Acorn to launch sub-£1,000 laptops

Acorn Computers - a name that brings back fond memories from the early days of personal computing - will launch its new notebooks in June.

The revived brand is reappearing as a range of sub-£1,000 laptops, followed by desktop PCs. The company has promised that manufacturing and support will all be based in the UK.

The notebooks, which use both AMD and Intel mobile processors, range from an ultraportable 12in machine to a 17in widescreen laptop.

Shahid Sultan, UK operations director at Acorn, said: 'We're trying to build on the existing reputation that Acorn had.'

All the company's computers will come with Star Office pre-loaded, and have safe-surfing software that notifies a parent if their child visits a site they are not allowed on.

While the ultraportable is aimed at people who need mobilty, the 17in widesrceen, called the Desk Book, has a high-end specification that will attract many gamers.

Running an AMD Turion64, it comes with 256MB ATI Mobilty Radeon graphics, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 100GB hard disk drive, DVD optical drive and Microsoft Windows XP Professional.

Although keeping retail prices down is laudable, it is difficult to see how Acorn can survive financially, particularly as build and support are all in the UK.

Sultan said: 'We're trying to go for a model where it costs more up front to Acorn, but costs less post-sales because products are reliable.'

Desktop PCs will be released by the fourth quarter, but due to the tough nature of that market, they will be aimed at the education sector rather than household consumer.