Asus Confirms Specs, Price of Eee PC 904 and 1000

Ken E. writes "Asus seems to have completed its Eee PC laptop line-up, at least for the time being. The Taiwanese manufacturer has now confirmed both specifications and UK pricing of the Eee PC 904 and Eee PC 1000 — its two latest models. The Eee PC 904 is essentially an Eee PC 900 in an Eee PC 1000 chassis (big keyboard, 8.9in screen, Celeron-M 900MHz, Windows XP) and will cost £269 inc VAT. The Eee PC 1000 will cost £349 inc VAT for an Intel Atom (1.6GHz) chip, 10in screen, 80Gb HDD and Windows XP. Looks like those early Eee PC 900 adopters (£329 inc VAT, initially) have been stiffed. Still, that's progress, I guess ..."

Comments

Where's my $200 laptop

[CastrTroy]

They keep on bringing up the price and specs on these laptops. When they initially announced the EEE, they said it was going to be a $200 laptop. I still have yet to see one for $200, and with the way they keep on upping the specs, I don't think they will ever get to the $200 price point.

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[Hatta]

I have to agree. I can spend $200 on a used laptop and it has more than fast enough to do anything I want. But it's not small, and its battery will suck.

If they'd just make a $200 laptop, I'd buy it. I don't care how slow it is. I did real work on P100s 10 years ago, and I'd be happy to do the same today.

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[Adlopa]

I suspect that the margins are so low on a $200 'netbook' (which is how these devices are being pitched) that the temptation is to slip in a few more features and nudge up the price in order to make a little more money. It's not quite quite the boiling frog analogy, but it's not far off -- 7" screen too small? Why for only $50 more you can get 8.9"! And there's even a bigger keyboard for just another $30! Before you know it we'll be at the Eee PC 1200 netbook with a 12.1in screen for $700 - or a 'laptop', as such things are more commonly known...

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[Anonymous Coward]

The value of the dollar has turned to shit since they said that.

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[coolsnowmen]

the world does not revolve around the US dollar.

Maybe not revolve, but if the world is certainly not independent of it. If the US went into a true depression, do you think europe, japan, china, and the middle east would be completely immune?

If so you better quote-a-source or flash-an-econ-degree because everything I see has every major foreign market tied in multiple ways to the US's.

Or did you really just want to claim that all Americans are pompous?

Enough with the "I got ripped off!" whining

[Just Some Guy]

Looks like those early Eee PC 900 adopters (£329 inc VAT, initially) have been stiffed. Still, that's progress, I guess.

No. They got a nice working computer for a price they found reasonable. Something better will come out for less money next year, and again the year after that.

Re:Enough with the "I got ripped off!" whining

[Corf]

I have a 701. It cost me $399, and I received it on November 2 of last year.

For the last six months, since I static-zapped my desktop, it's been my only personal computer.

I'm typing this on it right now, from a plaza in Silver Spring, Maryland. It's a gorgeous day, the fountains are running.

I am super happy with it.

I don't feel "stiffed," I feel like I got in on something awesome before it was trendy.

Re:Enough with the "I got ripped off!" whining

[RulerOf]

I needed a new computer after using the one my parents bought me a decade ago. So I bought a laptop. I promptly put it on my desk, plugged in a mouse, and have never moved it since!

It was an excellent purchasing decision on my part, seeing as how, for $2000, I got a monstrous 15 inch screen, a 2 GHz Dual Core processor, and 2 gigs of ram!

Nothing more than that is really necessary, even though for $2000 I could be sitting in front of dual 24" monitors, a quad core chip, 4 GB of RAM and terabytes of storage. Or maybe something with similar specifications, in a desktop form factor, and a much heavier wallet.

You have no idea how many times I hear the same idiotic story and the bullshit excuses that go along with it. I don't understand people justifying their moronic purchases by using the wrong tool for the wrong job, and I never will.

Let me see if I can put it in perspective for you. If you owned a box truck and a subcompact smart car, and were faced with the task of moving a house full of furniture, using that EEE every day in a fixed location is like strapping a couch to the top of your smart car after lugging it past the open rear door of your box truck.

Now, I have to ask, because maybe there's just "something" I don't get: What the fuck is that EEE doing on your desk, serving as your main computer, when a nonportable PC (like your Mac) is much more appropriate and functional? Is there ANY reason, other than "Zomg, It's so cute and portable," to pass up a much more functional, and frankly better in every way given the task, device for something so horribly inappropriate?

To quote Chris Rock:

You can drive a car with your feet if you want to; it don't mean its a good fucking idea!

On a side note, my friend sold his laptop and bought the first EEE because he said the enhanced portability would allow him to use it better and more often that what he had currently, even though I told him it was a waste of money.

Two months ago, he bought a 15-inch Compaq laptop that was on sale for the same price he got the EEE for. It's a much more appropriate machine.

Re:Enough with the "I got ripped off!" whining

[Just Some Guy]

I don't understand people justifying their moronic purchases by using the wrong tool for the wrong job, and I never will.

