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Goodmans touts home PC line-up

Alba Group brings Net to consumers - again

The Alba Group, the UK toasters-to-TVs maker, is to enter the PC market, offering a series of home-oriented machines under its Goodmans brand.

The line comprises both desktops and notebooks, but all are pitched as high-performance home entertainment systems aimed at consumers "wanting more than a purely functional, standard 'beige box'."

Each machine comes bundled with music CDs, movie DVDs, computer games and educational software. The hardware on offer includes an LCD screen, wireless keyboard and mouse, and 2.1 speaker set. Full hardware specs. were not disclosed.

The PCs run Windows XP Home Edition, rather than Microsoft's Media Center OS.

Goodmans is including a 12-month "collect and return" warranty. Calls to the 12-month tech support the company provides are charged at the national rate.

In addition to Goodmans, the Alba Group contains a number of well-known High Street electronics and electrical brand names, including Bush Radio, Dirt Devil, Breville and Hinari. The company also offers hi-fi kit under the licensed Ministry of Sound brand.

In December 2001, it dropped its ill-fated Internet TV venture at a cost to the company of £17.9m. The company sold less than a third of the number of Bush Net TV units it had anticipated. ®

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