On paper the Toshiba NB205 looks like most of the other netbooks we have seen over the past year (10.1-inch display, Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM and Windows XP), but in person it really stands out. With a unique design, stellar keyboard and trackpad combo, and a long-lasting battery that’s rated for a whopping 9 hours of endurance, Toshiba’s NB205 is a breath of fresh air.

We have been seeing better and better looking netbooks, but the Toshiba NB205 is hands-down one of the most stunning we have seen and have had the chance to use. Toshiba is offering two different versions of the NB205. The $399 version we used has a well-designed lid with raised horizontal lines. Our model was Sable Brown and had an overall professional look. It will also come in Royal Blue, Posh Pink, and Frost White. The $349 version will be offered only in black, and will have Toshiba’s smooth fusion finish (rather than the raised pattern).

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It’s hardly the first netbook battery comparison to appear in the Thunderdome that is the internet, but this latest thirteen-strong round-up from Australia’s NetbookReview is one of the more comprehensive to emerge as of late, with it only slightly compromised by a few netbooks that aren’t available in the site’s home country. Not surprisingly, the netbooks equipped with six-cell batteries came out well ahead of their less well off counterparts, with the MSI Wind U115 Hybrid leading the way with an impressive time of 6:56. That was obviously aided in no small part by the netbook’s dual SSD / hard drive setup, and by a less commonly used 5100mAh six-cell battery, as opposed to the 6600mAh version used in the second and third place Eee PCs (which each clocked in around the four-hour mark). Bringing up the rear were the Lenovo IdeaPad S10 and Dell Mini 12, neither of which were able to eek out even two hours of use. As you might expect, however, all of the tests involved a worst-case scenario, so you can expect to get a good deal more juice from all of ‘em if you’re not spending every waking hour watching WMV files.

Source: netbookreview, via Engadget