Toshiba NB500 series netbooks: A dual-core Atom-smasher

Toshiba has just lifted the lid on a pair of rather natty-looking 10.1-inch netbooks in its new NB500 series -- the NB520 and the NB500, two tiny computers aimed at those who like their computing as portable as humanly possible.

The NB520 will be the first Toshiba netbook to feature Intel's new dual-core Atom N550 processor. In a world where most netbooks are near indentical, we're really hoping this gives the NB520 a little more grunt than its diminutive rivals can muster.

It's also set to rock your socks clean off your feet thanks to Harman/Kardon speakers on board. Putting spangly speakers into laptops is a recent trend, and while we're yet to find a laptop that offers sound quality anywhere near what you'd get from a proper set of speakers, it'll probably make casual YouTube browsing a little more pleasant.

Elsewhere you'll find 1GB of RAM, Windows 7 Starter Edition and a 250GB hard drive for hoarding all your movies and music. As for the display, that 10.1-inch panel has a maximum resolution of 1,024x600 pixels, which is standard netbook fare.

Toshiba reckons you'll squeeze 10 hours of battery life out of this bad boy, which would be impressive, but we'd advise waiting for the full review so we can run the NB520 through our full gamut of tests.

Oh, and it's available in brown, blue or green. Chipper.

The NB500 (pictured above) looks more like the standard netbooks we're used to, offering an Intel Atom N455 CPU and an estimated 8 hours of battery life with the same 1,024x600 screen. The NB500 comes in blue, brown, green or resin black.

We're expecting both models in the NB500 series to become available in January -- stay tuned for a full review.