Our Toshiba T130 Review

Design and Screen

Our first impression of the Toshiba T130 was light – in the literal sense. The ultra-thin Toshiba T130 is one of the slimmest netbooks we’ve dealt with. This, however; did not come as a surprise since the PORTÉGÉ series have been claiming the featherweight championship in the market for some time now. Available in piano black, pearl white and iron red, the Toshiba T130 is radiant with its sleek glossy design. The general flat structure of the Toshiba T130 makes its different elements slightly subdued – contributing to modern look.

The 13.3-inch widescreen display sports high visibility indoors but does perform well under the sun. The glossy screen is both a reflections and fingerprint magnet. This of course disappointed us, but did not affect our overall impression of the Toshiba T130.

Keypad and Trackpad

The Toshiba T130’s keypad is one of its weakest elements. Though the flat keyboard is noise-free, it is also a bit awkward to type with. We weren’t sure why the keyboard’s performance is a bit off, but we were confident that we’d get used to it in time. In fact, the general feel of awkwardness began to wear off with regular use. The trackpad’s multi-touch capability brings an iPhone feel with the pinching movement to zoom, scroll, and rotate images.

Performance and Battery Life

The Toshiba T130 is one the first netbooks to include a preinstalled Windows 7. Marking the jump from Windows XP to Windows 7 is a huge improvement in overall performance and processing – not to mention a general uplift in the user interface.

The Toshiba T130 offers a choice between Intel processors: Single Core, Pentium, or Celeron. During our testing session, we used a Toshiba T130 with an Intel Celeron Single Core ULV Processor. We were glad to find that the brand new processor is rapid and efficient with power. While running our simple multi-tasking test of running a virus scan, syncing the music library, and loading a flash web page, the Toshiba T130 did not disappoint. The ultra-low voltage processors definitely brought an edge to the PORTÉGÉ series line.

Some of the nifty features included are the 3D sensors that protect the hard drive from damages due to falls and shocks and the face recognition utility integrated for easy login. The 3D sensors are unique to the PORTÉGÉ series’ and the market which is step forward in better netbook durability standards.

In the connectivity department, the Toshiba T130 offers wired Ethernet LAN, Bluetooth, WiFi, HDMI, and 3 USB ports. We loved the inclusion of the HDMI port which is great for people working with PowerPoint presentations.

In terms of battery life, the Toshiba T130 has been designed to top power efficiency standards. This of course comes in light of the PORTÉGÉ series’ environmental awareness campaign that restricts the use of cadmium, mercury, and lead in the manufacturing process. The Power Saving Eco utility is built in to regulate power consumption and pump power with more efficient distribution. Such utility results in superb battery life lasting for more than one working day.

What We Liked

We liked the Toshiba T130’s chic design, great features such as the power saving utility, face recognition, and 3D sensors.

What We Disliked

We disliked the Toshiba T130’s fingerprint and reflections magnet screen.

Our Final Verdict

The Toshiba T130 is more than we could ask for. This high-end netbook stole our heart with its performance, laundry-list features, and battery life. As a plus, the Toshiba T130 is one of the few environment friendly laptops. The Toshiba T130 is ideal for anyone looking for performance, environment friendliness, and novel features.

Compare Laptop Features

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	Toshiba T130
General
Dimensions	28.7 x 21.1 x 3.42 cm
Processor
Processor	Intel Pentium SU2700 (CULV)
Processor Speed	1.3GHz
Processor FSB	800Mhz
Memory
RAM	3 GB
Storage
Hard Drive Size	250 GB
Hard Drive Speed	5400 rpm
Optical Drive	.
Graphics
Graphics Adaptor	Mobile Intel GMA 4500M
Screen Type	TruBrite® HD TFT High Brightness display with LED backlight
Screen Size	13.30 in
Screen Max. Resolution	1366 x 768 pixels
Connectivity
Wi-Fi	802.11b/g/Draft-N
Bluetooth	Yes
Ethernet	10BASE-T/100BASE-TX
HDMI Ports	1
Multi Card Slot	5-in-1 Bridge Media slot
No. of USB Slots	3
Power
Battery Type	6 Cell Battery
Web Cam	1.3 MegaPixel
Speakers	built-in stereo speakers
Input
Pointing Device	Touch Pad with Multi-Touch Control
Software
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Cost
Typical Cost (£)	469

Toshiba T130 Full Specification

General

Processor

Memory

Storage

Graphics

Connectivity

Power

Input

Software

Cost