PC World today claimed to have beated Asus to the punch by launching the first Small, Cheap Computer in the UK equipped with an Intel Atom processor.
PC World's Advent 4211: out ahead of the Eee 901?
PC World's own-brand Advent 4211 sub-notebook is essentially MSI's Wind rebadged. It's got a 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of DDR 2 memory and an 80GB hard drive that's pre-loaded with Windows XP.
The laptop sports a 10.2in display with a 1.3-megapixel camera in the bezel. It has 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, Ethernet and Bluetooth on board.
With its three-cell battery, the 4211 weighs in at an eminently portable 1.12kg.
Compact
But the price is a weighty - for an SCC, at least - ?280.
PC World claimed the 4211 was launched today, but a trip to the company's website shows an "estimated release date" of 7 July.
Asus' Atom-based Eee PC 901 was due to have gone on sale on 1 July, but doesn't appear to have made it out of Asus' warehouse yet. If Asus can get the machine in the shops before Monday - and PC World sticks to its published timeframe - the Eee maker will have got there first.
Related Reviews
Intel Atom 230 ultra low-power desktop CPU
MSI Wind Windows XP Edition sub-notebook
Asus Eee PC 901
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/04/pcworld_scc_vs_asus/