Acer and ASUS
We'll start with the Acer Aspire One, a netbook that launched in July 2008 and remains one of the cheapest Atom-based offerings available.
Having launched with a lacklustre three-cell battery, prospective owners will be happy to hear that Acer now offers models with a six-cell battery - be certain to keep an eye out for that when shopping.
In terms of hardware, the Aspire One doesn't push the boat out - and with its lower-than-the-rest price-tag, it doesn't really need to. It'll provide an 8.9in screen 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, up to 1GB of RAM and a choice of storage options - an 8GB solid-state drive, or 120GB hard-disk drive.
Weighing in at around 2.78lbs, the Aspire One is a fairly light device and it comes in a choice of colours - Seashell White, Sapphire Blue, Coral Pink, Golden Brown and Onyx Black. Not a bad selection, and not a bad netbook solution thanks to its pocket-friendly starting price of £219.99.
Related reading: Hands-on with the Acer Aspire One: an ASUS Eee PC-beater?
Let's move on to ASUS - yep, the ones who got this netbook craze going - and take a look at the Eee PC 901, which we believe to be the best value Atom-based Eee PC currently on offer.
The Eee PC 901, pictured below, is what you might call a by-the-book Atom-based netbook. It features an 8.9in 1,024 x 600 screen, Intel's 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM, up to 20GB of SSD storage capacity and a choice of Xandros Linux or Windows XP operating systems.
It's exactly the type of netbook we've become accustomed to seeing, and it's parked firmly at £299.99. Armed with a six-cell battery, it should provide reasonable battery life straight out of the box, but at 2.80lbs it's slightly heavier than most of the competition.
So, we've seen two offerings from manufacturers who entered the netbook race early on. Now let's take a look at two who've just joined in...