First Look: Pioneer DreamBook IL1, a notebook for under $500

The Pioneer DreamBook IL1 is being pushed as an "Eee PC killer" - one look and it's impossible not to make the comparison between this and the pint-sized ASUS marvel.

The killer is the price, starting at $499, which sounds great until you realise that's only the starting point. We built up a basic IL1 on the Pioneer site with 40GB HDD, 1GHz CPU, a 7in screen, and the total came to $609, putting this much closer to the current gen of Eee machines.
Overall, the IL1 will make do as a rough and ready, uber cheap, email and Web browsing laptop - just don't expect anything more. The processor's a Via C7-M, (up to 1.2GHz), versus the 1.6GHz Atom for the new generation of Eee machines. There's 1GB of RAM, versus up to 2GB for the Eee, and the screen's a tiny 7in, though there's an 8.9in option.

A couple of positive notes are the hard drive options (40GB-80GB), and the battery life - for which Pioneer claims a whopping 8 hours. We've yet to run in-depth battery testing, but if the IL1 even reaches half of this, it'll be doing well compared to the Eee.

There is also an IL2, which is listed for an amazing $349 on the Pioneer site. It's a tablet, 4GB flash, and weighs 800g with an 8in screen.

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