Toshiba is just the latest manufacturer to join the netbook fray with this NB100.  

Two versions are available, in fact: the NB100-10X and the NB100-111.  Both have an Intel Atom processor, but the former uses an 80 GB hard drive and 512 MB of RAM to run a Linux distribution, while the latter has 120 GB and 1 GB of RAM to support Windows XP.

Handling & Connectivity
Netbooks with 8.9'' screens are, by definition, smaller than 10'' models, and this has an impact on how comfortable they are to use, and it can come down to a question of a few millimeters here and there.

The keyboard on the NB100 gives a classic example of this: the keys are 1.5 cm across, compared to 1.8 cm on the MSI Wind U100.

Just three little millimeters shouldn't make that much difference, but typing really is a lot more difficult on the smaller keys.  

This isn't helped by the fact the keyboard doesn't feel very solid and almost feels as if it is bending as you press the keys.

In front of the keyboard, very little space is left to the touchpad: with just three centimeters to play with, it's just five little millimeters than the one on the MSI Wind U100, but it's still tougher to use.  


Apart from the hard drive, which you really need to work hard to hear, the NB100 is generally very quiet.

Typical webcam shot

The images produced by the webcam are blurry and a little dark in low light conditions.  If there's an extra light source available--a desk lamp, for instance--then things are a lot better.

Despite some persistent feedback, the internal microphone is good and voice calls were nice and clear.

The speakers really aren't loud enough to watch a movie in a quiet room, and unless you want to press your ears right against them, then you'll be better off with a pair of headphones.

Along each side of the netbook are three USB ports, an Ethernet port, a VGA output, a pair of mini-jacks and a memory card reader, while on the outside, there's a Bluetooth chip.

One of three USBs	2 mini-jacks
VGA	Webcam

Processor Power
We were testing the XP version of the NB100, which meant we had an 80 GB hard drive and 1 GB of RAM to play with--a very standard combination for netbooks, which gives a fairly predictable set of results.

Nevertheless, these computers aren't identical and there are a number of characteristics that you can use to distinguish them.  

One of them is the time it takes to power up: Toshiba's netbook needs about 45 seconds, but the best netbooks can do it in 35 seconds.

The data transfer rates are another factor you can take into account, and here the read speeds are very interesting: starting at 49 MB/s, the write speeds gradually fall to 21 MB/s as the hard drive fills up.

As we've said so many times before about netbooks, launching applications is fast enough, but performing complicated operations--editing video, say, or file compression--will generally take between two and three times longer than on a 'regular' notebook.

Portability & Battery Life
When it comes to netbooks, the magic number is definitely one kilogram, and at 1.05 kg, the NB100 comes pretty close, and is still around a quarter of the weight of a 17'' laptop.  The charger is more concerning, weighing 364 grams, or three time as much as the one that Hercules provide with their eCAFE EC900.

The model we tested didn't ship with the final version of the battery, which perhaps explains why it only managed 2 hours 15 minutes on our standard battery life test (headphones plugged in and screen brightness at 100 cd/m²).  

Even with the proposed improvements from the new battery, we doubt you'll be able to expect the five hours of the Asus 901.