I decided to get a netbook because I desperately needed to replace my two laptops, dying at the same time (one from former job, one personal). A netbook serves my needs for now until my financial situation improves--it does what I need, and the price is great. I got mine with Windows 7, well, Windows 7 starter, actually.
Through my research, the Toshiba 205 emerged as the clear winner. The two issues in all the customers reviews that concerned me the most were the non-responsive trackpad, and the cursor-jumping.
Trackpad:
I got lucky--my trackpad does work. The only issue is, that though it is much bigger than most netbook trackpads, the edges are not responsive, so I use only the middle. Not a problematic adjustment for me. A BIG plus is that the right and left click buttons are separate. I am accustomed to that from my other laptops, so this is nice--when I tried the single clicker in the store, it drove me nuts.
Cursor-jumping:
This was a HUGE problem the first couple of days. I thought I'd have to return this otherwise fine laptop, then, instead, I went online to look for a fix. The forums insisted that typists are inadvertently "hitting" the trackpad, causing the cursor to jump. I was sure I wasn't, but I tried one of the fixes--disabling the "tapping" feature through the Control Panel, very simple, took a couple of clicks. And voila! No more cursor-jumping.
Sound, as predicted, is terrible, with the speaker inexplicably placed underneath the unit. But I knew that going in, and with headphones, the sound is fine.
I read on another review, that Windows Starter 7 will not play DVDs. Should I buy a separate player to plug into this, I will see if it is an issue, but for now, that just hasn't arisen in my use.
I will likely, in a few months, establish a desktop/larger laptop system as my main system, as the smaller screen is definitely less than ideal for hours and hours of document-scanning/reading, but for now, this little gem, priced right, is doing the job.
Four instead of 5 stars because it did not come with the full Windows 7 version (apparently), and it does have the limitations of a netbook--small screen, bad sound, no CD/DVD drive.Get more detail about Toshiba Mini NB205-N210 10.1-Inch Black Netbook - 9 Hour Battery Life.
