Toshiba NB305 review

As the NB305 uses Intel’s 1.66GHz N450 Atom processor, it has integrated graphics. The GMA 3150 chip isn’t particularly powerful and won’t allow you to play games but is ideal for the Windows 7 Starter Edition operating system installed. We found that this netbook, along with other N450-based models, was much more responsive, particularly when dragging open windows, than netbooks with the previous generation of Atom and graphics chips. Performance otherwise is largely identical to other netbooks. The overall score of 16 shows that the NB305 is fine for its designed job: internet browsing and light document work.

The rest of the hardware is as you’d expect on a modern netbook with three USB ports for external expansion, a 10/100Mbit Ethernet port and an SDHC memory card reader. The USB port on the left of the case (marked with a lightning bolt) can be set in Sleep and charge mode using the bundled software. This lets you charge USB devices using the port even when the netbook is in sleep mode. Cleverly, you can use a slider to turn off the port when the battery hits a certain point – by default it’s 10 per cent of the remaining charge.

Toshiba has also bundled some software to make the computer easier and more productive to use. ReelTime monitors the documents and applications that you open and when you opened them. Using its timeline view and thumbnails, you can quickly go back to a document or application that you’ve recently opened. The software can be disabled or uninstalled if you’re worried about system performance.

If you get an error you can restore the laptop using the built-in restore partition by pressing F8 when the computer starts. The 250GB hard disk is split into two 125GB partitions: the C: drive is for Windows, applications and user docs; the D: partition holds the restore information and any files that you want to keep when you restore the netbook.

You can also create a restore flash drive using the Create Recovery Media application to protect your computer in case the hard disk corrupts the backup files. This requires a USB flash drive with 5.7GB or more of storage space; however, it refused to work with our 8GB SanDisk Cruzer Contour. Fortunately, it it worked straight away with a 32GB Corsair Flash Voyager. Once the recovery drive’s created you have to press F12 when the netbook is turned on in order to access the boot priority menu and select the USB flash drive.

The stunning battery life, excellent build quality and additional software all add up to make the NB305 the best 10.1in netbook that we’ve reviewed. If you want something small and light enough to carry with you everywhere, this is the one to buy. It’s a Best Buy.