Toshiba mini NB255

Toshiba's update to their budget netbook offerings has all the style and comfort VGP-BPS13B/Q of the original but not the longevity.

When Toshiba updated their premium netbook VGP-BPS13/B line with the mini NB305 at the beginning of the year, the venerable notebook maker impressed us once again, making the already excellent design even slimmer and more modern. But the $399 price tag kept budget-conscious consumers at bay. Enter the mini NB255 (N245), a sub-$300 model that's a bit of a throwback to the original NB205 series, but in many of the best ways. Unfortunately, when it comes to two of the most important aspects of a netbook--keyboard comfort Sony VGP-BPS9 Battery and battery life--the NB255 shows its low-cost colors.

Design

The mini NB255's closest analog is actually not the original NB205-N310, but the lower-priced Sony VGP-BPS9/B Battery NB205-N210 that came out later. Like that system, the NB255 only comes in a glossy Celestial Black finish, but there's a raised, swirling texture that extends from the lid to the deck. Though glossy, the lid doesn't attract fingerprints readily due to the texture, so it remains good-looking no matter how much you handle Sony VGP-BPS9/S it.

The NB255 retains the NB205 series' somewhat boxy but elegant shape instead of the more tapered, streamlined look of the NB305. Another hold-over from the previous generation: a jutting battery. Yes, the NB255 has prominent junk in the trunk. We wish that Toshiba would put this protrusion to better use--perhaps to give the netbook a slightly Sony VGP-BPS9A/B Battery forward tilt.

Under the hood you'll find mostly matte plastic except for the hinge cylinder, which remains glossy. The Dell GD761 Battery power button at the center doesn't glow when the netbook is on; the lights in the front edge are your only initial indication that the system is booting or waking up.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Like the NB205-N210, the NB255 doesn't have the more Toshiba PA3534U-1BRS Battery attractive metal, island-style keyboard found on the premium models. The flat, terraced keys are still comfortable to type on, providing springy feedback. We also appreciated the textured palm rest.

Our only quibble is with the size and placement of some keys. The bottom right edge of the keyboard is a bit of a mess, with PGUP, PGDN, Shift, Dell Vostro 1710 Battery and the arrow keys all shoved together inelegantly. The undersized Shift key won't make touch typists happy, but at least it's in the right place. The left edge and bottom keys are also undersized, with Fn, Alt, and the Windows key about half of their normal size to make room for the ~` key, which should be up on the number Dell Vostro 1720 Battery key row. Users who often execute keyboard shortcuts may find this as frustrating as we did.

Thankfully, the touchpad remains the same across all Dell Latitude E5400 Battery of Toshiba's netbooks. The smooth finish on the 3.1 x 1.6-inch surface makes it easy to navigate the desktop, and the two dedicated left and right mouse buttons are comfortable and easy to press.

Heat

The NB255 stayed cool during testing and use. After playing a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured 91 degrees Dell Latitude E4300 Battery Fahrenheit, the space between the G and H just 87 degrees, and the middle of the underside 92 degrees--all below our acceptable heat threshold.

Display and Audio

Another element that remains unchanged across the NB series is the 10.1-inch, 1024 x 600-pixel LED-backlit Dell Latitude E6500 Battery display. The bright and glossy surface kicked back quite a few reflections when viewing content with dark backgrounds. An episode of Xena: Warrior Princess streamed from Netflix featured colorful, sharp visuals, but the horizontal viewing angles weren't as wide as we would've liked; moving left or right of center Dell Latitude E5500 Battery causes the screen to toss reflection back to you.

The NB255 has only one small speaker on the right side just underneath the front lip of the system. Not surprisingly, it didn't pump out very loud or stunning audio. Though we were impressed at the clarity of the bass we heard when listening to Superchick's "One Girl Revolution (Battle Mix)" and Aerosmith's "Eat the Rich," the overall audio quality Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad R60E Battery proved tinny. When watching TV episodes on Hulu we had to Lenovo/IBM Thinkpad X60S Battery hook up an external speaker, as volume there is generally low to begin with.

Ports and Webcam

Ports are just what we'd expect on a netbook: three USB, VGA, Ethernet, headphone, mic, Sony Laptop Battery and a memory card slot. Toshiba didn't include a Sleep-and-Charge port on this model, though at this price we didn't expect it.

The NB255's webcam is not impressive, capturing indistinct images good battery with muddy colors and a severe lack of sharpness. Even tweaking the advanced settings didn't help. While video chatting on Skype our friend found it hard to make out the details of our face and said the picture was quite dark. It reminded him of watching television in 1986 on Apple Laptop Battery his grandparent's old console TV.