Original URL: http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/09/dell_readies_eee_rival/
An unnamed executive at Taiwanese contract manufacturer Compal has coughed to constructing an Eee PC rival for PC giant Dell.
Due to ship in June, the machine full specs are not known. But the stated release timeframe is a clear clue to the sub-notebook's use of Intel's upcoming 'Diamondville' Atom processor (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/03/idf_inside_silverthorne/).
Asus Eee PC and friend: room on that mat for Michael Dell too?
According to the mole, cited by the Dow Jones newswire, Compal will be punching out 200,000 to 300,000 of the wee Dell laptops each month.
Asus is believed to have sold over 1m Eees since the ground-breaking mini computer went on sale in October 2007. That's roughly 167,000 a month, so Dell is clearly anticipating strong demand for its machine going forward. There's certainly been demand for the Asus product, though supply has frequently failed to meet it.
Yesterday, HP announced its own would-be Eee beater (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/08/hp_launches_eee_rival/), the $500 2133 Mini-Note. Unlike the Dell machine, the HP is powered by VIA's C7-M processor, presumably chosen to allow HP to ship the machine well ahead of the all the Atom-based machines coming in June. Asus, it's claimed, is also avoiding Atom (http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/08/asus_new_eee_pc_not_atom/), in the short-term at least, for a similar reason.
MSI's 10in Eee PC rival priced up in UK (9 May 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/05/09/msi_wind_uk_price/
Battery shortage leaves Compal forecast flat (6 May 2008)
http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/05/06/batteries_compal_shortage/
French punters offered petite Eee PC rival (29 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/29/french_offered_eee_rival/
Atom-based Eee PC to hit UK in June (22 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/22/atom_eee_gets_june_debut/
MSI to waft Wind Westward in June (21 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/21/msi_announces_wind/
Asus launches second-gen Eee PC (16 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/16/asus_launches_eee_900/
Japanese geeks offered smaller-than-Eee little laptop (15 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/15/kohji_rolls_out_eee_rival/
Germany to get Eee PC 900-like laptop (15 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/15/datacask_launches_jupiter/
Sharp unwraps 'world first' Intel Atom phone (14 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/14/sharp_willcom_atom_first/
'Jisus' Eee-alike sub-notebook to use Chinese Atom-smasher (11 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/11/dutch_vendor_touts_jisus_laptop/
World wants small, cheap PCs, say makers of small, cheap PCs (11 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/11/asus_intel_predict_huge_growth/
VIA and Nvidia partner to bomb Intel's Atom (10 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/10/nvidia_via_vs_atom/
Asus unwraps media centre mini PC (9 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/09/asus_unwraps_essentio/
Asus avoids Atom to get next Eee PC out early? (8 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/08/asus_new_eee_pc_not_atom/
HP launches Linux-loaded Eee PC rival (8 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/08/hp_launches_eee_rival/
Intel shows Atom-powered Eee PC clones (1 April 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/04/01/idf_eee_pc_clones_demod/
Asus releases application kit for Eee PC coders (28 March 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/28/asus_releases_eee_sdk/
Asus Eee PC 900 flips one at MacBook Air with multi-touch input (27 March 2008)
http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/03/27/asus_apes_air/