Lenovo has said it plans to sell a low-cost laptop computer - known as a netbook - for £279.

The PC maker will join Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Acer and Asus in the market for cheaper laptops which are designed mainly for web surfing, e-mailing, playing movies and music, and other basic functions.

The IdeaPad will have a keyboard 85 per cent as large as that on a regular laptop, and will come initially in two sizes - one with 512MB of RAM and an 80GB hard drive (for £279), the other with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive (for £319).

In the US the machines will cost $399 and $449 respectively.

The S10 - the larger of the two - will have a 10.2-inch screen LED screen. Both are just over an inch thick, weigh about 900g (2lbs) and run WIndows XP. Future models would be designed specifically for students and teachers, Lenovo said.

The Hong Kong-based manufacturer's arrival in the netbook market means that Toshiba is now the only main computer-maker not to have issued a scaled-down laptop.

ASUSTeK has enjoyed considerable success with its Eee PC, and in June released a version with a 10.2-inch screen which sells for £299.

Acer meanwhile has the Aspire One, the 120 GB version of which sells for £299 on Amazon.co.uk, and HP has its 2133 Mini Note, which runs Windows Vista and sells for £472.

Dell, the world's largest PC maker, is expected to give more details of its anticipated 'E' line of netbooks this month.

According to IDC, the analyst, worldwide shipments of "ultralow-cost laptops" will rise from 430,000 units in 2007 to 9.2 million in 2012.

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