Toshiba Libretto W100 (Pentium U5400 Processor 1.2GHz, 2GB RAM)
There's been plenty of buzz for the high-concept Toshiba Libretto W100 series since it was first announced in June 2010. This dual-touchscreen minilaptop is a limited-release showpiece designed by Toshiba to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary in the mobile computing business, and is best seen as an experiment that pushes the boundaries between laptops, tablets, and portable media players.
Despite the far-out thinking behind it, the Libretto worked better than we expected in some areas, including certain kinds of media playback and general Web surfing. That was especially surprising, as the system is running Windows 7 Home Premium over two simultaneous displays all from a 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 CPU and 2GB of RAM. Our configuration (the only one currently available, according to Toshiba's Web site) is called the W100 and sells for S$1,999 (US$1,493.46).
Though it certainly can't compete against full-size laptops in raw performance, the system's capability to run basic Windows tasks was impressive (given our low initial expectations). For a largely experimental showpiece that Toshiba says was not intended for widescale consumption, the Libretto at least partially delivers on its promise, and is--more importantly--often fun to use. Still, at the end of the day, given its high price and limited availability, this is really more of an executive toy than anything else, especially as it doesn't fully replace any other gadget in your tech arsenal.
| Editors' note : This review is based on tests done by our sister site CNET.com. As such, please note that there may be slight differences in the testing procedure and ratings system. For more information on the actual tests conducted on the product, please inquire directly at the site where the article was originally published. References made to some of other products in this review may not be available or applicable in Asia. Do check directly with your local distributor for details. |
Design
Looking a little like an oversize Nintendo DS, the Libretto has two 7-inch multitouch displays (both at 1,024 x 600-pixel resolution), with the second taking the place of the traditional keyboard one would expect to find in this kind of clamshell design. By tapping a button on the side of the chassis, a virtual keyboard (similar to what you'd find on an iPhone or iPad) pops up to fill the bottom screen. Tap the same button twice and you get a virtual onscreen touchpad instead.
| Specifications | Toshiba Libretto W100 |
| Price | S$1,999 (US$1,493.46) |
| Processor | 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400 |
| Memory | 2GB, 800MHz DDR2 |
| Hard drive | 62GB SSD |
| Chipset | Intel HM55 |
| Graphics | Intel GMA 4500MHD |
| Operating system | Windows 7 Home Premium |
| Dimensions (W x D) | 202 x 123mm |
| Height | 30.7mm |
| Screen size (diagonal) | 7 inches (dual screens) |
| System weight (with AC adapter) | 773g (1.09kg) |
| Category | Netbook |
Our first struggle came with figuring out how to juggle these two virtual input devices, as the bottom screen isn't large enough to display both the keyboard and the touchpad fully at once (and, in our tests, the onscreen keyboard and touchpad couldn't register inputs simultaneously). Eventually, we got into a nice rhythm of single- and double-tapping to switch from keyboard to touchpad on the fly, although it's more than a little counterintuitive.
Features
Unlike Apple's iPad, you can't simply use your finger to flick-scroll through Web pages or documents (although we also found some system windows where you could), and working tiny buttons and tabs was frustrating, even when using the onscreen touchpad instead of a finger. That said, the touch controls on the Libretto are among the most responsive we've encountered on a Windows-based tablet (although that's not really saying much, considering the laggy Windows tablets we've used in the past).
| Toshiba Libretto W100 | Average for category (Netbook) | |
| Video | None | VGA |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, headphone jack | Stereo speakers, headphone/microphone jacks |
| Data | One USB 2.0, micro-SD card reader | Three USB 2.0, SD card reader |
| Expansion | None | None |
| Networking | 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth | Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth |
| Optical drive | None | None |
Actually navigating around the Windows interface was mostly lag-free, which is something even many Netbooks can't say. At the same time, a 7-inch touch screen, no matter how many navigational tricks you include, simply isn't optimal for touch, and we spent plenty of time hunting and pecking, trying to center the tiny cursor on buttons and tabs.
Pressing the button on the right side of the bottom display switches between the standard Windows OS desktop and a series of Toshiba's proprietary Bulletin Board screens, which allow you to arrange photos and notes on a touch-friendly surface. It looks snazzy, but we can't say it's particularly useful, especially as it (like almost any proprietary app) has its own learning curve.
