Leaked Shots of Asus Eee 904 & 905 Laptops Show Half-Baked Idea
Shots of the rumoured Asus Eee 904 and 905 leaked, and they look like we expected–big keyboard and a small screen with way too much plastic around it. (If the screen gets too large, they aren’t allowed to use Windows XP.) There’s also a 903 model in the shots, but it just looks like a slightly updated 900. I get what they’re onto here: The small size of the EeePC is nice, but the keyboard on the 900 is still too tiny for my fat fingers. But honestly, how long before Asus just makes full-sized laptops? Oh that’s right, they already do. UPDATE: Asus confirms the 904 HD, with HDD instead of SSD, but not the 903 or 905…yet. [903, 904 & 905 via i4u]
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The article states that if the screen gets too large they aren’t allowed to use Windows XP.
This is factually incorrect and of little relevance.
Factually incorrect, because Microsoft’s licensing of Windows XP at a substancial discount extends at least to 10″ screens. Therefore the reduction in screen size from 10″ to 8.9″ has nothing to do with Windows XP or licensing.
Secondly, it is not as though you are “not allowed” to use Windows XP on devices with certain sized screens. If you have a copy of Windows XP, you are free to put it on your laptop regardless of screen size. It’s just that OEMs, who get Windows licenses at a substancial discount, no longer qualify to buy new Windows XP licenses under this scheme (and the general availability of new XP licenses is also reducing). However, OEMs have found a way around this already: a ‘downgrade’ clause allows anyone who buys a Vista license to legally use Windows XP instead without buying an XP license. OEMs can therefore buy Vista licenses for their units but install Windows XP on them.