Just a quick note on the Toshiba Portege A200 before we start: unlike the other notebooks in this line-up, this laptop is unavailable to the general public. At this time the device is only available in bulk to schools, but it fits the brief of an 'education notebook' so we have included it here.

As with the Samsung X10 Plus, the Toshiba has taken some style cues from Apple: unopened it looks like an iBook with its white fascia. Inside, the layout is very clean, and a sturdy magnesium alloy ensures the notebook will withstand most of the knocks of the average schoolbag, and ensures the unit is also quite light.

The touchpad has a very nice feel and the keyboard provides good audible and tactile feedback with a satisfying click with each keypress.

The Portege A200 also has many of the necessary features we would expect in an education notebook, including LAN and modem ports, two USB ports, a DVD-ROM, and 802.11b/g with an wireless on/off switch. The screen has a high contrast coating and is a little smaller than the other units, but this helps keep the size and weight down.
In performance terms, the Toshiba finished towards the end of the pack. It managed an acceptable 226 minutes in our reader test, but fared poorly in the PCMark evaluation with the lowest score of 2607 marks.

Overall, this is a slick, durable notebook but its average performance mean it's not quite up there with our winners.