Archos unveils Archos 10 PC: World asks why

Archos, the French PMP maker responsible for making ace media players (and charging separately for key features such as codecs), is joining the ever-more-diluted orgy known as the netbook market. It's bringing out the Archos 10 -- a 10.2-inch Intel Atom-powered netbook, with an LED-backlit screen.

Inside it's got 1GB of RAM, a 160GB hard disk, runs Windows XP, and offers Wi-Fi, Ethernet and USB connectivity options. Look closer and you'll notice it's also sporting a look on its face that says, "Please, I know I'm both late to the party and essentially pointless, but go easy on me, yeah?"

No, we shall not. You are a pointless product, Monsieur Dix, bringing to the party out-of-date cake that no-one wants to eat, while everyone else is contributing trifles with exciting new toppings.

But at least the Archos 10 appears to be, as DAPreview points out, just a rebadged laptop from Hasee (another French manufacturer), so we trust Archos didn't pump a billion euros into R&D that could've otherwise have been spent developing another sweet media player -- which the company is undeniably great at producing.

Update: Archos has confirmed the Archos 10 will cost £349 in the UK, and will be available later this month. It'll come pre-installed with free software, including Lotus Symphony, Skype and the obsolete Outlook Express. The latter has already been replaced by Microsoft with the Windows Live Mail application. 

Archos also offers access to its Archos Media Club -- a video-on-demand service -- for a fee, naturally.  

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