Unboxing the Toshiba NB205-N330 with Windows 7 Starter – Video

Toshiba nb205-330

Toshiba announced an update to its netbook line this week. The new Toshiba NB205-N330 looks a lot like the Toshiba NB205-N310 we’ve come to grow and love over the last few months. It has the same excellent keyboard, wide touchpad, and high capacity battery. But there are a few things that make the new model different. First and foremost, it ships with Windows 7 Starter Edition instead of Windows XP.

The NB205-N330 also has a higher capacity, 250GB hard drive, and Toshiba still says it gets up to 9 hours of battery life.

The Toshiba NB205-N330 will be available to the public starting on October 22nd when Windows 7 is released. But the folks at toshiba were kind enough to send me a demo unit a few days early and I’ve posted an unboxing video below.

On the one hand, I’m a bit disappointed that Toshiba went with Windows 7 Starter which lacks the Aero Glass interface, doesn’t support changing desktop backgrounds, doesn’t have Windows Media Center, and lacks a few other features found in the higher end versions of the operating system. On the other hand, going with Windows 7 Starter helps Toshiba keep the price down. This netbook starts at about $399.99.

Update: I didn’t even notice this until I read about it on Electronista, but Toshiba has promised not to load “craplets” (or free trial software) on any of its Windows 7 notebooks including the NB205-330 netbook. In other words, when you first launch the system, you’re greeted by a clean desktop with precisely one icon on it: the recycle bin. On the other hand, you do get the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer, Norton Internet Security, and a shortcut to purchase Quicken products. So in this case, the crap-free promise may only be desktop deep.


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Posted on Wednesday, October 14th, 2009, 3:42 pm by Brad Linder
Tags: , , , , ,


  • http://bit.ly/44CHFm Reuben ~ Network DBA

    Congrats on the new netbook!

    Are you tempted to load Windows XP instead?

    I like my ASUS 1005HA netbook for now but may change soon! http://bit.ly/44CHFm

  • Cptnodegard

    If N330 doesnt refer to the cpu being N330, thats an idiotic model bumer to use.

  • http://stiri-it.hi2.ro/?p=874 Unboxing the Toshiba NB205-N330 with Windows 7 Starter – Video : News IT

    [...] Read this article: Unboxing the Toshiba NB205-N330 with Windows 7 Starter – Video [...]

  • http://netbookreview.co.uk/2009/10/updated-toshiba-nb205-gets-unboxed-on-video/ Updated Toshiba NB205 gets unboxed on video | Netbook Review UK – Netbook Reviews, Compare Netbooks and Netbook News

    [...] Brad, over at Liliputing, has gotten his hands on the new updated version of Toshiba’s popular NB205 netbook, named the NB205-330, and put up the unboxing video seen above. [...]

  • http://www.netbooknews.it/unbox-toshiba-nb200-con-windows-7/ [Unbox] Toshiba NB200 con Windows 7 – netbook Toshiba, NB205-N330, netbook windows 7 – Netbook News

    [...] video che vedete sotto arriva dai colleghi di Liliputing che hanno ricevuto un’unità demo da provare prima del lancio [...]

  • Fanfoot

    I wish they'd offer a 720p screen option. It's probably why I'll choose the HP 5101 instead.

  • MonkeyKing1969

    “…On the one hand, I’m a bit disappointed that Toshiba went with Windows 7 Starter which lacks the Aero Glass interface, doesn’t support changing desktop backgrounds, doesn’t have Windows Media Center, and lacks a few other features found in the higher end versions of the operating system.”

    I rather doubt a Intel GMA 950 would have enjoyed chewing on 'Aero Glass' very much of what Media Center does for you. Win 7 Starter is the only version that makes sense on a computer without a decent GPU.

  • http://www.liliputing.com Brad Linder

    Actually I've used Win7 Ultimate RC on several netbooks with GMA 950
    graphics and Aero Glass and Windows Media Center both work quite nicely.
    I've plugged in a TV tuner and watched TV (although there's a little extra
    lag when changing channels), and live thumbnail previews and Aero Shake work
    nicely on my Eee PC 1000H.
    Microsoft did a pretty good job of reducing the overhead these features
    require since Windows Vista.

  • http://www.zoombits.fr/encres/ cartouche

    This would be a prime candidate for loading a full version of Seven on it. Great video.
    Its really a cool stuff, useful review! thx

  • MonkeyKing1969

    Is there and upgrade path from Win 7 Starter Win 7 Ultimate?

  • http://www.liliputing.com Brad Linder
  • tl

    My thoughts exactly. And it doesn't seem to.

    The keyboard is interesting…nice pgup/pgdn placement…but where is home/end? And the tilde…sigh

    Also, re: Win7: Why are people supporting such ridiculous market segmentation? Things that are standard in nearly any modern graphical OS are stripped out, just to save a few bucks for the end user, and people just eat it up. Oh, then they go buy the upgrade when they notice it isn't the same as their other computers. Can't change a desktop background? What? Oh, like the comments below, “let's just load a full version on it.” Ridiculous.

    – a proud KDE user

  • MonkeyKing1969

    It says Win 7 Starter can upgrade to Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate. That's cool…but you can't upgrade to 'Home Basic' which would be the smallest leap I suppose. The thing about Win 7 Starter (and even Home Basic) I don't like is they seem to no support multi-touch. And I'm guessing that the integration Win 7 has with multi-touch in OS would then be lost to you even if you added a 3rd party 'touch' solution.

  • http://www.yiim.de/toshiba-nb200-im-unboxing-video Toshiba NB200 im Unboxing Video

    [...] Dollar, dafür erhält man unter anderem einen Akku mit 7 Stunden Akkulaufzeit. Brad von liliputing.com hat in einem kurzen Video das Toshiba Netbook gezeigt, darin stellt er das Netbook kurz [...]

  • arnelcruz

    it seems that best buy did not really change the 160GB hard disk into 250 GB. What they only changed was the OS from XP to Windows 7 for supposed to be the same price of $399.99 Windows 7 starter seems to be a catch because if you need to have a proper windows 7 you need to upgrade for $80.00 cost.

  • Mike

    Good link explaining all the models:
    http://bestnetbookreviewz.com/tag/nb205-n325/

  • Mike

    Good link explaining all the models:
    http://bestnetbookreviewz.com/tag/nb205-n325/

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