How do you create what might be the world’s cheapest computer? Easy: You strip it to the absolute bare minimum.

Toshiba’s NB505 netbook isn’t quite as skeletal as that, but it’s awfully close. And at all of $288, asking for much more would probably be a bit greedy.

The specs don’t merit a whole lot of notice: A 1.66-GHz Atom CPU and a paltry 1 GB of RAM ensure performance scrapes rock bottom. Though it couldn’t actually run most of our benchmarks, those that the NB505 did complete were near-record-breaking … on the bottom end, that is. A 250-GB hard drive is more than plenty, and the three USB ports plus SD card slot cover the connectivity basics. The 10.1-inch LCD is about average in both brightness and resolution (1024 x 600 pixels), and at just 2.7 pounds, the laptop’s heft is in line with other machines in its class.

While price is the clear — and appropriate — focus with this portable, Toshiba makes some oddball choices that don’t really make a lot of sense.

Why saddle this underpowered netbook with special, always-on software that basically makes funny frames for your webcam video when you’re talking on Skype? Why would anyone want their machine hijacked by the “Toshiba Bulletin Board,” with its special notes and enigmatic “deals and offers?” Is this an attempt to drive the price of the computer down to zero? (If so, sign me up.)

The machine’s design is a bit of a mess, from the difficult, super-flat keyboard to the distracting glossy frame around the screen. Also, I’m mostly on the fence about the material used to create the back of the lid. It’s sort of rubbery plastic studded with pock marks. It comes in several different colors, but the one I tested was brownish-gold, making it look a bit like high-tech snakeskin, only much less cool than that sounds.

All of this may come off like there are a lot of negatives about the NB505, and there are, but remember: It’s less than 300 bucks. If you don’t like it, park it in the kitchen and use it for recipes. Keep it in your sock drawer in case of emergency. Or, give it to an orphan and write it off on your taxes. If the bottom line really is the bottom line, the NB505 is ultimately a surprisingly good netbook choice.

WIRED Touchpad is more spacious than pads on many much larger laptops. Dirt cheap. Battery life approaches 5 1/2 hours.

TIRED Incredibly slow; would happily have paid the extra $12 for another gig of RAM. Ultra-flat keyboard makes touch-typing massively error-ridden. We had forgotten that Windows 7 Starter Edition actually existed. Pretty darn ugly.

Photo by Jim Merithew/Wired.com

You can’t deny Dell some hard-fought gee-whiz cred with the new Inspiron Duo.

In a world of commoditized portables, it is nothing if not a unique product. Show it off to your friends; it looks like a netbook, and you pop open the laptop-like clamshell and wait for the bored expression to appear. Then comes the sucker punch: you rotate the screen horizontally within its frame and snap the laptop back shut. Ta-da, it’s a freakin’ tablet, bro! People are duly impressed. It’s a neat trick and, at the very least, a clever feat of engineering.

But what is the Dell Inspiron Duo? Cut through the mystery and you will find — sorry to burst your bubble — a Windows netbook with a rotating touchscreen.

And that begs the question, what is it good for?

Well, we’re still working on that one.

This is the problem with dual-function gadgets in general: They rarely do either of the things they’re designed for very well. As a netbook, the Duo is at least passable. While it’s heavier than other 10-inch netbooks by up to half a pound, it’s well designed and looks good, and the 1366 x 768 screen’s brightness is about average for the category. But performance is unfortunately poor all around (a 1.5-GHz Atom doesn’t get you very far), and the two measly USB ports could stand an upgrade.

As a tablet, the Duo fares considerably worse. Here, its three pounds of heft are way too much for extended use, and the clamshell design adds an uncomfortable thickness to the device that makes it hard to hold. The screen also suffers from the same poor viewing-angle problems that sunk the Streak 7. If you’re not holding it dead on, the screen is virtually illegible.

Of course, the biggest problem here really isn’t Dell’s fault, it’s that Windows just doesn’t work very well for touchscreen devices, especially not on a small scale like this. Use the Duo in tablet mode for more than three minutes and your skin starts to crawl. You want to get something done quickly. You try to hit Control-C. Soon you find you’re reaching over and over for a keyboard that isn’t there. Except, of course, it is. Thank God for that.

WIRED 320GB hard drive is bigger than my laptop’s. Flipping system works well, feels sturdy. Dell Stage custom launcher app loads automatically in tablet mode, makes Windows a bit more useful as a slate. Duo Audio Station ($100 more) adds much-improved audio and a vertical docking system.

TIRED Tediously slow all around; get used to a lot of waiting. Screen is hideous. Too heavy for regular, table-free use.

Photos courtesy of Dell