for more quickly. Accessible from your taskbar, it shows you a visual timeline of your recently accessed files–using graphical thumbnails–so you can easily identify and get to your files faster.
- Included Toshiba Utilities:
- USB Sleep and Charge offers a great way to keep your portable electronics powered up without requiring your laptop to be on. With this laptop’s Sleep and Charge USB port, you’ll be able to charge your smart phone, MP3 player, and other portable electronics–all without having to keep your laptop awake.
- Hard Drive Impact Sensor takes the worry out of taking your most important files and multimedia at the go. Able to detect sudden movement along three different dimensions, the impact sensor (a complex system of hardware and software) helps safeguard your data by “parking” the hard drive heads in the event of a drop or sudden movement. And it works faster than you can blink to help protect your laptop and all-important data.
- Up to eight.3 hours of battery life (6-cell battery; 48 Wh)
- Dimensions & Weight: 10.47 x 7.57 x 1.43 inches (WxDxH); 2.6 pounds
Networking, Connectivity & Expansion
What’s in the boxThis package contains the Toshiba Mini NB305-N440BL notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions. It also comes with the following software:
This laptop is backed by a 1-year limited hardware warranty. |
Microsoft Windows 7 Starter
Microsoft Windows 7 Starter makes small notebook PCs easier to use because it puts less between you and what you want to do–less waiting, less clicking, less hassle connecting to networks. Windows 7 Starter combines the newest in reliability and responsiveness with the familiarity and compatibility of Windows. Some features include:
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Environmental Specifications
- Energy Star 5.0 certified
- Gold EPEAT designation for meeting standards to assist reduce its environmental impact.
- RoHS compliant effectively reducing the environmental impact by restricting the use of lead, mercury and certain other hazardous substances
Learn more about Toshiba’s environmental commitment.
Learn More
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25th Anniversary of Toshiba Laptops
This year, Toshiba celebrates its 25th anniversary of innovations and quality within the notebook PC business. Beginning with the launch of the Toshiba T1100, the area’s first clamshell-type, fully functional laptop computer, Toshiba has led the with such innovations because the first laptop with a colour monitor in 1991 and a laptop with integrated CD-ROM drive in 1995 (followed by the addition of a DVD drive in 1998). And in 2009, Toshiba unveiled the realm’s first ultraportable laptop with 512GB solid state drive.
Today, Toshiba is still a frontrunner in eco-friendly manufacturing, with virtually all of its consumer laptops earning EPEAT Gold status for meeting standards that help reduce overall environmental impact.
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Authors bio is coming up shortly. 
Until two hours ago, Toshiba’s website said this netbook was upgradeable to 2GB memory. i purchased the netbook and an upgrade memory module (exactly fitting their specs). The machine wouldn’t work with that memory.
Ok. This stuff happen.
Amazon very generously sent me a brand new memory module. This also didn’t work.
I spent hours at the phone, with Toshiba’s “technical” support. Serial liars all. Their clownish obfuscation was beyond all belief. I wish I had a transcript, because i’m able to’t recreate the stream of circular logic, technical ignorance, scripted flowery phrases, and dropped calls. (I also spoke with the excellent folks at Crucial. They make the module and spent a variety of time with me attempting to diagnose the issue.)
While Toshiba was busy denying there has been an issue I watched — at the fly — Toshiba’s website change: it now not associated with recommended memory upgrade modules. But nobody, from Level 1 to Level 2 (Level 3 was mysteriously sequestered and unavailable for direct contact) to Customer service back to Level 1 could ever for a moment admit there has been an issue apart from the unlikely coincidence that BOTH modules sent to me were flawed.
And (I had owned the machine for 1 day!) if i needed them to take a look at the netbook I needed to ship and insure it to Kentucky, at my expense, for his or her leisurely look. They wouldn’t cover me under warranty taking it locally right into a Toshiba-authorized repair shop.
The long story short, once I saw their very own website refresh and alter, I saw Toshiba’s new official story: they wouldn’t support a memory upgrade. I still have a downloaded spec PDF, which certainly does. But they’ve changed their tune online.
Amazon has been terrific throughout this mess. But Toshiba: what an awful corporate culture. What an awful warranty. What a lineup of folk picking up the telephone.
A company’s product isn’t any better than their customer support. I rank Toshiba because the worst.
My new Toshiba Netbook NB305-N440BL rocks!
I read all of the top reviews and that i came up three Netbook manufacturers that caught my eye: Asus, Toshiba, and HP. As I continued to observe user’s reviews and comments i eventually narrowed my decision to get a Toshiba. a couple of reviewers that caught my attention were Mac users they usually selected a Toshiba netbook. i determined and decided to compliment the NB305-N440BL model. It has the most recent N455 processor and uses the newer memory DDR3. This mixture gives the system a slight increase in speed. Also, having a 250GB hard disk drive is a far needed feature for me.
I purchased this netbook from Beach Camera via Amazon. I ordered it on a Thursday evening, it shipped on a Sunday and that i received it on Tuesday.
The initial installation was easy. Created a brand new Windows account for myself. Connecting to the WIFI network was quick and straightforward.
Windows 7 Starter OS is a limited version. I do have plans inside the near future to upgrade to the Windows 7 Professional version together with installing a 2GB memory module. Meanwhile, I’m still using the 1GB RAM that came with the system. I also installed an 8GB USB flash drive that’s dedicated as a Ready Boost device for the Windows 7 Starter environment. I’ve setup the flash drive of which 4GB (the max) would be utilized by the OS. i suspect for now, I’ll keep Windows 7 Starter. Up to now, it’s useable and that i haven’t encountered any issues. My 2GB Kingston memory module is within the means of being shipped from Toshiba Direct.
