Toshiba NB500 netbook gets hands on video

During Taiwan’s IT Month (a month long period of sales that replaces Christmas there), Toshiba goes out in force with a bunch of new netbooks. One of them is the NB500, a 10 inch netbook with a pretty standard hardware lineup. It has an Intel Atom N550 dual core CPU, 1 GB of DDR3 RAM and a 250 GB hard disk drive.

Of course, upgrade comes in mind seeing this specs and that is easy to do as on the back there’s a large panel that grants access to RAM and HDD. Connect via bluetooth, wifi, ethernet, 3G, but keep in mind that the later is not available in Taiwan for the moment. Finally, there are USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port, SD slot (placed in front, not on the side like on almost all netbooks) and Kensington key lock. You only get one speaker, underneath the touchpad.

Toshiba NB500 keyboard and touchpad

The battery fits perfectly in the slim design as it doesn’t stick out to unbalance the netbook. Netbooknews.com made a hands on video with this one and what they noticed as a strong point is the finish on the lid; as you can see in the pictures, it has an interesting texture that resembles carbon fiber. Anyway, looks strong, it won’t gather finger prints and gives an overall robust feel to the netbook.

The keyboard is great too, the keys have no flex and essential keys like shift are large enough not to cause typos. The touchpad has a rough texture and it’s very pleasant to work with, while the areas around it where you hold your palms seem to resemble the textured finish on the lid. Between the touchpad and the spacebar there’s a plastic stripe that acts like some sort of a border that prevents from touching the touchpad while striking the spacebar.

For now, the Toshiba NB500 is available only in Taiwan for 13800 NT (hold the convertor app, that’s about $450). It will be available in the rest of Asia in January and around the same time you’ll be able to pick it up also in the UK. Don’t leave before checking the video below for more info about this classy designed new netbook.