How small low-cost laptops are evolving [BT broadband office]

How small low-cost laptops are evolving

Posted 1 August 2008 at 8:15AM by Ian Betteridge in IT systems and support

I think it's fair to say that I'm a little obsessed with mobile technology of all sorts. Part of this, of course, is the endless search for the ultimate small, light laptop - and I've found another candidate which even manages to be budget-friendly.

The Advent 4211, which is a rebadged version of the well-regarded (and amusingly named) MSI Wind, has been on sale from PC World for a couple of weeks. Not that you would know it unless you look very hard, because many PC Worlds seem to not have them on display - they sell out almost as soon as they get stocks in.

It's understandable why it's proving popular. The 4211 has a ten inch screen, the latest 1.6GHz Intel mobile processor, a credible 1Gb of memory and an 80Gb hard drive. It uses Windows XP, which means it runs all of your regular business applications. And, most important of all, it costs £279 - and that, of course, includes VAT. You can find some pictures of the Advent on my Flickr stream.

The Advent isn't the only machine in this category. The Asus eeePC 1000 is slightly more expensive, but goes further than the Advent by including fast 802.11n networking, rather than the slower 802.11a/g. More machines like this will undoubtedly be available soon.

We recently posted about what to look for when buying a low-cost laptop for business, but machines like the Advent don't really follow the same criteria. It, like the Asus eeePC series which came before it, isn't really intended to be your one and only machine. Instead, they fall into the category of additional machines which you use for specific purposes - in this case, carrying on journeys where you don't want to have to lug a 2.5Kg portable.

It's been interesting watching these kinds of machines evolve, from the barebones eeePC 701 through to the Advent, which has the kinds of specificition which would have cost you £1500 a couple of years ago. And it leaves us amazed at just how powerful and cheap these kinds of machines are getting.

Tags: asus, bt, eeepc, laptop

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Comments

1. At August 1, 2008 12:29 PM, kim wrote:

its amazing how things have evolved in a short time.
my first advent with a miserable spec cost me about £3500 from pcworld, just 7 years ago. with so called interest free credit the final bill was nearer £5000.
this one costs a little more than one months instalment!

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