Asus has formally rolled out its Eee PC line of sub-notebook computers, a week after UK supplier RM – formerly Research Machines – spilled the beans on two of the models. The complete line-up comprises four computers. All four models are based around the same 7in display; 900MHz Intel Celeron processor and chipset; 10/100Mbps Ethernet port and 802.11b/g Wi-Fi for internet access; HD audio; three USB ports; SD card slot; stereo speakers and microphone input; and a version of the Linux open source operating system, Xandros. My take: I want one. It has everything I need: small size, Linux, wireless, and email client/browser/IM. I don’t need more from a laptop.
I want one Eee. They look great and have everything I need.
I hope they are going to sell them here in Serbia soon.
Browser: Opera/9.50 (J2ME/MIDP; Opera Mini/4.0.8993/58; U; en)
Though Asus’ web designers should be collective hung by their toes. What a horribly designed website. I assume this 900Mhz Celeron is based upon the Pentium M/Centrino processors? I can’t find specific model information for it.
I agree. Not only is the site content-free pablum, it plays music without the user’s permission. Drag yourself into the 21st century, folks!
I predict that the Eee PC and its first generation siblings from other companies will, in just a few years, transform the line-up of consumer computers in most retail stores into something very different from what we have today.
Most people I know (including children and grandmas) could find use for this computer. I am extremely impressed. Stunning device, but…
… does it come regionalized, in terms of keyboard and GUI?
Am I mistaken? It just seems like they have a short battery life given it’s all solid state and the small size of the screen. Granted, it’s got a small battery as well, but < 3 hrs (dunno about a backlight or not) just seems short to me.
But otherwise, yea, I think this is a nice machine. Be nice to see how much they finally go for here in the US.
Linux power management doesn’t seem on par with XP yet. It’ll get there (with the help of the Intel initiatives), but I suspect there’s a lack of optimisation causing the weak battery life, or simply battery size. Also the screen is harder to drive than the hard disk. An OLED screen would be ideal here, but probably too expensive atm.
The wikipedia article of the asus Eee PC, describes the 4 laptop configurations(dunno how accurate).
The ‘Eee PC 4G (701)’ has about “Battery: 4-cell, 5200 mAh: ~3.5 hrs” .
Which I suppose will be less when actively being used
ah, forget the wikipedia article.
http://eeepc.asus.com/en/product.htm
shows suddenly much more information
Edited 2007-10-16 22:18
but < 3 hrs (dunno about a backlight or not) just seems short to me.
Right !!!
My 3 years old laptop (Samsung SP35) was 5 hours and is still now 3 hours, and it’s beginning to be a problem. Less than 3 hours is too short, specially for an ultra mobile device !
Come one ! 8″ screen, 900Mhz Celeron and no HDD: how can it eat so much energy ?!?
It’s a great piece of hardware, but I wish the screen was larger. The screen now has a huge plastic border, a 10″ screen wouldn’t even make it larger or anything… With a larger screen, I wouldn’t know a reason not to buy it. I mean, it’s the perfect laptop – you can actually carry it around, unlike most others.
They were going to release a 10″ screen model, but canceled it. It might have had to do with the battery life. This little unit is quite inexpensive and the current battery would not have given much time with the bigger screen. I think you will find units like this with larger screens within the next 9-12 months.
Great, looking forward to that…
While the form factor obviously has its limitations, I’d question why the screen doesn’t stretch the entire width of the display area. I also wonder what sort of resolution the display is (unless I’ve missed it somewhere?)… while applications may have been tailored for the display, that doesn’t mean web sites / applications will be.
At that price, I’d seriously consider one against the upcoming Nokia N810 with HTC-esque slide-out keyboard.
EDIT: It seems the basic model will be 800×480 (apalling in this day and age, even for a sub-notebook – look what the current N800 gives you with its gorgeous but small screen – I’d expect the Asus to be leagues ahead) but hopefully 1280×768 will follow suit – at which point, I’m buying one.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC
Edited 2007-10-16 21:45
I’ll take a wild guess…
1. cost
2. battery life
Considering that’s the first real pc laptop for $200 (assuming that’s still the price) the specs are still pretty impressive.
Now if it sells well, it’s likely other companies will try to get a piece of the cake with competing models in the future.
… I haven’t been able to determine exactly which model actually comes equipped with a buxom blond beauty in a bathingsuit. She’s likely to increase maintenance costs – but probably still worth it overall.
It’s the speakers, on each side of the screen.
Pretty big speakers if they need all that space….
