I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out that this thing weighs 2.03 lbs (920 grams) and the Samsung Q1 UMPC weighs 1.72 lbs (779 grams), where as a budget laptop will be more like 7 lbs (3 kg+).
Which product would you say is more comparable?

wolfticket

@firesign: No, you can't. You can buy a 15.4" that weighs three times as much, and takes up significantly more storage space when on the go. The eee PC is the size of a DVD case. Newish subnotebooks and UMPCs start a $1500 USD and work their way up. That's the comparable item/pricepoint.

junyo

@nutbastard: good counter point... I agree this thing is for specialized purposes. I spoke to a distributor last night night who said this is being ordered by the boat load by companies. They can install small apps on them and have their employees move around warehouses and such using them almost anywhere.

Maksimir

@firesign:
fucking iPhones cost how much? Why dont iPhoners just "get a laptop" w/ evdo and skype for the same price? it can do so much more than the iPhone. Meanwhile, apple sold HOW many iPhones?

nutbastard

@nutbastard: the point is that you can buy a REAL LAPTOP for not much more than that and have everything this thing does and more, like watching dvds

firesign

at $199 i would've picked one up. at $399? no thanks.

firesign

God damn it people, it's NOT A LAPTOP. Please stop complaining about the storage capacity. It's not for hosting dvd torrents or playing Gears of War. It's for surfing the internet on the go and running light games and basic apps. It's not a primary machine in the same way that your phone is not your primary machine. it's meant to be portable, small, and do a small number of things well. no one bitches when phones have a couple gigabytes of storage, or can't run vista. no one bitches that their corolla can't rock crawl. this is a big phone for the internet.

nutbastard

FYI - There are 3 models ranging from $259-$399.

OldSchoolGadgetLover

Its $400 and only has 4gb of solid state HD space and probably would choke over a Vista installation. Even my iPod nano has more space than that. Its way too over priced for its "bare minimum" specifications. You might as well spend $100 more for a far superior laptop. It was more appealing at $200 or $300.

rdldr1

@Dame1234 & BENENGLISH - Agreed

The little thing looks neat as hell though. Maybe the "2G Surf(end of Nov)" will be cheap enough to merit a purchase. Hopefully you can expand the RAM up to the other models(as I got an 256 SODIMM of the right kind laying around doin nothing), internal storage might not be an issue as I plan to not go ape shit with apps and I got SD cards up the ass at this point.

NNTPgrip

yeah I don't think it'd be worth dropping $400 for one of these.

ossnap

399? thy just had vista rnning core duos at best buy for like 500...

AznSmith

At $200 I would have bought two. At twice that, I'll do without.

Sad, really. I was looking forward to this thing.

benenglish

$399??? I was almost still in at $299.

dame1234

@saych: what do you mean they don't understand why there is a launch date... It launched on 16OCT2007 Worldwide. [eeepc.asus.com]

US just wasn't supposed to get stock til 01NOV2007. They got them in early, so they're selling early...

stampedingchipmunk

@aussie: The Eee PC is not as rugged, not as low-powered, doesn't have the mesh network, won't be as readable in sunlight, etc. And the OLPC XO is still cheaper if you want a comparable feature set.

BUT, I bet the Eee PC can run much of the innovative software stack that OLPC developed for the XO, maybe down to the energy-saving kernel and reliable update firmware, so it could indeed be a useful alternative.

skierpage

@Satorical: No, no, more top of the mouth. It's pronounced "Wooster".

novacthall

That shit's too small for grandma.

strider_mt2k

$399 is a bit steep. I was looking at picking up one of those lots of 5 ~1GHz Dell's for arond $500 for the kids. A little bit of swapping parts around I could end up with 3 to 4 working ones for about the same price.

enine

those companies selling eee pc now don't seem to understand why there is a launch date.

saych

It's pronounced "assy."

Satorical

Why don't the one laptop per child people order a whole bunch of these, they'd probably get a discount - who know's it may cost only $199 on a bulk order!

aussie

On a side note, this is probably the first item that is actually released for the same price in both Canada and the US.

Everyone from the US: "Who gives a fuck!"
Everyone from Canada: "It's still too damn expensive!"

A shame that the 4GB model is $399. I would have expected the 8GB for that much, which I would have bought. I will check it out, though - as I've been waiting for this little bastard to arrive for 5 months now.

electrikecho

Christ.. you guys got Nutbastard going again...

Anyway it's not exactly a computer, it's more like a second computer that you can drag everywhere easier than a laptop. Most movies and tunes would live on your desktop and you would likely stream them from there. Most folks who buy this as a primary machine will probably get burned at some point trying to plug in a printer or something. The Linux crowd will be all over it though since Linux will never catch on for normal people, so it should be pretty a pretty useful piece of kit in a few months.

vince77

this thing's supposed to be xp compatible right? why's everyone bitching about the $399 price? last i checked, if you want something this small you have to get a umpc or one of those 10" sony laptops which are well over a grand. 4gb is small tho but it does take sdhc

Weihovah