The Toshiba NB520 is an incredibly efficient, portable, and aesthetically pleasing netbook for its price range (with a suggested retail price of £280). The stylish, yet ergonomically sound design of the NB520, combined with its durability makes it an ideal laptop for travelers, business professionals, and students.
This netbook carries a powerful Intel Atom 1.66 GHz N550 Dual Core processor, 1 GB of RAM, and a 250 GB hard drive. The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3150 HD Graphics card creates an ideal media viewing experience, particularly when an external display is used. The 10.1 inch LED display is capable of 1024 x 600 resolution, and is backlit for ideal use in low light conditions. The NB520 comes preloaded with the Windows 7 Starter operating system, and includes a non-HD built-in WebCam.
With three USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, headphone and microphone jacks, and a memory card reader that is compatible with multiple formats, the Toshiba NB520 provides extensive connectivity for external storage devices and displays. The nearly full-size keyboard and multi-gesture touchpad gives the user supreme comfort and functionality by fully utilizing the netbook’s available space.
The Harmon/Kardon speakers are surprisingly powerful, and are placed on either side of the laptop in the front on either side of the touchpad to provide the loudest possible output, offering deep bass and surprising depth for integrated netbook speakers. In fact, some experts and users have stated that the Toshiba NB520 provides the best audio of any netbook on the market, which is excellent considering the fact it costs under £300.
The battery life ranges from 5 to 8 hours, depending on the mode of use; in power saver mode is possible to enjoy 20 minutes of media playback while only consuming 1% of the battery life. Ultimately, despite lacking an HDMI port and having a relatively basic design, the Toshiba NB520 is an ideal netbook for its price and size range.
