Two sub-$400 alternatives to the Eee PC

So, you fancy the idea of a sub-$400 laptop, eh? Well, we can't say that we blame you, with all of the excitement surrounding the Eee PC and all. While Asus' sub-notebook is a neat little piece of kit, it's definitely not for everyone. That's why we're happy to report that there will be at least two full-size alternatives this holiday season and both seem to address the Eee's shortcomings--namely the small display, cramped keyboard and limiting software.

First up is the Dell Vostro 1000 laptop. While this SMB-focused machine initially retailed for $700, Dell has seen fit to drop the price to $400, ostensibly in order to spur holiday sales. Here's what your four Benjamins buys you: a 15.4 inch display, a 1.7Ghz dual-core Athlon64 X2, 1GB of RAM, an integrated ATI graphics card, 802.11g WiFi, a 8x DVD burner and a pre-installed copy of Windows XP Home. Sure, these Vostro machines haven't exactly bowled over the critics but you know what they say: you get what you pay for.

If that's not your thing, you might want to start lining up outside of your local Best Buy soon. The big box retailer will offer a Toshiba Satellite A135-S7403 notebook and a Canon PIXMA 3-in-1 printer together as a bundle, for the low, low price of only $229. Yep, you read that right. Here's what you get in the laptop: a 1.73Ghz Celeron M 530 processor, 512MB of RAM, an 80GB SATA drive, 802.11b/g WiFi, Windows Vista Home Basic, a dual-layer DVD burner, Intel GMA950 integrated graphics and a 15.4 inch WXGA display. That's not too shabby for less than 300 bucks. Best Buy says that they'll have a minimum of 20 of these bundles per store this Friday but you might want to show up extra early, in order to beat the Black Friday crowds.

For more on the shockingly cheap laptops:
- see this Vallewag article on the Dell Vostro 1000
- and this Engadget article on the Toshiba Satellite A135-S7403