Marks & Spencer MSNB-2009: Just a netbook
Upmarket pants 'n' ready-meal emporium M&S has commissioned an exclusive range of netbooks, for all your middle-class computing needs
This is not just a netbook. This is an... oh no wait, it is just a netbook, it's just got Marks & Spencer branding. The MSNB-2009 is a 10-inch, Intel Atom laptop with 1GB of RAM and Windows XP. You know, a netbook.
It's manufactured by Elonex, a phrase that gives us a warm glow of nostalgia for the days when UK tech companies could afford to sponsor Premier League football teams.
Netbook standards such as 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, a 160GB hard drive, a seven-in-one card reader, three USB ports, a 1.3-megapixel webcam and 6-hour battery life are all present and correct.
It's available now in black or blue (the Elonex site mentions pink, but this isn't currently on sale), direct from M&S for a fairly steep £279. This does include a two-year warranty though -- by comparison, the equivalent Dell netbook, the Mini 10v, comes with the shinier Windows 7 and only one year of guarantee, but is cheaper at £249.
M&S popped up on Crave last month when it bagged an exclusive on the first TV to integrate iPlayer, the Cello iViewer.