Eee PC Touchscreen Coming This Summer, Asus Confirms
Asus' president of sales, Kevin Lin, has announced the upcoming 8.9-inch Eee PC will have a touchscreen incorporated. Lin also speculated that the device may have GPS functionality, too, however this was not confirmed. The announcement has us a little confused, as earlier reports suggested otherwise. Still, Lin went on to say the expected starting price for an 8.9-inch touchscreen toting Eee will be around US$500, and he also added that the Eee Desktop PC will begin retailing at the US$199 mark. Put that in your Eee PC news pipe and puff it. [DigiTimes]
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@pagercam: size and weight are two of the biggest selling points. I was going to add Touchscreen, BlueTooth, and a BlueTooth GPS to my future 8.9" Eee, and that would cost considerably more than $50-$100, and be far more impractical. I say bring on the $50 integrated GPS!
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Dear Asus,
As much as I've been patiently waiting while you add these upgrades every couple months, I'd be more than willing to wait another couple months if you want to make the screen rotate tablet-style, and come out with a car-mount. If you want to charge $50 for each of those features on top of it, by all means...
-John
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SpyderMS
@flyboy: Hahahahahahahahahahaha! Hooheeeheee! ROTFL! Hahahahahahaha! oh boy, whew!....
@pagercam: No Via CPU, Intel. It's actually quite snappy for what is is, at least with the default Xandros-based OS... The memory isn't _really_ limited allowing you to use 2GB under XP, or with Xandros after a kernel recompile. The lack of rotating hard drive is actually one of the selling features, nevermind the fact that you can have essentially unlimited nearline storage via USB/External hard drive. It's not ideal as a primary portable by any means, but I find that it's great as a backup laptop, or as something that you can (for example) fit in your camera bag. Basically, as an afterthought, you can ensure that you have a (near-disposable) PC handy just about anywhere. It competes more (strangely enough) with other ultraportable devices that (are admittedly) more powerful and full-featured, and MUCH more expensive, than low-end laptops -- which are also more powerful and full-featured -- but much less portable. IMSHO, anyway....
Mandatory_Field
@pagercam: its why the Mac has the lion's share of the market historically,,,, price
flyboy
ASUS make two eeePC 900 models: 1) flashy ($600+) with GPS, touchscreen, etc; 2) basic (<$500).
chopstickhero
Asus started with a low cost PC, nice.
Now bigger screen +$50. Ok
Better specs +$50. oo..k
Add touch screen +$50, ah.. ahem.. ok
Add GPS +$50, well I might as well buy a dell and get all the speed, memory and storage of a real laptop.
Asus has lost focus and needs to strip features to get the cost down. HP & Dell already have laptos <$500, why would I want a Via CPU limited memory and no disk?
pagercam
They should forget about the touchscreen and just keep the price down. 500$ as a starting price probably means that I have to pay 600 if I want something I can use. No thanks.
hanswurst0815
a touchscreen and gps would tempt me to pick one up, despite already having a good laptop. The allure of those 2 additions makes it more useful. There are people who use their laptop for more then checking their email and catching up on news. I prefer gadgets that offer utility and while there arn't a whole lot of programs written around touch screen interfaces, developing machines like this may pave the way for it.
gizak
Why the heck would anyone want or care about a touchscreen on a laptop?
I will never understand that.
Personally, I try to keep my fingerprints OFF my screen.
darex
I could care less about touchscreen. Now that I've had mine on the road in Asia for a few weeks, I want better wireless connectivity - it can be a real pain with even 100% unlocked wireless - and a fix to the ability to turn the wireless OFF - another one of those flaky things. Remap the right shift etc. key and I'll buy another one.
Asus ever talk about how one would get a sw update / fix, as new versions of, say, Skype come out or are we just supposed to toss these?
Ikat
What OS will the unit be running? GPS on Linux is almost as lacklujster as GPS on OSX and all of the user hacked touchscreens have (for some reason) needed to run Windows.
Touchscreen, GPS, 7 inch screen, SSD. Perfect carputer.
Lizard_King
nice pair
of consumer products
flyboy
While I typically enjoy articles about Eee advancement, I might be the only one who is not elated by this news. I do not want to touch screens. Ever. I dislike DS games that require extensive stylus usage, and am not too fond of touchphones and tablet PCs. Touchscreens are fine on kiosks, art tablets, and bar surfaces*. That's it.
* for reference
+ Watch video
Way
Pass that Eee to the left, mofo...
strider_mt2k
nice jugs....shame about the computer...sigh
fastmike
THATS how they're making the numbers! In order to (slowly and gradually) get the Eee you really want, you end up buying a bunch of them in quick succession! And I laughed at the iPhone early adopters... (sigh)
Mandatory_Field
Finally saw an eee today in person at microcenter...Nice, would be a great 2nd laptop to take out when you don't want to trash your good one. Adding a touchscreen and possibly gps would really make this the chronic.
I wanted to mess with the eee more but some Snake Pliskin lookin dame with a mullet and a Cubs hat on walked over and started asking ME if the "Toshreeba" she was lookin at was any good. I had to run.
YtuMaMaTambien
IF that thing has a GPS, and at least the specs of the current Eee PC (that is entirely to many E's) then I will think about the possibility of maybe buying it if I feel like it forthworthy.
Otherwise, NO.
Stacky Botrus
Damn, I hate news seeing like this. I've been wanting to get an EeePC last year, but have been holding off for the 8.9" version which is supposed to be released next month. Now they tempt me with a touchscreen and I'll have to wait even longer.
Azndude51