Looks like more and more of this year’s netbooks will be bundled with the new Intel Atom N450, a 250GB hard drive, Windows 7 and having a longer battery life.

One of the early birds to hit the marketplace is the Pine Trail-powered Toshiba NB305 netbook which comes with some new upgrades and a new design. This new baby was introduced at CES 2010 in Las Vegas.

As far as the netbook is concerned, Toshiba was never the trail blazer unlike other makers such as Asus, Acer, MCI, Lenovo and others. Last year Toshiba came in late with the NB205 which was just a fairly decent minicomputer and not much more.

However, this time around it seems Toshiba has got its act together and we see now a new netbook that packs quite a wallop.

The NB305, which comes with a 10.1-inch widescreen backlit LED display, boasts a battery life of 11 hours – a boon for users who go on ‘marathon run.’ Its 6-cell battery is designed to fit snugly into the body unlike the NB205 battery which stuck out like a sore thumb.

This stylish netbook also gets a 250GB hard drive, one USB port with Toshiba’s “Sleep-and-Charge” tech as well as two standard USB ports, 1GB RAM, webcam, speaker, mic, card reader, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR on certain models.

To be somewhat different from the competitions, Toshiba also offers ‘Chiclet’ keys on the keyboard and a ‘full-sized’ trackpad as opposed to the smaller ones on most other netbooks.

For colurs, two configurations are available. You can choose from a textured “Java Brown”, “Frost White” or a “Royal Blue” finish for the NB305-N410 while the NB305-N310 comes only in “Black Onyx”.

The NB305 went on sale in the US on Jan 12 starting at about $350 USD. The little beauty retails for RM1,499 in Malaysia.

Netbooks may be cheap and all, but that does not mean you should go ahead and buy the first netbook you come across. As with any other kind of shopping, there is an art to shopping for netbooks.

And if you are considering making netbooks a part of your life, here are some tips to consider:

1. Consider your needs and wants There are roughly two types of netbooks in the market today, netbooks with Solid State Drives (SSD) and netbooks with Hard Disk Drives (HDD). SSD netbooks boot faster, are able to withstand impact and are generally more reliable in terms of performance. But they are also notorious for having low storage capacities (the SSD netbooks that do have high storage capacity are very expensive).

On the other hand, HDD netbooks can store up to 160GB of data on the hard drive, but they are less tough than their SSD counterparts . So what does that have to do with you? It’s all about your needs and wants. Do you want a fast netbook with low storage or a netbook with high capacity but boots slower?

2. Consider the brand

There are many brands of netbooks out in the market today. ASUS definitely created the netbook market in 2007, but other manufacturers followed soon after, including Acer, Lenovo, HP, Dell, and MSI, among others.

Different manufacturers have different signatures, e.g., Asus for small keyboards. Different brands of netbooks are known for different things, and it does pay if you research on what these are.

3. Windows XP or Linux?

Like the desktop computers where there is competition between Mac and Windows, there is competition between Windows XP and Linux and its many different versions. The only difference is that different manufacturers ship netbook models in both operating systems.

For every netbook model, there is a Windows XP or a Linux version. While Linux netbooks are known for their stability and security (Linux users rarely, if ever, complain about malware infection and the like), Windows XP netbooks have the advantage of popularity.

Many computer users are so used to using Windows XP, it’s very difficult to switch paradigms to use a Linux. The fact is, users of Linux netbooks are more likely to return their netbooks than Windows XP users.

4. Read up on user reviews

User reviews are very useful for determining the actual performance of a netboook. Manufacturers will always hype their product whenever they can to boost sales. If you want to know the rundown on a particular netbook model, read up on independent product reviews by online computer magazines. You can also search for forums on the different netbook models.

5. Always do comparison shopping Never settle for the first price that you see on a shopping website. Compare prices from at least three netbook sellers before ordering. Some websites sell their netbooks cheaper than others because they have made larger wholesale orders.

Still, others sell cheaper because they are selling second hand. In any case, just make sure that you are dealing with a reputable website.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Kessler

When it comes to mobile computing, my main concern is portability and size does matter. In my book, small is the new big.

I’ve been ‘lugging’ around my 14-inch display Acer notebook for a while but in my mind, I’ve decided to grab myself a mini-notebook or what we now call the netbook.

I was first attracted by the MSI Wind, the Acer Aspire One and the Lenovo S10 because I need a lightweight thingy to write and browse the Internet when I’m on the move. But somehow I held back because of the uncomfortable keyboard and the short battery life.

So I waited and, presto, along came the new Asus Eee PC 1000HE with a 10.2″ wide-screen display offering a 1,024×600 native resolution, an improved flat-topped keyboard, a newer, faster version of Intel’s Atom processor (N280) and the ‘clincher’ that got me to part with my money — 9.5 hours of unplugged battery life!

Okay, Asus puts a sticker on that says “One-Day Computing” and pledges 9.5 hours of battery life. Actually, on a charge, my new white Asus 1000HE managed to last more than 7 hours unplugged. That’s about the time you spent in the office and I have no issue with that.

This little companion weighs in at 3.2lbs which is relatively heftier than many competing netbooks but that’s not a problem when you carry it.

This baby runs on Windows XP with a 160GB hard drive and 1GB of Ram which I upgraded to 2GB. Some other netbooks are not that upgrade-friendly.

I picked the white colour because I noticed the black model easily catches fingerprints on its glossy finish. But that shouldn’t put you off if you’re not that fussy because this little machine represents Asus’ best ever efforts to evolve the Eee PC line of netbooks with enough tweaks to attract the attention of netbook buffs.

There’s also 10GB of Web storage via its Eee Storage which allows you to share videos, photos and other stuff on the World Wide Web. Cool!

On the right side, the 1000HE houses a 4-in-1 memory card reader, two USB ports and a VGA port for connecting it to an external display. On the left side, there’s a third USB port, a headphone and mic jack, an Ethernet port and a Kensington lock slot.

The Asus Eee PC 1000HE looks more streamlined and gone is the bulge on the bottom of the system in the previous model with the six-cell battery fitting in nicely at the back. Obviously, the 1000HE is an extended version of the earlier 1000H but the refinements make it an attractive buy.

The Specs:

* Intel Atom N280 Processor @ 1.66GHz, 512KB L2 cache, 667MHz FSB

* 1GB of DDR2 Memory

* 10.2 inch LED-backlit LCD (1024 x 600 resolution)

* Intel Mobile 945GSE Chipset

* 160GB Seagate Momentus 5400.5 Hard Drive

* 10GB Online Eee Storage (free for 18 months)

* 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi

* Bluetooth 2.0

* 1.3 megapixel webcam with Digital Array Microphone

* 4-in-1 Card Reader (SD, SDHC, Memory Stick and MS-PRO)

* VGA Output

* USB 2.0 x 3

* RJ-45 (Ethernet 10/100)

* Headphone / Mic Input Jacks

* 3.2 Pounds (with Battery Installed)

* 6 Cell Li-ion High Density 8700mAh Battery (Up To 9.5 Hours of        Computing)

* Windows XP Home Edition

* Color Options: Pearl White, Black, Blue, Golden