14 DAY TRIAL // Yesterday, Toshiba definitely made itself heard by unveiling not one or two, but several mobile PCs part of the dynabook series, including some Calpella laptops and even the UX/24M, a netbook with DDR3 memory. DDR3 has only started to show up in entry-level mobile PCs, but OEMs have been waiting for this feature for months, which means it shouldn't be long until DDR3 becomes the standard. Knowing this, Toshiba saw nothing wrong with releasing a second DDR3-equipped netbook.
The newcomer is known as the mini NB250 and has just been announced in Europe. Like most, if not all others of its kind, it has an LCD screen with a size of 10.1 inches and a native resolution of 1,024 x 768 pixels. The machine itself measures 263 x 192.3 x 32.25 mm and weighs between 1.12 and 1.3kg.
This light frame packs a configuration based on the Intel Atom N455 central processing unit, which has a clock frequency of 1.66GHz. This chip is paired with 1GB of DDR3, as well as the GMA 3150 integrated graphics. Additionally, a hard disk drive provides either 160GB or 250GB of storage space.
As for connectivity and I/O, the netbook features 10/100 LAN, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, a VGA webcam, a memory card reader and a 3-cell or 6-cell battery. The latter option enables the machine to run for up to 8.5 hours on a single charge.
The PC maker decided that just raw performance wasn't enough to render this device truly worthwhile. As such, it made sure to add a full-size keyboard and a large touchpad, for maximum comfort when typing or navigating through menus. Finally, the NB250 is pre-loaded with Windows 7 Starter and Toshiba Life Space, an exclusive application suite that facilitates project organization and document indexing.
The Toshiba mini NB250 will start selling in Europe, Africa and the Middle East by the end of June, at a price that has not yet been specified.