Want to stay up to date? Then why not subscribe to the RSS feed?

Or subscribe by email
Interested in Advertising? I sometimes have 125x125 banner slots available for only $40pcm. Reviews only cost $40 too.
I'm nearly fully booked so get in touch now
Latest Content
Related Content
Recent Comments
Posted on Tuesday 17th of June 2008 at 01:18 in Hardware

Asus EEE-PC 900 completely misses the point

I finally got around to reviewing Asus' lilliputian notebook the other day (the EEE-PC 701); something I'd been putting off for quite some time. I've had it for months but seldom use it, so it wasn't until last weekend that I was able to sit down with it and formulate a review. Ironically, the new EEE-PC 900 is out imminently but I can't see myself being an early adopter for it.

Last week I was contacted by the PR company who deal with Asus, telling me they had a few review models available if I wanted to have one on loan. I had to politely decline due to time constraints but enquired about purchasing one when they're available. Today someone contacted me offering a 'special press price' for the machine and I was shocked.

What made the Asus EEE-PC 701 a success
Asus sold lots of these tiny, Linux powered machines. They weren't powerful but they were quite stylish, but above all else they were cheap. We're talking £180 when laptops cost £290+. Comparisons with full featured laptops could be blown out of the water on both sizing and cost - after all you wouldn't compare a Ferrari to a Ford would you?

The new model is set to retail at around £330
I wasn't expecting a price tag so high. I don't think anyone was. After all the machine hasn't advanced much; the screen has increased from 7" to 8.9", the SSD drive is now 12gb (with XP) or 20gb (with Linux) and memory has doubled (to 1gb). The CPU is still the same, 900mhz Intel chip. Sure the native resolution has risen from a tiny 840x480 to a more respectable 1024x600, but whatever they've done they've shifted the EEE-PC's price into an awkward range.

£330 is budget laptop territory; they're better than this
Suddenly because the price has been ramped up the EEE-PC only has one song in it's repertoire - it's tiny size (the one thing that caused me the most problems with the 701). It may be tiny enough to fit in your coat pocket but it does cramp up your hands after a while unless you've got your robe of Dexterity(+20) on.

All you need to do is look around the entry level laptop market and you realise that the EEE-PC might be too expensive. I found an HP laptop with a standard 15.4" screen, 1gb of memory, 120gb hard drive and integrated DVDRW drive with a 1.6ghz CPU for only £270. There are several machines on the market of a similar spec for a similar price - all less than the EEE-PC 900.

Suddenly all Asus' little machine has left is it's size. You know, I don't think they're going to fly off shelves like the 701 did; anyone who wants truly mobile computing will save themselves £100 and buy the original EEE-PC, anything else and you might as well buy an entry level laptop. I think Asus have missed the point massively this time...

Enjoy this article? Why not subscribe to the full RSS feed?


Did you like this article?
If you liked this article then please show your support and give me a Digg. If you'd like to get in touch with me, email me at steven.york@seopher.com
Want to stay updated?
Sign up to RSS updates by email (or subscribe to the full RSS feed)

Enter your email address:


Add a comment






Comments

Showing most recent 3 of 3 comments

Thanks for the comment Reno, however constructive criticism is always more believable when you're not trying to sell your own services.

This is one customer you won't be getting, but thanks for the thought
seopher
Hey
YOu got interesting topics but your site is super ugly, let me know if you need a design

http://www.seoandwebdesign.com

In fact I can’t read your articles, the design really sucks


reno
The difference between a laptop and a UMPC-style-laptop is size. You can jigger up the price all the way to £2000-2900 (Lenovo ThinkPad X300) or £1200-2030 (Mac Air) and they still sell.

Why? They’re a different class of device.

Look at the differences between the modern mobile phone and a laptop. There are plenty of places you wouldn’t want to open up your laptop and write out a big email and there are times when text-messaging isn’t sufficient. Browsing on a phone is convenient but limited. Browsing on a laptop is full-featured but awkward. UMPCs bridge these gaps.

I think they’re a result of the realisation that phones just aren’t good enough for some things because they have an inherently limited physical-IO space.

I agree that the first Eee was very much targeted at the OLPC/XO market: kids. People don’t want to whack a large chunk of dosh out on a toy but the later iterations of the Eee is turning it into a far more useful device.
Oli