Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Killer looks, above average performance, inexpensive, HDMI output.

Thumbs down: Bad audio, poor webcam, long boot time, keyboard looks great but doesn’t really perform that well.

Inside the Trunk:
CPU :1.3-GHz Intel Pentium SU4100
RAM Included :4GB
RAM Upgradable :8GB
Hard Drive Size :320GB
Hard Drive Speed :5,400rpm
Display Size :13.3
Native Resolution :1366×768
Graphics Card :Intel GMA 4500MHD
Video Memory :132MB
Wi-Fi :802.11n
Bluetooth :Bluetooth 2.1
Operating SystemMS Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: Though Toshiba made a late entry into the Netbook market, looks like it has directly jumped into with Ultra Low Voltage category with vengeance. Its got style that speaks volumes about its class.

Frankly this one could send any techie drooling over it. Brilliantly styled and available in Black, Red and White, this one is definitely amongst the best designed netbooks I ve seen till date. Its got a nice subtle pattern which extends throughout the lid, the keyboard and the touchpad. Obviously the touchpad is a bit textured. Though this one has a glossy look it isn’t exatly the finger print like most others in the category.

At 3.8 pounds this one is quite lightweight and can be held easily in one hand. It easily fits into the shoulder bag.

The keyboard of this one could appear to be slightly cramped if we compare it with the dimensions of the netbook at 12.7 x 8.8 x 1.4 inches. The thing is the manufacturers have left around an inch on both the sides of the deck, rather they could have easily extended this one from edge to edge which would make the keyboard a bit more spacious. Using it we could easily type around 77 words per minute which again seemed a bit less as compared to the 88 words per minute category average. It does take some time getting used to this one. The touchpad is a bit small but it supports multitouch functionality and is responsive enough. The only complain I have with this one is that it has a single rocker button.

Its got a 13.3-inch display with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels which is perfect enough for daily tasks like web browsing and document processing. The bright display was impressive enough and the images also looked vibrant and sharp. Even the Hulu clips were sharp. However the sound produced by the speakers was a bit disappointing. But frankly I ve stopped expecting much netbook speakers. The sound wasn’t loud and it had a tinny feel to it.

Normally fanless ULV systems tend to heat up, but this one remained cool even after heavy operation.

Looks like this one just added the Webcam for the heck of it. Yeah. Obviously when others can add it why should Toshiba stay behind? The 1.3 megapixel Webcam is absolutely miserable with dull looking images and even the videos were grainy and there was a lot of motion blur.

This one comes along with the face recognition which is used as a password for logging into the system. However in this case as well I had to give it three shots so that the face gets registered properly whereas the previous Toshiba netbooks hardly required one shot.

The 1.3-GHz Intel Pentium SU4100 CPU, 4GB of RAM helped this one notch 50 points above the category average in the laptop performance tests. The 5,400-rpm, 320GB hard drive was a bit slow though. It took almost 19.83 Mbps for this one to transfer a 4.97 GB folder of mixed media. It took around 1 min 15 secs for this one to boot, though I assume this was because of the heap of trial software which comes along with it. This one isn’t exactly one for gamers, though it can still be used by amateur players just for fun. The Professsional gamers might find it a bit annoying to use this one because of its average gaming features thanks to the integrated Intel 4 Series Express Chipset card.

The battery life of this one is impressive at 7 hours and 23 minutes, though it isn’t the best in the category it just about lingers somewhere in the corner.

This one comes with a lot of preloaded software which includes the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, a trial of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (including a compatibility pack, activation assistant, and PowerPoint viewer), and a trial of Norton Internet Security.

The black one will cost you around $699 and the ones in Red and White will cost you around $709.

Nitty-gritty: With that kind of a price tag this one has a lot to offer, right from jaw dropping looks to above average performance. I won’t say that this one is something you would go gaga over but it’s a decent enough and worth a look. And especially for people looking out for an inexpensive stylish laptop this is the one.

Sum n substance:

Thumbs up: Good price,  excellent endurance, good keyboard, loud and clear speakers.

Thumbs down: Graphics performance isn’t that great, glossy screen.

Inside the trunk:
Display Size :13.3
Native Resolution :1366×768
Graphics Card :Intel GMA X4500MHD
Video Memory :132MB
Wi-Fi :802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth : Bluetooth 2.1
Operating SystemMS Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit)

THE WHIZ-KID SPEAKS: This one marks the entry of the leaders into the low cost portable notebook market. ASUS is most of the times criticized for their high prices. But with this one it promises high endurance without burning a hole in the pocket. Anyways lets move ahead and take a look at what this  one really has to offer…

Razzle-Dazzle: “ Less is more” and surely with this one I think ASUS is hell bent on proving this one true. As far as the looks are concerned ASUS have definitely gone forward and added a touch of elegance keeping with the minimalistic design. Its got an aluminium lid and fortunately isn’t a fingerprint magnet like most of the other notebooks being launched.

This one isn’t spattered with loads of buttons, instead it just has one button for launching the ExpressGate and another one for the Power on thhe right.

