Toshiba is a quality brand.* If the price is good, take it.

The whole netbook grouping is pretty limited in certain ways (like keyboard size) so you have to be ready to accept those limitations when you get one.

* Consumer Reports did not test their netbook, but in laptops they get decent scores and even have a Best Buy or two.

I have small hands, so a small keyboard isn't too much of a problem for me. I hate touchpads though and so will probably buy a travel mouse.

Netbook! LOTS OF MOBILE OMG BUNNEH ACTION.

The Dell Minis are very nice. You can buy the same model from Dell for £249. If you want it even cheaper you can get it from the Dell Outlet store (search Inspiron 1010) for £190. These are usually laptops that have been bought opened and returned rather than being new from the factory, but generally people have very good experiences with them.

Not sure about UK availability, but I have an Asus 1000he and absolutely adore it.

But yeah, whatever you get, make sure you spend a few minutes with it hands on. I was in love with the Dell 10 until I actually tried it, and I found it to be pretty ick.

The price isn't the issue, cillit, it's the quality I'm concerned about. The reviews of the Toshiba netbook are very good.

The main specs on all three seem very similar (1 GB RAM, 160 GB hard drive, Windows XP, 10" screens), so I guess it's more which style you like the best. The XP should run fine with 1 GB of RAM (you'd want at least 2 for Vista). The screen size should be easy on the eyes. The Toshiba weighs in a bit lighter than the others at 1.18 kg, but all three are more than manageable.

I guess I'd go with the Toshiba, everything else being equal, though I might be tempted by Dell's pink. : )

I love my Sony Vaio P mini, but they're considerably more expensive, and I likely would have gone with the Dell or Toshiba models if they had had those specs back when I bought mine in February and saved myself a few hundred dollars. Still, I do love it. It's so tiny, weighing in at less than a pound and a half, and the keyboard is so surprisingly comfortalbe for such a small machine, and the screen's so crisp and clear. If you're tempted, the House of Fares website does seem to have my model available for 649 pounds (ouch -- I paid $799 for mine). The Sony website doesn't seem to carry my model anymore, though. They seem to have mostly SSD models (solid state drive), which, while they no doubt are the future, being more stable and all, are still quite pricey.

The biggest expense, in the long run, however, has turned out to be my wireless plan. Mine has built-in Verizon, which is convenient, but cost either $40 or $60 a month, depending on the plan. My Sony sniffs out free wireless, too, but that hasn't proved as fruitful as I'd hoped (most networks seem secured these days), and I've been springing for the Verizon for now.

They are lovely, though, these netbooks. I'm sure you'll like having one. Enjoy!

(oops -- House of Fraser, not Fares, that is)

Thanks Pips. A Sony is just too much money - as you've seen, they're silly money in the UK. When I'm at home, if I use it instead of my home computer, it'll be on a wired connection. In NY next month, I plan on taking advantage of the free wifi available around the city, as I'll be in midtown and there are a number of locations that offer it (library, parks, etc.). Or I might steal some of your bandwidth ...

Toshiba makes very solid systems. When I worked in IT distribution almost everyone there had Toshiba for their personal notebooks, and we got discounts from everyone. So, the people who sell everyone's stuff pick Toshiba. I could not recommend them enough. (I even talked my boyfriend into getting one).

I was saving for one (notebook, not netbook) for school, and my dad got me one close to it for my birthday (I was saving for the P4 core 2 duo, mine has a celeron, but that's no biggie.) He's a consumer reports junkie and got it because they consistently rate high quality for the price (and he has two Toshibas himself- one home, one business).

Acer get a lot of iffy reviews out there, across all models. Electronically they're not BAD, per se, but they don't hold up. Lots of reports of things breaking, cases cracking, hinges going, etc. They're a discount brand (here in the states they were first available in Wal Mart), and you get what you pay for. Dell is... hm.... not the company they were five or ten years ago. They've gone downhill a lot.

If that site will match competitor's prices maybe you can get an even better deal, too... this page has lower prices for that model

also, for what it's worth, the Toshiba keyboards are very "clicky," compared to most laptops where it's just kind of a soft soundless squish. I actually prefer that, being a devotee of the old school IBM keyboards. When I type I want to know I'm typing, you know?

If build quality is your primary concern, it's probably worth taking a look at the Lenovo models.

Thanks, Kelly, that's extremely helpful.

Toshiba have always had a good name for build quality, although they often suffer on price so tend to be less popular. I'd go for the Toshiba first, Dell second, Acer only if I was desperate (alleged poor build quality).

Dell is... hm.... not the company they were five or ten years ago. They've gone downhill a lot.

I wouldn't include the Dell Minis in that - they seem to be much better made than any other Dell product.

(The reason I'm familiar with them is they're the netbook of choice for installing Mac OS X on, since Apple don't have a netbook model. So they're approved by Apple fanatics...)