See this picture of Open Office in action:
http://www.cnet.co.uk/i/c/blg/cat/laptops/rmminibook/minibook1.jpg
Staring at all that wasted black space (I have an old Tecra M1 laptop with MUCH smaller, but adequate, speakers) would really frustrate me.
(The CNET article is quite interesting, if only for the 9 pictures – http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49293351-1,00.htm)
Edited 2007-10-16 21:55
Where will these be for sale?
Anybody know if newegg.com in the USA or some big European retailer will carry them?
I would love to purchase one of these. If anyone has info on where these can be bought, do let me know.
Thanks.
I already have white computers and I don’t want it anymore because it gets dirty over time.
Anyway, I see that solid-state HDDs are more and more popular, this is great. Imagine a silent laptop
I’d like to see a screenshot of the themed distro.
I’m hoping that the US price will be cheaper than what’s listed on that site. Converting £219 to USD brings it to $446. That’s quite a bit of money for the hardware. You can find a full size laptop on sale with slightly better hardware for cheaper than that quite often.
I know there’s more to the appeal of this laptop than the price, but I was honestly hoping for something more cost effective as they originally announced. It seems like each time a bit of news about the EeePC was leaked, it was mainly about the price increasing. As excited as I was about a $200-$250 laptop with 4G’s specs, I’m not so sure it’s as appealing as it once was to me.
Here’s hoping that retailers will pass on the volume savings!
I’m hoping that the US price will be cheaper than what’s listed on that site. Converting £219 to USD brings it to $446. That’s quite a bit of money for the hardware. You can find a full size laptop on sale with slightly better hardware for cheaper than that quite often.
I’m not sure about UK prices, but generally, hardware in the US is much cheaper than in the Euro zone. Usually 1€ = 1$ or less, partiually due to higher taxes in Europe (VAT of 20%). So I’d expect $350 or something.
We don’t call it “rip-off Britian” for nothing…
Note that there is no standard European VAT rate, it varies between 15% and 25% for different countries. See http://www.expatax.nl/vatrates .
..news about the Eee, rumors, and generally lusting after this great product! The guys and gals there have been relentlessly hunting down every scrap of information there can be found and mining everything from reviews to a guy in Taiwan’s Twitter posts as he gets ready for and attends the announcement mentioned by Reuters.
In short a great place to get more information about this thing.
–bornagainpenguin (who can’t wait to get one..or three ;P)
Nonsense. Refurbished IBM Thinkpad X31, fitted to your specifications, new battery. Ready. A little bit larger, a little bit heavier. Proven technology. Runs excellent with any Linux and BSD. Pimpable if the need arises. More for the Money. Quality unbeatable. Point made.
Nonsense. Refurbished IBM Thinkpad X31, fitted to your specifications, new battery. Ready. A little bit larger, a little bit heavier. Proven technology. Runs excellent with any Linux and BSD. Pimpable if the need arises. More for the Money. Quality unbeatable. Point made.
Four words: ATI Radeon Mobility Graphics
’nuff said I think, for anyone who’s had “fun” wrestling with ATI’s Radeon Mobility drivers….both in Linux AND in Windows.
–bornagainpenguin
PS: I have a Dell Inspiron 5100–I know….
I said runs excellent with any Linux and BSD. This includes the ATI Mobility Radeon 7000 (M6) which translates into perfectly usable without binary BLOBS.
Proven technology, i personally DO know too 😉
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Category:X31
Edited 2007-10-17 12:39
Any news on how compatible the hardware is with a standard Linux distro such as Fedora or Ubuntu?
I read somewhere that Asus have downloadable drivers, plus the chipset is a standard Intel one… so it should be 99.9% compatible with any Distro.
that is great
The latest news , Asus has partnered with MS to preinstall WinXP instead of Linux at the very last minutes.
The link (Chinese)
http://www.linuxeden.com/html/news/20071017/36173.html
It seems like MS reduce price to make sure Linux will not gain more popularity.
MS really will do anything to stop the Linux to grow.
I believe in future , MS will give free Windows to OEM (only OEM and with condition) in order to maintain the OS monopoly.
not instead of linux, but as another option
I’d consider pay that for the top end model, but not for a 2G, 256MB one. No, Sire, no.
Does anyone know if the RAM is soldered or standard S0 DIMM?
Edited 2007-10-17 14:10
From what I’ve heard (mainly via http://www.eeeuser.com ) all manufacturing samples/prototypes so far seen use SO-DIMMS, although some sources say that the 256MB version may be soldered.
Anyone knows a distributor in Belgium?
But does it run Linux?
… Oh wait. Never-mind
Edited 2007-10-17 18:03
What is the webcam for if not for that ?