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.

Toshiba Qosmio X305-Q708

This $4200 laptop packs a 2.53GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme processor with four CPU cores; 4GB of RAM; and two nVidia GeForce 9800M GTS video cards, each with 512MB of RAM, set up in SLI mode. In addition to running in standard SLI graphics mode, the Qosmio X305-Q708 lets you dial down to use the integrated GeForce 9400M graphics; this increases the laptop's battery life (which is just 1 hour, 24 minutes in full graphics mode) and decreases its heat and noise. The laptop measures 16.2 by 12.10 by 2.5 inches and weighs 12.4 pounds with the power brick in place.

On PC WorldBench 6, the Qosmio X305-Q708 turned in a somewhat disappointing score of 100. That's 33 points behind the mark posted by the competing Eurocom D901C Phantom-X, despite Toshiba's inclusion of such components as a 128GB solid-state drive to handle the OS, and a 320GB hard-disk drive to store files in). Nevertheless, the X305-Q708 did a creditable job with Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament III, cruising through them at high settings and 1680-by-1050-pixel resolution, managing frame rates of 52 frames per second and 75 fps, respectively. In comparison, Alienware's more affordable m17 posted frame rates of 44 fps and 51 fps on the same two tests.

Unfortunately, after loading this Quosmio with high-end components, Toshiba skimped on the 17-inch screen. It is fairly bright, displays vivid colors and sharp text, and even supports a fairly wide range of horizontal viewing angles, but its WSXGA 1680 by 1050 resolution is a bit underwhelming. Most other laptops in its class--even the Gateway P-7811FX (which costs about one-third of what the X305-Q708 costs--have a 1080p-friendly 1920-by-1200-pixel resolution.

But what you lose in screen resolution, you gain in visual flair. The X305-Q708 comes in a black and red case with reflective flames, glowing red LEDs, and lots of curves. The brash design won't appeal to everyone, but it adequately frames a generous array of ports, including three USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port (which doubles as a fourth USB 2.0 port), an Express Card 54 slot, and a four-pin FireWire port. You also get a modem port (tucked away beneath a hard-to-open plastic port cover), a multiformat flash card reader, and built-in support for a wireless USB device. On the video front, the Qosmio X305-Q708 provides VGA, HDMI, and DisplayPort outputs. Since this pricey laptop fully supports 1080p resolution when outputting video to an external monitor, it's a shame that there isn't a Blu-ray drive.

The laptop's keyboard sports a superglossy coating that looks fairly sleek but makes the keys unusually slippery. Most of the keyboard (which comes complete with a four-column number pad) feels full-size, but the spacebar is extremely narrow. You'll also notice some flexing as you type, and overall the keyboard feels thin and cheap. The touchpad, which sits flush with the palm rests, has a fine grain texture that distinguishes it from the rest of the body. The effect is attractive, but often the right side of my palm would touch it as I was typed, moving the cursor somewhere else in the document--to my intense frustration.

The Qosmio X305-Q708 excels in delivering pitch-perfect sound, thanks to four Harman/Kardon speakers and an embedded subwoofer. Games, music, and movies all sounded superb, with a wide range of highs, mids, and lows. Even at full volume, the audio exhibited no noticeable distortion. Though the speakers sound great on their own, the included Dolby Control Center software can deliver remarkably effective simulated surround sound--as long as you sit directly in front of the machine. Unfortunately, the lower-left speaker sits directly beneath your left wrist as you type, muffling the sound significantly.

On the software side, Toshiba refrained from installing a bunch of bloatware on this laptop. Besides Windows Vista Ultimate, an Office trial, and various CD/DVD applications, this is a clean laptop. Toshiba does include a number of its own apps, including a voice command utility, and facial recognition software. The voice application worked adequately after calibration, but ambient sounds--even the clicking of the keyboard--caused it to open and close applications. Similarly, the system's face-recognition software, which lets you log in without using a password, worked well enough--but only when there was sufficient ambient light.

For a desktop replacement laptop--a category filled with oversize eye-grabbers like the HP HDX18 and the Alienware m17--Toshiba's Qosmio X350-Q708 is an extrovert.