Toshiba Libretto U100

CNET editors' take

• Reviewed by:
  Michelle Thatcher
• Reviewed on: 04/20/2005
• Updated on: 11/24/2009

After a six-year hiatus, the Toshiba Libretto returns to the U.S. market, promising business users a fully featured Windows XP PC in a "mini-notebook" package. Roughly the size of a VHS tape and weighing just more than 2 pounds, the Libretto U100 gives mobile executives an option that falls somewhere between palmtops, such as the Sony VAIO VGN-U750P and the OQO Model 01, and similarly equipped ultraportable laptops.

Upside: The Libretto U100 offers features often found in larger (and heavier) ultraportables: a 1.2GHz Pentium M processor, a 60GB hard drive, up to 1.28GB of 333MHz DDR SDRAM, integrated 802.11b/g, and a fingerprint reader. You also get most of--though not all--the ports a mobile worker would need, with FireWire, infrared, Ethernet, modem, and two USB 2.0 ports, along with a headphone jack and a docking connector. In addition, its 7.2-inch display, featuring a 1,280x768 native resolution, dwarfs the screens found on the VAIO VGN-U750P and the OQO Model 01.

Downside: The Libretto U100's Lilliputian keyboard is too small for comfortable two-handed typing but too large for thumbs-only typing--and it doesn't allow for touch-screen input like other palmtop devices we've seen. At 2.16 pounds, the Libretto U100 is also close to a pound heavier than the VAIO VGN-U750P and more than twice the weight of the OQO Model 01; that brings it within a half pound of the ultraportable ThinkPad X40, which offers a full-size keyboard and a 12-inch display.

Outlook: Priced at $1,999, the Toshiba Libretto U100 could be a tough sell when compared to slightly bulkier but less expensive ultraportables. Nevertheless, some mobile workers will appreciate full laptop functionality in such a small package. We look forward to taking it for a spin ourselves, and we'll have a full review up soon.

Compare prices for Toshiba Libretto U100

This product is currently not in stock at any of our online merchants.

Email me when this product is available

Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 2.5 stars out of 6 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars Write review

• Showing 3 of 6 user reviews

• 2.0 stars

  1 out of 1 people found this helpful

  "If You Buy It, Be Prepared to Keep Your Eye On It"

  by haidaraven on August 14, 2005

• 4.5 stars

  3 out of 3 people found this helpful

  "Best palmtop around !!"

  by wolfpelt on June 9, 2005

• 4.0 stars

  0 out of 2 people found this helpful

  "i would love to rate this laptop!"

  by sykotechie on May 25, 2005

• See all 6 user reviews Write review