In regards to finding the best memory module. I’ve read that the BIOS version 1.5 will handle either the DDR2 or the DDR3 memory modules. Versions previous to BIOS version 1.5, can only handle DDR2 memory. One has to upgrade their BIOS to at the least version 1.5 to use the newer DDR3 memory technology. Mine came with BIOS version 1.5. As i discussed before, I’ve purchased the recommended Kingston memory module (DDR3) from Toshiba Direct and patiently awaiting its arrival.
I’ve also purchased a Samsung portable SO84C/RSBN DVD drive here on Amazon. Setup was easy and within 10 minutes i used to be on my technique to burning Recovery disks for my Netbook. I’ve read that it’s important to create Recovery disks/media of your Netbook before you begin configuring, and installing apps. Now that I’ve done mine, i will start putting my new netbook in the course of the test. BTW, the Samsung DVD drive is awesome! Note: it does include a Y-split USB cable and Nero software suite.
I’m mostly using my new toy for storing my photos. Also, I plan on using it for blogging, checking email, and researching on the web. This could even be great to tackle trips due to it’s small size and light-weight weight.
I need to say, I’m impressed with the Windows 7 Starter OS although it has limited capabilities. Up to now, I haven’t felt the necessity to upgrade the OS. After a number of days of use, I’m finding other applications that came with this Netbook including MS Works word processor to jot down this review.
** Update 10/14/10 **
I received my 2GB Kingston memory module from Toshiba Direct. The part number is KTT1066D3S/2G. I see the identical part number here on Amazon, nevertheless it appears they’ve the incorrect picture of what the module appears like. It might be great if someone who has purchased this module from Amazon, to post the particular picture. i do know it’d be helpful for others.
Before installing my memory module, I removed the battery. There’s one screw that holds down the door to the memory module and it’s very snug. Once unscrewed, the screw stays at the door. Ought to slide the door towards the screw and raise up gently. Eventually, the door will come out. Instructions were supplied with new memory on easy methods to remove the former module and the way to put in the brand new one. I replaced the memory cover and put the battery back into the netbook.
I turned the ability on and hit F2 when the Toshiba logo appeared at the screen. The BIOS showed the hot 2GB of RAM.
I did notice that boot up into Windows 7 Starter was faster. Applications seem like running faster to boot.
** Update 10/29/10 **
I ended up installing Kaspersky Internet Security software (including anti-virus) on my netbook. I’ve used this product years ago once I was a Windows Weenie. Now, that I’ve been a Mac user for the previous couple of years, I haven’t had the necessity to use an anti-virus software. Kaspersky is operating like a charm and thanks to it’s small footprint, it hasn’t bogged down my system in any respect.
A few days ago, I bumped into a number of problems while using Internet Explorer 8 that came with my netbook. Whenever I ran IE8, it might slow my system down or even brought it all the way down to its knees. i’ve since downloaded and installed Firefox and Safari. Both are working extremely well and noticeably faster than IE8.
I’ve also downloaded Windows Live Writer which permits me to put in writing my blog posts offline and publish to my blog once I have Internet access or after I’m able to post. This WLW software works fine with my system. BTW, Windows Live Writer is a very good tool.
** Update 10/30/10 **
I have found the ideal netbook bag for this Toshiba system. i used to be at my local Best Buy and located the Wenger Legacy Double Slimcase Netbook case. It has a double zippered storage area: one has tricot lining for storing the netbook and one for storing small papers, etc. There’s also front and rear pockets where the padded handles shall be stored after which it may be used as a well padded slipcase to place right into a backpack.
I’ll be back to post additional software that works with this netbook. Stay tuned!
Here’s the primary time i purchased an economical computer in my life. It’s my 7th Computer and that i could say that this has a great performance for an inexpensive laptop.
I use this at college and work as a Paramedic and it really works fine. It’s handy in my job. Also, it’s far scratch resistant which the very first thing that I got attracted it doesn’t have the shiny skin which I hate because i don’t like scratches. The speaker is simply too small for this laptop which i didn’t like. I also put games in it along with Fate. I haven’t attempt to put more games in it because this isn’t a gaming PC. Battery life is right enough to remain longer at school and work.
In line with good computer reviews, i purchased it and my daughter is amazingly satisfied using it for taking notes in school. She just pops it into her purse and stale she goes while she watches people manhandle their larger laptops into carrying bags.
Battery life is far better than the HP 1000 that she had, about 6 hrs. Keyboard works well and the netbook has handy s/w tools that help if you’re more conversant in it. Outside case is scratch-resistant. Has 3 USB ports. 250Gb HDD capacity is helpful. HDD shock sensor was nice to have but I never mistreated a laptop while in use before. Little faster processor than the HP 1000. Webcam is healthier than HP 1000′s. Windows 7 operating system is more user friendly than Vista, more like XP.
The big negative was the speaker placement, in front but below the keyboard so unless your ears are near your belly button, you must push volume control to max or use headphones. Toshiba sells a DVD RW drive but i purchased a cheaper portable DVD drive with a credible brand thru Amazon. i purchased a 2Gb RAM but haven’t installed it yet. All-in-all, a terrific netbook to hold around.
It’s not really fast, it has a moderate capacity, etc. It serves grandly for reading email, for web surfing, and for substituting for a radio for night listening where reception sucks. We needed an alternative choice to radio at our weekend cabin and it does that. We expect it’s been a good selection. So long as you don’t think you must get high end performance from low end costs, you may be happy.
I absolutely LOVE this netbook .. it tethers great from my HTC EVO Smartphone. The battery life is superb and that i use it frequently to talk with my boyfriend in England. i’d recommend this netbook to everyone!!
Does everything it’s suppose to do well. Well built. Comfortable to make use of. Battery lasts all day. Good clear screen makes using it a joy.