One of the most important navigational shortcuts is called the Easy Menu Utility. Behind this generic name is an onscreen overlay that appears when the title bar of a window is tapped. A nine-square grid overlays the display, and gives you large tap-friendly buttons for maximizing and minimizing the active window, toggling the window to the other display, or even stretching the active window to cover both displays. It's handy, but having to hide whatever you're looking at behind an overlay, even for a few seconds, suggests that some form of gesture control system might be more useful.
A must-have tablet feature that's included here is an accelerometer for automatically rotating the display when the system is turned on its side. Potentially useful for e-book reading, the display rotation is painfully slow, and when using Amazon's Kindle software, we could not configure it so that one page of a book fit neatly into each screen at the same time.
Ports and connectivity options are predictably limited, but no more so than we've seen on other UMPC systems. There's a single USB port (handy for plugging in an external mouse in a pinch) and a microSD slot, plus a basic Webcam sits next to the top screen. There's no Ethernet jack, but you do get 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
Despite the promise of a 62GB solid-state hard drive, the Libretto is surprisingly noisy. An internal fan kicks in frequently, sounding as loud as a spinning platter-based hard drive. Despite the hardworking fan, the system gets very hot, especially around the vents on the top half, and throughout much of the heat-conducting metal top lid.
Performance And Battery Life
The system's benchmark scores were solid compared with single-core Netbooks, which is obviously a benefit of going with a non-Atom CPU, and the application speed was largely comparable with the new generation of AMD-powered premium Netbooks. Video playback of local 720p video files was flawless, but online streaming video was trickier. On YouTube, 480p videos played smoothly, whereas 720p ones stuttered. Gaming, as one might imagine, is largely out of the question, although the handful of Facebook games we tried worked fine and animated smoothly.
Jalbum photo conversion test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Dell Inspiron M101z
93
Toshiba Libretto W100
99
Gateway LT3201u
141
Sony Vaio P (2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550)
160
Archos 9 PC Tablet
271
Multimedia multitasking test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Toshiba Libretto W100
1,397
Dell Inspiron M101z
1,476
Gateway LT3201u
2,493
Sony Vaio P (2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550)
2,880
Archos 9 PC Tablet
5,791
Apple iTunes encoding test (in seconds)
(Shorter bars indicate better performance)
Toshiba Libretto W100
320
Gateway LT3201u
378
Dell Inspiron M101z
406
Sony Vaio P (2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550)
725
Archos 9 PC Tablet
1221
The flip side of not using a low-voltage Atom CPU is that battery life was not what one would expect from a tiny device made with portability in mind. In our video playback battery drain test, the Libretto W100 ran for only 2 hours 27 minutes. As many Netbooks can run 5 or more hours on a single charge (to say nothing of your iPad or iPhone), the battery life is another knock against the Libretto as a useful real-world tool.
Video playback battery drain test (in minutes)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
Archos 9 PC Tablet
231
Dell Inspiron M101z
217
Gateway LT3201u
208
Sony Vaio P (2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550)
161
Toshiba Libretto W100
147
System configurations:
Toshiba Libretto W100
Windows 7 Home Premium; 1.2GHz Intel Pentium U5400; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 800MHz; 728MB (shared) Intel GMA 4500MHD; 62GB Toshiba SSD
Archos 9 PC Tablet
Windows 7 Starter; 1.1GHz Intel Atom Z515; 1,024MB DDR2 SDRAM 400MHz; 250MB (shared) Mobile Intel GMA 500; 60GB Toshiba 4,200rpm
Dell Inspiron M101z
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.3GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K325; 4,096MB DDR3 SDRAM 1,333MHz; 384MB (dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225; 320GB Seagate 5,400rpm
Sony Vaio P (2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550)
Windows 7 Home Premium; 2.0GHz Intel Atom Z550; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 1,066MHz; 762MB (shared) Mobile Intel GMA 500; 250GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
Gateway LT3201u
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit); 1.7GHz AMD Athlon II Neo K125; 2,048MB DDR2 SDRAM 667MHz; 384MB (Dedicated) ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4225; 250GB Hitachi 5,400rpm
Service And Support
Toshiba includes an industry-standard one-year parts-and-labor warranty with the system. Support is accessible through a phone line and an online support site. The dedicated Libretto W100 page offers a user guide, detailed spec sheet, and a list of available software and driver downloads.
www.keralites.net |
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