Asus officially announces launch of Asus Eee PC 900
Summary: We heard about the second generation Asus Eee PC at CES back in January and today Asus made the official announcement for the Eee PC 900. This next gen device improves in a couple of areas with a larger 8.9 inch display at 1024x600 resolution, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and more storage capacity.
We heard about the second generation Asus Eee PC at CES back in January and today Asus made the official announcement for the Eee PC 900. This next gen device improves in a couple of areas with a larger 8.9 inch display at 1024x600 resolution, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and more storage capacity.
You will be able to purchase the Eee PC 900 with Windows XP (12 GB total flash) or Linux (20 GB total flash). The flash storage actually comes as 4 GB integrated with 8 and 16 GB flash modules so there is the possibility that you could upgrade this with higher capacity modules later. We saw that Asus was pretty open to some basic tinkering by the end users in the previous model so this is likely.
The Eee PC 900 runs with an Intel Mobile CPU (speed not given in the press release), has DDR II 1GB RAM module (again should be easy to upgrade), integrated WiFi, SDHC storage card slot, 3 USB ports, and a unique FingerGlide trackpad. The FingerGlide supports multi-touch functionality similar to the MacBook Air and I really like the fact that you can scroll right/left and up/down using a two finger slide just like I do on my MacBook Pro. This navigation functionality is one of the main reasons I love my MacBook Pro and is a major bonus on this new Eee PC for me. All of this still weighs in at just under 1 kg (2.2 lbs). Both of these models should be available in May for a retail price of around US$650 each. A 12 May launch at US$549 has been confirmed.
The first review of this new model has been posted at TrustedReviews and it is quite glowing. I just ordered the 3.2 lb HP Mini-Note PC, but am fairly certain I will be canceling the order since it won't ship until May and I need to be a bit more patient and see how this ultra portable PC market shakes out. Besides, from the sound of the review I could save a $100 and get a very nice device.
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Talkback
eeePC is awsome
I take this little thing with me everywhere and as long as I can find an unlocked WIFI signal, can check email, surf the net and even make phone calls to anywhere in the world for a couple of cents a minute.
In my opinion, the eeePC is the most useful piece of technology equipment I have ever owned. And for $350 it was a real bargain. It is not as fast as my regular laptop and the small keyboard results in a lot of imput errors but I can live with both of those minor problems.
The new version will fix the only annoying problem that this device has and that is that the screen is too small to display the full page of most web sites and programs. You have to scroll quite a bit to see the entire page most of the time. On the other hand, it will be larger and heaver so there may be some who prefer to stay with the original version.
RE: Asus officially announces launch of Asus Eee PC 900
Asus products?
Asus also happens to be the largest PC components and peripherals manufacturer in the world, dwarfing all others. This includes motherboards, graphics cards and notebooks. They're also the only notebook manufacturer in the top 5 to not only manufacture their own branded laptops, but also provide other manufacturers with OEM components. With the sheer volume they turn out, they're bound to get their share of complaints (legit and non-legit alike).
As for manufacturer forums, those are places peeps go to complain and/or seek help. It's the nature of the rag. Those who are not experiencing issues rarely feel the need to frequent such places to shout their praises (that part is call HUMAN NATURE). I can't speak for the EEE models, having no experience with them, but to swipe at Asus like you have, and across the board (no pun intended), is pretty absurd. Please tell me of a surefire alternative that kicks their boardmaking butt.
Asus: good or bad
But, that said, Asus does has a serious problem with its support system. Recently built PC with their Striker II Formula board and there was a problem with the onboard Network. It would drop out requiring A CMOS reset with the Power removed completly. Phone calls to the number listed in the manual led you to a ring around on the voice answering system. and tech request submitted through their online support were never answered. Dozens of request by multiple users through their online forum were ignored.
The problem was finally resolved (3 months) with a BIOS update, but Asus did nothing to let users know. To be fair, this could have been an Nvidea chipset problem. But the deafining silence from Asus has left a bitter taste.
Do agree there
It's not a perfect company by any stretch, and they are not without their fair share of product glitches and CS faults, but their products tend to be better than most over the long haul. You often have to pay a little more to begin with to acquire them, but if you can deal with less-than-ideal customer support, you generally are rewarded with above average, quality products.
PS. I should add that many of the larger board makers offer roughly the same level of support.
One opinion
My personal experience with ASUS has been anything but negative. I have only had two three failures with their products and in all but one case they were inside warranty and were quickly and easily replaced. Customer and technical support even speak English and are more than happy to make the customer happy.
I have an EEE and I love it.
RE: Asus officially announces launch of Asus Eee PC 900
Eee PC is awesome, but Two SSDs?!
have a very tough time dealing with stuff like this since I'm
not a complete techie. Sounds like the Eee 900 is just like the
700. Not very productive for non-techies, awesome for
techies and modders.
This is what I wanted from Apple
wouldn't kick it out of my backpack, but I want the smaller
footprint and the lower cost.
I'll miss Mac OS X, but I'm willing to give Linux a try. It's
come a long way these last five years, and I don't mind
learning something new. I doubt I'll be going the
hackintosh route: having updates breaking the device kind
of defeats the purpose, you know? And for what I'd use
this for, I really don't need the full power of OS X.
You can Dream Apple & eat it too
I, too have been dreaming of a free-license Mac-type OS. There are a few Linux distros now with the help of Compiz-Fusion, Enlightenment, Engage and features like AWN, Stacks - I could go on.
Thing is, a lot of the Dream community are multi-distro testers & most of us come running back to Dreamlinux like flea-bitten, rabid dogs on marijuana .
The OS is very well architectured & modular so many features can be tried & dropped without breaking the install.
Do yourself a favor & try it on the EeePC. It is very functional even on HDD as small as 3Gb.
RE: Asus officially announces launch of Asus Eee PC 900
Who cares what Microsoft want on it
RE: Asus officially announces launch of Asus Eee PC 900
The rest OK.