This is a very good laptop. It feels solid and that it is well built, which is important. I have held and touched the Asus netbooks in stores and they are cute but don't feel as solidly built as this Toshiba.
I opted for a color model which has a better keyboard and I think, is worth it because the keyboard is lighter (easier to see the letters you're typing) and easier to press (more Mac style). I recommend additional RAM as well as turning off all system animations (e.g. screen redraw, windows open/close, hid taskbar, etc.) I haven't tested the battery life to its fullest but it does seem to drain quite slowly, which is good. And thank god Toshiba is using XP and not Vista!
I gave this item 4 stars for the following shortcomings:
Max 2 GB RAM. I used to get 3 GB RAM as a minimum on all new systems. Since 2 GB is the max, I did buy the extra module but if you are a power user, you still might find 2 GB RAM too slow for you.
160 GB hard drive is decent, but why not 250 GB? Data storage is so cheap
System does get very hot on the bottom. This could be partly due to the extra RAM, but it is too hot to rest right on my lap. This is a continuous problem - not just a one-time thing.
I agree with another owner that the left/right mouse buttons need to be moved up just a tad so they don't rest on the edge. When you are laying down using the netbook, things can get pressed accidentally (but this doesn't happen very much so it's not a big detractor)
Other than those particular items, I am very pleased with it and I would recommend it to friends. I will be using this as a replacement for a Vista laptop that has crashed beyond boot up two months in a row (I decided not to chance a third time and simply retired that laptop until the Vista replacement comes out).
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