Toshiba NB505 Hands On and First Impressions (video)

The Toshiba NB505 was first announced at CES 2011 earlier this year and we are excited to finally get our hands on the colorful netbook. Netbooks may be falling out of favor with some consumers, but it’s clear that the NB505 will meet the needs of some users — as long as they don’t need to type a lot.

We’ve spent a few days using the [amazon_link id=”B004G8QZPG” target=”_blank” ]Toshiba NB505[/amazon_link] which has the Intel Atom N455 processor, 1GB RAM and a 10.1″ display and are satisfied with the performance of the small machine, which delivers exactly what you expect from a $300 netbook, but a little disappointed with the keyboard and the extra toolbars installed on Internet Explorer.

First Impressions of the Toshiba NB505 Video:

The key to purchasing and enjoying a netbook is to understand the limitations that come with the small form factor and the Intel N455 processor. With these in mind, we found that so far the NB505 is capable of delivering on a promise of webwork and office documents. We’ll be trying out the multimedia capabilities and audio experience, but don’t expect much without a Broadcom accelerator or the faster Intel Atom N550 dual core processor.

The one thing that stood out as a problem is the keyboard, which as expected is small, but in the case of the NB505 it is a bit small er than expected. The keys are pretty close to each other and many of the keys are smaller than we would like. On the other hand, the mousepad is pretty nice with support for multitouch gestures and two finger scrolling. The multitouch experience is ranked among the best we have seen on a Windows notebook, let alone a netbook.

A few other items to note include the fingerprint free cover that comes in several bright and dimpled colors. The NB505 is also pretty lightweight and fits easily into your hands for a quick trip or into your bag without weighing you down. We also like that despite bloatware installed in Internet Explorer, Google Chrome is pre-installed and ready to deliver a better browsing experience on the small screen.

[amazon_link id=”B004G8QZPG” target=”_blank” ]Toshiba NB505-N508GN[/amazon_link] Specs:

• Intel Atom processor N455 1.66 GHz, 512KB L2 Cache
• Configured with 1GB DDR2 (works at 667MHz, max 2GB)
• 250GB (5400 RPM) Serial ATA hard disk drive
• 10.1″ diagonal widescreen TruBrite display at 1024 x 600 native resolution (WSVGA) with a 16:9 aspect ratio and LED backlight
• Genuine Windows 7 Starter 32-bit with a 6 cell/48Wh Lithium Ion battery pack
• Battery Life (measured by MobileMark 2007): 8 hours, 21 minutes
• 3 USB 2.0 ports and VGA connection
• Size (LWH): 7.48 inches, 10.3 inches, 1.4 inches
• Weight: 2.9 pounds