New Asus Eee PCs on the way
We have always liked the little Eee PCs here at Unbeatable, some of us using them even at home. Hook them up with a 3G Internet dongle or even most 3G mobile phones, and you have a very portable, Internet-anywhere laptop. Although not officially supported by the Mobile providers, setting them up to work with these dongles is pretty easy as this article shows. Looking forward, Asus plan to embed 3G connectivity into the laptops, meaning all thats needed from the Mobile Network providers is a Sim card and off you go.
The big shock from Asus is them finally offering full Windows XP installations. It was possible to use Windows XP on Eee PCs beforehand, but users had to buy a copy and have some technical know how to install it. Looking forward, they have also decided to - perhaps wisely - skip Windows Vista for future Eee PCs, but will use Windows 7 when it becomes available. Right now they are offering both XP and Linux versions of most of their 'mini laptops', but expect this to change.
The first is the Eee PC 901. It features a 1024x600 screen and a built in Microphone for Skype calls, along with a 1.3mpx Webcam, a 1.6Ghz Intel Atom Processor, and 1GB of memory. Alongside is 12-20GB Solid State Disk Drive, 4GB reserved for the OS if you go for the Linux version, leaving 8-16GB for your files and applications. A larger battery and the improved power savings from the Atom processor give significant improvements in battery life, although its actually slower compared to the old 900mhz Celeron-D processor in the Eee PC 900.
Compared to the MSI Wind, the Eee 901 is slightly cheaper, but is missing that 120GB Hard Drive. To that end, Asus have prepared the Eee PC 1000, which comes with either 40GB or 80GB Hard Disk Drive for just over £300. Slightly larger than the Eee PC 901, it comes with a bigger keyboard and slightly bigger screen, but obviously is...slightly bigger, moving it into the full laptop territory.
Considering a well featured & cheap full laptop can be had these days for £300, it is rather a lot for something that is missing the bells and whistles of a full PC. Competition has hotted up for mini-laptops, and this has meant only good things for consumers - more innovation and cheaper prices.
Speaking of innovation, Asus are due to announce a 'touch screen' Eee PC in November. Priced around £400, the device comes with a detachable keyboard and mouse, and is more of a desktop style pc. More details coming soon.
