There’s a slight issue for Asus Eee PC owners who want to use their older batteries with the Atom-based Eee PC 900A revealed earlier this month–they won’t work. That’s because the tiny laptop uses a different connector (4400mAh, cheap) than its predecessors the 701 and 900. There’s some good news, however, as jkkmobile notes the 900A’s 8GB SSD implements a single pci-e card, not a split one; and the SLF flash should give you speeds comparable to the 900/901 4GB SSD. [HKPug via jkkmobile]
The shiny brown machine in the photo there is apparently the top-of-the-range Eee PC S101 that was shown in Asus’ leaked presentation last month. It looks just a little bigger than the white 901 model next to it, and it will be about 2.2cm deep, have a 10.1-inch LED-lit LCD, and have an Intel Atom purring away inside. What makes it “ultimate” is presumably in part its SSD: it’ll come with either a 32GB or 64GB solid-state drive, and that’s why the two models will cost around US$699 and US$899 when available in October. And they may not carry the “Eee” label, or so the rumour goes. [PChome.tw]
Gus over at Lifehacker spotted this one, and frankly it’s too good a deal to pass up – Catch of the Day have the Windows XP version of the unstoppable Eee PC 700 for $299.
300 bucks for any computer is a steal, but considering how well received the Eee has been, you’d be a fool to miss this one.
And, as pointed over on Lifehacker, considering they’re advertising that the maximum you can order is 10 at a time, there’s probably not a shortage of stock in the COTD warehouses. The offer does end at midday tomorrow though, so if you’re going to buy, do it now.
[Catch of the Day via Lifehacker]
It shouldn’t be a surprise, really, as Asus has already whored the Eee brand strength to computer peripherals and even a television, but in a recent presentation the company revealed a sort of USDA computer pyramid prescribing an Eee for every class of buyer. And whether or not the majority of these 23 models are cheap, tiny laptops (unlikely) or the pyramid represents the Eee branding hitting all Asus laptops (a bit more likely), the whole line is looking like a confusing mess to consumers who just heard about the Eee for the first time. [Engadget China via Engadget]
Not content with muddying-up the waters of the Eee brand, Asustek is apparently keen to “push out software and hardware upgrades every month to fill gaps in the netbook market.” Though that sounds like a bad idea, at least one benefit may come of it: according to Digitimes, one of the upcoming products will be a “whole day” battery for the Eee UMPCs. Digitimes also talks about an “internet storage” solution, and cooperation with European telecoms vendors. Interesting stuff, though since it seems slightly unsubstantiated, we’ll wait ’til we hear something concrete to believe it. [Digitimes]
HP may already have an Eee PC competitor in its 2133 mini-notebook, but that $899 starting price isn’t exactly catering to the Eee PC’s market – people who wanta no-frills, cheap and functional mini-notebook.
That’s why HP are looking at following up the 2133 with a low-cost model, sacrificing some of the durability and premium hardware and software options for price, according to APC.
If you’re hanging out to get your hands on a HP-branded mini-notebook, apparently they’ll be landing later this year, although there’s no word on what kind of engine will be running under the hood – the 2133 currently uses the Via C7-M processor, although APC reckons HP will follow the rest of the market in moving to the new Intel Atom chip.
[APC Mag]
Still not content with keeping the Eee name only on their successful (but ballooning) line of netbooks, this unofficial but legit-looking crew of peripherals joins the Eee Box, Eee TV, Eee Monitor and Eee Enema (spot the outlier!) in further desecrating the brand. Included is an external hard disk with a fold-out USB connector, an optical drive and a 3G data connection card–which put together make up for most netbooks’ feature shortcomings. No release details but we’ll keep an Eee Eye out, if we can make sense of the whole mess. [Eee PC News via Laptop]
Today’s New York Times has a trend piece on ULPCs/Netbooks/Nettops/Subnotebooks/Mini PCs/*Insert Buzzword Here* and analysts who fear their low prices will spell doom and gloom for the PC industry. They cite the already low profit margins for PC sales as an example of what could drive computer companies into the red. Naturally success stories like the Asus Eee, and the next wave of products like the CherryPal were name dropped as potential threats, but it hardly seems time to worry.
Some of you were probably salivating at the prospect of the Eee PC 1000H getting a price cut over the weekend. Sadly, in Australia, there’s no price cut to be found.
Asus have finally announced the official Aussie price for their latest Eee, and for those 10 inches of screen and 80GB worth of hard drive space, you can expect to hand over $699.
With Acer’s Aspire One and the MSI Wind all hitting the country at a slightly cheaper price, Asus are finally starting to get some competition in this space. As to which one’s the best, well, you’ll just have to wait and see…
[Asus]
Looks like Asus listened to us when we complained about the price of their biggest and best Eee PC yet, the Eee PC 1000H. It’s been on sale for less than a week, but Newegg’s already dropped the price by US$100. In case that was the only thing preventing you from taking a bite out of Eee, go pick it up now for US$549. [Mobile Stylus]
