PC World today claimed to have beaten 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.

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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
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