Neither do I. Those people drive me nuts. For me, the Eee turned out to be perfect for my needs and it was the Mac that was the wrong tool for the job.

using that EEE every day in a fixed location is like strapping a couch to the top of your smart car after lugging it past the open rear door of your box truck.

Very true - if I used it from a fixed location. Which I don't.

Now, I have to ask, because maybe there's just "something" I don't get: What the fuck is that EEE doing on your desk, serving as your main computer, when a nonportable PC (like your Mac) is much more appropriate and functional?

I think you're hearing voices, because I never said anything like that. The Eee is my main computer now, and I use it from the living room, bedroom, kitchen table, and pool in the backyard (wanna try floating with an eMac in your lap?).

Two months ago, he bought a 15-inch Compaq laptop that was on sale for the same price he got the EEE for. It's a much more appropriate machine.

So your friend miscalculated his needs and found something that better fit his actual situation. Good for him! On the other hand, I always thought I wanted/needed a full-size desktop computer, and it turns out that I really wanted/needed a tiny little laptop that can float around the house without hassle.

What I don't get is people who get so worked up about other people having different needs than themselves. I'm not cursing at you for using a desktop, and don't really understand why you're cursing at me for using an UMPC.

This is not a good thing

[fprintf]

This is not a good thing for Linux adoption. Earlier articles today pointed to the increased adoption of Linux among housewives, attributed to sales of eeePCs and other cheap laptops. Now that these ones have XP on them, this can't be a good thing for the trend continuing.

Stiffed

[imidan]

Looks like those early Eee PC 900 adopters (£329 inc VAT, initially) have been stiffed. Still, that's progress, I guess...

<rant> I never understand this point of view. Especially with computer/tech hardware. Every one of us, when buying a new video card, or a new processor, or whatever, knows that within a few months, the price will come down on the thing we just bought, and a newer, better thing will be out. And I never see people bitching about that. But make it some shiny, all-in-one thing like an iPhone or this Eee PC, and suddenly there's this group of people who are outraged about it. What gives? It's life, you know? You can sit on all of your money and never buy anything, for fear that you could get a better deal tomorrow, or you can buy stuff today and enjoy it. </rant>

Not that the OP sounded all that bitter about it. It just reminded me of people who do.

arms race.

[apodyopsis]

I have always decided to stay out of the arms race attended by PC HW and SW firms.

Most of my HW is quite old, 7+ years apart from my early adoption of an Asus EEE. was I stiffed on the price? hell no - had it over half a year and makes a good wifi web station.

I understand the commercial reasons behind the rapid depreciation in HW and SW - but as far as I'm concerned my PC hardware is a tool, like my car. I'm upgrade only when there is a compelling reason or something breaks. Is the arms race a good or bad thing? well it promotes innovation and new technologies so I cannot really argue against it.

As long as I can still run an up to date distro on my hardware I'm a happy camper. An old PC will let me write SW, surf and do office tasks as well as a new one, and be just as net safe if I keep to a regular upgrade cycle.

Re:The world is full of idiots.

[Firehed]

A very valid point, though even by technology pricing standards, the iPhone's price drop (33% off after two months) was pretty unusual.

Re:Perfect

[djikster]

Currently, the price of the 40Gb SSD exceeds the price of the laptop :)

Re:erm, who actually wants one?

[Znork]

Personally I find those low-end fully fledged laptops completely worthless. They have little storage, almost no memory, no expansion capability, a pitiful screen, a barely useful graphics card and a painfully slow CPU.

They're simply not a useful replacement for a desktop. And on top of that they're just not that portable; you dont quickly throw them in your bag, purse or coat pocket and go.

Still, I have a need for something to take notes, run presentations and look stuff up on when not at the desk. And while I find the low-end laptop unsuitable for the task due to it's desktop-replacement complex, the EEE segment is extremely suitable for the purpose (the £1000+ micro laptop segment is also suitable, but, eh, I'm buying a glorified pencil+paper, not some form of jewelry or fashion statement).

Re:erm, who actually wants one?

[vidarh]

Have you tried to LIFT one of the cheap high spec'ed laptops? Most of the cheap laptops weigh in at 3.5kg-4kg. Personally I refuse to buy a laptop about the 2.5kg range. My wife ended up buying a Vaio last year because she got an 11" one at around 1.2kg, but it was 2.5 times the price of an EEE - for what she needs it for an EEE is sufficient, and the small form factor is a huge bonus.

You're missing the point

[StarKruzr]

Which is portability. Then people get that portability and decide they want better specs. The price goes up.

There's nothing wrong with this.

Re:Perfect

[bfree]

I don't believe they use a 40GB SSD though, more like an 8GB SSD and a 32GB usb stick (I picked one of those up for STG70 a couple of months ago).

This is off topic, but

[Anonymous Coward]

I hate it when people put half of their post in the title! I start reading what they have to say, but then realize that their sentence fragment makes no sense whatsoever...oh, I have to read that bit up there too in order to piece together your post. brilliant.