That's really an unfair comparison though, as all electronics cost significantly more in Europe thanks to high import taxes and such (if I understand correctly that is...)
For example, the
120GB 3-Cell Aspire One retails for $349 USD, but £299.99 on Amazon.co.uk, which is the equivalent to $517.24 USD
As a better example, the
Asus 1000 BK02 retails at $499 USD, but £349.00 in the UK, ($603.73 USD equivalent)
According to the review on CNet, Asus has fixed a lot of the problems, and came out with a much more attractive laptop as well. Plus, the current Asus netbooks have all had price reductions since their first release, so the S101 is bound to have them as well. It will certainly be priced much less in the US as well. Probably similar to the $599 the 1000H launched at.
The biggest thing that turns me off of one of these is the SSD. Hopefully they've included a higher spec model with the S101 so that performance won't suffer. That, or include a HDD
Edit: Just looked at the pics. Even in brown this thing looks fantastic...
Also, the full review can be read
here.
while 449 pounds (I almost wrote lbs, I *am* tired) is, according to google's conversion thingie $777 (and some change) US dollars--if I'm spending that much, I'd be going for a real laptop.