Toshiba Satellite L555-S7916

If you're looking for an inexpensive laptop with a large screen to park in the kitchen or use as a home-office PC, Toshiba's Satellite L555-S7916 is worth a look. The expansive keyboard, which includes a dedicated numeric keypad, raises the comfort level for word processing, Web site navigation, and spreadsheet editing chores--and that's about it. But you'd be hard pressed to find a desktop-replacement-size all-purpose laptop for less than the $699 asking price (as of August 28, 2009) of our test unit--aside from the odd fire sale at Walmart.

You won't want to watch movies or listen to music without external speakers connected. The Intel T6500 cruises along at 2.1GHz, but the notebook's limited (2MB) L2 cache hobbles performance. Still, the Satellite L555-S7916 chugged its way to a WorldBench 6 performance benchmark score of 81, only a few points behind themark of the Asus N90SV-A2, which sports a 2.66GHz CPU and costs two-and-a-half times as much as the Toshiba.

Though the 17-inch-diagonal screen offers 1600-by-900-pixel resolution, the display's overall image quality--particularly when playing back DVD movies--was poor. We popped in our test Serenity and Return of the King DVDs only to be greeted by blotchy colors, poor response times, and an extremely narrow range of tolerable viewing angles. The Toshiba fared a bit better in photo editing: Colors were bright and saturated, though the viewing-angle range remained very limited.

the L555-S7916 ships with a surprisingly useful software bundle. Highlights include Microsoft Works, Picassa 2, Corel DVD MovieFactory, Toshiba's own DVD playback software, Adobe Acrobat Reader, and Symantec Norton Internet Security. It's a wide-ranging package for light-duty office work and casual video or photo editing. The 320GB hard drive offers plenty of storage and seemed reasonably responsive for a 5400-rpm drive.

The Toshiba also includes a DVD-R drive and 3GB of RAM. Ports are situated on the left and right sides of the case, with none on the hard-to-reach back. The left side includes VGA, ethernet, audio, and a combination eSATA/USB 2.0 port, something we're seeing more often in recent units. The right side includes two more USB 2.0 ports, a modem port, and the requisite Kensington lock slot. The dual-duty SD Card/Memory Stick slot is in the front, next to an analog volume control knob.

Hard-copy documentation is limited to a resource guide and a setup poster. The user manual--a PDF file on the system--is pretty good, but you'll need to read it on-screen or print out a copy.

Despite the massive screen, the laptop weighs a surprisingly light 6.6 pounds, thanks in no small part to the relatively wimpy guts. Still, at 16.4 by 10.7 by 1.7 inches, the L555-S7916 feels a bit bulky and awkward to tote around town. Battery life was fairly impressive in our tests, at 3 hours, 32 minutes (the average for 17-inch power laptops is in the neighborhood of 2 hours, 30 minutes). Still, we'd trade in the battery life advantage for better performance, any day of the week.

The Satellite L555-S7916 impresses - It works fine for word processing, Web surfing, spreadsheet work, and light photo editing.

Toshiba NB205-312

Toshiba spokespeople say that the NB205-N310's six-cell battery can last for almost 9 hours. Wrong. In our tests, the NB205 survives a staggering 9 hours, 53 minutes. For a little perspective, that is easily the longest time so far that a netbook has been able to run--and this is with the standard battery on board. That alone catapults this netbook's worth to a top pick on the charts.

A killer keyboard and a touchpad to match are essential for a champion netbook. After all, how useful is a machine if you can't type on it without hurting your hands? Toshiba scores by making the Chiclet-size cutout keys just big enough, and by dropping down a huge touchpad. This is simply the best netbook mouse pad to date. For starters, the surface area of the strike zone is larger than that on many full-size laptops! Next, the beefy mouse buttons camp at the southern edge of the machine--easing hand strain.

The N310 has good (though occasionally muted) color reproduction and supports a reasonably precise resolution of 1024 by 600 pixels on its glossy 10.1-inch screen; the images look pretty sharp.

Its configuration looks fairly standard on the surface: three USB ports, an SDHC card reader, a Webcam, one VGA-out, ethernet, and headphone and microphone jacks. But it's put together in a 2.9-pound package and with a sense of style that doesn't look or feel cheap at all.

Toshiba also adds a few extras to the NB205-N310 that are sure to appeal to folks on the go--and even more so to IT departments looking to deploy cheap PCs to a mobile workforce. One notable perk is a pass-through USB port that enables users to charge USB-powered devices while the computer is off. This netbook also provides an internal accelerometer to protect the hard drive in case of falls (much as the HP Mini 2140 does)--and it offers wireless WAN support as an option.

As a quick heads-up, another version of the NB205 is waiting in the wings--the lighter, scrappier NB205-N210. The big differences between these sibling Toshiba netbooks boil down to price (the N210 costs $350, $50 less than the N310), key shape (the N210 has flat, wide keys, as opposed to the N310's cut-out style), and the N310's bluetooth support (the N210 doesn't have it).

But considering all the features packed into the N310--and how well it performs in a pinch--this is an easy-to-recommend netbook that's perfect whether you are a budget-minded businessman or you just need a flexible minimachine for a long day of note-taking.

Samsung N110

The Samsung N110 is, at its core, a slightly revamped take on the company's NC10. A bit of streamlining (better plastics and a slimmer profile) here and a couple tweaks (immense improvement on the mouse button) there...it all adds up to polishing away blemishes found on the original version. So if you find some echoes between the two reviews, they're entirely intentional.

Samsung has made an interesting decision to switch from the matte screen on the NC10 to the glossy side of the force. It doesn't matter all that much: The 10.1-inch, 1024-by-600-pixel panel works reasonably in all sorts of lighting conditions. What's notable is that, in a side-by-side comparison, the glossy finish didn't really make the screen on the N110 pop that much more--but it did introduce a bit of glare.

Samsung has addressed the troublesome touchpad buttons of its older netbook. On that machine you have to push the button down below the surface in order for the action to register. As a result, if you press the left side of the single-button bar, the right side of the bar juts up. On the N110, the company has fixed the problem quickly and easily by changing the molding on the casing. Even though the dimensions haven't changed from those of the NC10 (10.3 by 7.3 by 1.5 inches), the N110 feels a little more slender. And since Samsung built this mouse button into the curved bottom, it hits the hands more naturally. Generally it seems more secure.

The Features of the N110 include: an SD card reader, three USB 2.0 ports, VGA, ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, headphone and microphone jacks, and a Webcam.

If you're familiar with netbooks at all, you know not to expect them to be speed demons. No exception here: The 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU and 1GB of RAM in the N110 motored through our WorldBench 6 tests with the same verve we saw from the initial pack of netbooks using the same processor. It scored a hair higher than Samsung's previous model, earning a middle-of-the-road mark of 36. Also unremarkable is the fact that the machine comes with a 160GB hard drive. Where it does shine, though, is in the battery-life department: The N110 ran for a staggering 8 hours, 23 minutes. That's long by any stretch--and by netbook standards, it outdoes the competition without having to use an overly meaty battery. The system weighs only 2.7 pounds.

Offering an improved mouse button and impressive battery life, the Samsung N110 would make a great choice for your next road trip. At $470, it isn't by any means the cheapest netbook on the block, but it certainly is a handsome, functional one.