Toshiba's NB100 netbook coming to the UK

That Toshiba netbook we've seen in grainy video and semi-official fashion has gone and gotten all really-official today -- at least in the UK. The minuscule laptop -- dubbed the NB100 -- will feature an 8.9-inch, 1024 x 600 display, a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 120GB hard drive, WiFi, and will be available in either Ubuntu or Windows XP flavors (you're surprised, right?). The NB100 will be offered in three colors, Cosmic Black, Champagne Gold, and Bright Silver, thus making its casing the only difference between this and every other middling, mediocre netbook on the market. Prices are set to start at £260 (or about $472), and the laptops will be on shelves this October.

[Via Engadget Spanish; Thanks, Joe]

[Steph-Chan @ Sep 18th 2008 11:14AM]

What is up with the cookie cutter approach. What ever happened to thinking outside the box which introduced the netbook to the market in the first place?

[Mike @ Sep 18th 2008 11:58AM]

normally i'd think the same, but I can assure you that the quality of Toshiba's case will be second to none....

also, it looks like they did something fun with the touchpad and its buttons...only time will tell.

i'd get this over any of the other ones any day

[OneLove @ Sep 18th 2008 2:15PM]

Another netbook!...Arghhhhhhh!!!!! (runs away screaming)

[Wolfticket @ Sep 18th 2008 3:54PM]

Thinking out side the box generally serves to produce a new box.

[Patriks7 @ Sep 18th 2008 11:17AM]

I would say that it looks actually quite cool
And damn, are those specs pwnage! Never seen those around!

[Thi mam(kris120890) @ Sep 18th 2008 11:19AM]

At £260 that makes this the cheapest 8.9 inch netbook with those features in the uk, I think

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 18th 2008 11:35AM]

No comment (excluding this one).

[patsy @ Sep 18th 2008 11:41AM]

These snarky remarks about the mediocrity of every new netbook coming out are slowly getting tiresome. I really don't know what exactly you guys are expecting at the $400 price point, especially considering that most of these devices use pretty much the same chipset and that the margins are probably razor thin for the manufacturers anyway. Perhaps if they threw in a free potted plant with each unit that would make you happy?

[Hellaphunt @ Sep 18th 2008 12:23PM]

This pool is full of vicious snarks.

[Tranada Day @ Sep 18th 2008 11:53AM]

Anyone remember the original Libretto?

[Loonie @ Sep 18th 2008 12:08PM]

I'd hoped with their Portege history they could have brought something different to the format.

[d00b @ Sep 18th 2008 12:23PM]

They can't. Both Intel and Microsoft have set limitations on what is allowable for the netbook platform, in order to use their products (for MS, a low price for XP): 10" LCD, 1GB RAM, etc. More critically is the short time to market. In order to get products on the market in a few short months, most all of these co's have had to use the same Intel ref design (all have the same chipset), leaving little wiggle room for differentiation.

As alluded to in the MSI interview posted earlier, succeeding generations will have a broader spectrum in price/features. The Asus N10 is one such attempt.

[Loonie @ Sep 18th 2008 3:41PM]

Intel and Microsoft can tell you what to build now?

[Onetrack @ Sep 18th 2008 12:16PM]

Engadget - Read and take note:

Every single one of these netbooks so far have EXACTLY the same specs.. 8.9" or 10", 1024x600 res, 1 gig ram, linux or xp (forget about linux models for the North American region of course) and a hd..

We all know these have completely unsurprising ME TOO specs, could you PLEASE actually post specs that are important.

Audio chip, Lan chip, Wireless chip, Bluetooth module, etc.

[Andy @ Sep 19th 2008 3:56AM]

I agree, they are ALwAYS the same spec, Someone could wow us all and use Turion chips maybe, mix it up a little. Anyways, yeah publishing the chips for each Netbook would be awesome as people installing Linux on these things will be able to make a better choice (You know its gonna be some Ubuntu variant but not everyone thinks Ubuntu is that great (me) and prefer a different distro or maybe even BSD..Yes kids, their is more to Linux than Ubuntu)

Anyhoo, please publish chip makes and models for webcam, sound, wifi and please use intel or nvidia chips as it makes my life easier =D

Peace

[chefgon_ign @ Sep 18th 2008 1:08PM]

It seems like it would be so easy for one of these Netbook manufacturers to get noticed. With nearly every single new Netbook featuring the exact same specs, all someone would have to do is go above and beyond in one area for the same price and they would look like heroes.

Somebody throw a touch screen on one of these and keep it at the $400 price point and suddenly you'll be head of the pack with no other innovation required. Oh, and then actually release it on time in reasonable quantities so people can buy it.

[photon @ Sep 18th 2008 1:09PM]

Stupid design!
The FAN is at the right side, so when using the mouse, your hand will be very very hot...

[pizzicato @ Sep 18th 2008 4:07PM]

Maybe tosh found a niche for this rather standard spec netbook at last and is going for the growing market of left handed users. Those who are normaly burning their hands.

[Ian @ Sep 18th 2008 1:56PM]

It looks awesome, and if it's not as expensive as the Lenovo (which gets too hot), the Toshiba probably is the best combo of looks, and "specs"....as long as it gets a 6-cell battery so that it lasts around 6 hours.

The only thing differentiating these netbooks is their keyboard, and this one looks to have that awfully small SHIFT button on the right (beside the UP arrow). Oh, and one of the netbook models has only 2 USB slots (gasp!!), but makes up for it by including something way better (forget what it is).

[Jason Litka @ Sep 18th 2008 2:43PM]

Alright, while that case looks pretty nice, don't we already have enough of these things floating around? There's absolutely no difference between any of them anymore.

[Jez0990 @ Sep 18th 2008 3:38PM]

That depends on how up for fitting a 1Gb memory bank you are... in which case the Aspire One holds its own. Unless however, this NB100 pricetag comes with a 6-cell battery as standard.

[Jez0990 @ Sep 18th 2008 3:43PM]

God damn.

Was aimed at Thi mam(kris120890) 's question about the best value UK netbook.

[Fanfoot @ Sep 18th 2008 7:40PM]

No difference? Are you BLIND man? The hinges are different on EVERY SINGLE ONE!

[Parick @ Nov 25th 2008 6:16PM]

I just got one of these New Toshiba's NB100 from Comet for £300 and its got XP
Well the screen is really bad. It has very limited viewing angles and I mean very very limited.

The keys are to small.
It cannot even run the lastest version of skype so i had to download one of the older versions something like 2.5

on skype the cpu was at 100% all the time with very little let up.
Once I got the older version I was able to get from 38% cpu non video mode or to 77% if running video from both callers.

I went for the toshiba brand as I have always liked there laptops. But I think for the money the screen and the lack of more than 1gb lets it down.
the screen is fine for using the internet etc. but try watching any normal film/youtube clip and if you move your head very little bit its colours are rubbish.

For another £29 from pc world I could have had the 12" Packard Bell Easy Note BG45-U-300
which has dual core pentium 1.83 ghz which would wipe the floor of the tosh.

The battery life is very good but thats about all its got going for it...

[mackster @ Dec 16th 2008 6:32PM]

I came across one of these, today. It's small yet utterly ugly. My advice? Stay away! You're warned.