The keyboard has a diamond wave pattern all over it and the keys are evenly spaced which make for a comfortable typing experience. This diamond wave pattern extends all right through the end till the palmrest and throughout the touchpad. One has to be a bit careful while typing though, because one might accidentally just slide his hands over the trackpad. Also what I didn’t like about the keyboard is the single rocker button which atleast I for one am not comfortable with.

Its got a 13.3 inch display which is a bit too glossy, though the 1366 x 768-pixel display is vibrant and the colours are deep enough. It offers a good array of vertical and horizontal angles which are pretty good. Atleast three people can watch a movie comfortably.

As far as the overall dimensions and the aesthetics as concerned this one is quite similar to Apple’s child… the Macbook. At 12.7 x 9.2 inches this one is a bit thicker by .94 inches but that offers space for more ports. It weighs about 4.0 pounds and is pretty much portable, sliding easily into most of the carry bags or pouches. The left side houses the HDMI and VGA ports along with an USB port, while on the right we have the Ethernet, a 5-in-1 card reader, mic and two USB ports.

Inside Dope: The speakers of this one were loud and clear quite contrary to what I expected it to be. Anyways the volume of the speakers even at 50% volume can easily fill up a small room and even when the volume was at maximum it did not create any kind of blaring sounds. This one probably is one of the very few laptops which come along with some real good speaker quality.

The video quality of this one is pretty much average. Streaming a video of the famous ‘70’s show’ was not much of a problem. The video quality though not a total ace was pretty decent. Still I would advice downloading the videos and then watching them for better performance. It comes loaded with a 0.3 megapixel webcamera which again is not that efficient. During video calls there over Skype this one exhibited some video stuttering and the videos were a bit grainy and  choppy.

This one produced average results in our overall system performance test and I would definitely attribute this to the underpowered 1.3-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 ULV processor, 4GB of RAM. This one could definitely been better.

It took 3 minutes and 39 seconds for this one to successfully transfer a folder of  4.97 GB of  mixed multimedia, thanks to the 5,400-rpm, 500GB hard drive which is pretty much above the category average. Multitasking with this one while writing this review was also a pleasant experience.

This being loaded with  Intel’s GMA X4500MHD didn’t exactly have anything much exciting to offer in the graphics department. So I won’t exactly recommend this one if your looking out for some good gaming or video watching experiences.

Living upto its claims of  high endurance, this one offers a battery life of  9 hours and 55 minutes which is simply FANTABULOUS. Its almost double the category average. It took almost 3 hours and 55 minutes to get fully recharged during which it consumed aa power of  36.3 watts.

Nitty- Gritty: This one definitely outperforms most of its competitors. Though this one isn’t exactly for those who are looking out for a high end multimedia loaded performer, this one is for those who want to use a notebook for everyday tasks. Plus at $799 this one is definitely worth every penny being paid for it or even more.

Ahhaaa… well this one is surely awesome news for all the fans of Batman. Zotac International a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards has announced it own Nvidia GeForce GTX 285-powered graphics card based on the batman theme.

Not that Batman: Arkham Asylum has any less fans, but with the launch of this the fanbase is surely going to increase. With every purchase the buyer will get a free copy of the game. Touted to be the best game this year, this one has batman fighting all his old enemies including Joker and Poison Ivy.

Mr.Berger marketing director of  Zotac feels that the Arkham Asylum is an awesome platform to show off the power of the ZOTAC GeForce® GTX 285: Batman edition.

Well things just keep on getting better… this limited edition version could be yours for just £259.99 and without any premium. However, you got to be quick because only 900 have been made.

And that’s definitely not where the list ends. This one has an Nvidia GeForce GTS 240 Graphics Card and this coupled with the Core i7, it’s surely something worth placing your bets on. This brings along with it a spectacular gaming experience with 3D graphics. According to the makers, the curves that this one offers haven’t been put up there just for the heck of it. Apparently everything out there on display has been built for convenience and endurance. With all these features it already has many gamers going gaga over it.

This one could be yours for £799 without the monitor and if you want the whole assembled version it could cost you around £1,029.

This one is a quite a competent make coming from the Acer stable and is also priced quite reasonably at $393. The launch would most probably take place in October.

It comes loaded with a dual-core AMD Athlon X2 L310 1.2GHz CPU and 2GB of memory, along with an 11.6 inch screen with a pixel resolution of  1366 x 768. We assume that this one would have some really great graphics to offer with the ATI Radeon HD 3200 GPU graphics card.

Being a Ferrari one this one has the prancing horse on its back along with a spattering of red. It also packs in some hard punches staying true to its name with a 250GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity.

Also this one would be the pioneer in using the dual-core processor AMD Athlon X2 L310 chip. With a running speed of 1.2 GHz we assume this one to be a stunner at multitasking. Also the keyboard is pretty much spacious and should provide a pleasant typing experience.

We are waiting to lay our hands on it soon and the review of this one would be updated in a few days.