Acer aims budget PC at developing world

PC manufacturer Acer has revealed details of a low-price PC designed for Internet and networking use. It is aimed primarily at developing countries but will be rolled out to the UK.

This news follows last week's report in PC Dealer that Acer is becoming more heavily involved with network and Internet products.

The units will be priced at around $500 but will not include a monitor.

They are intended to explode the PC market in developing countries, where price is a major factor.

The budget machines are to take the form of network-based PCs with no hard disk. Production of the new units will hit 200 million within five years.

Dave Tanner, marketing director of Acer UK, told PC Dealer that the machines were still at a very early stage of development even in the US.

This means that as yet the company has no definitive timetable drawn up for the introduction of the units into the UK market.