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

[NothingMore]

I was looking at buying an Eee as a laptop i could just carry with me all the time and not care too much about it breaking. but since the Eee laptops are approaching the cost of Dell and HP's low end laptop pricing iv reconsidered buying one.

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

[Tx]

I just paid for my ElonexONE, which cost me £100, which is around $200. However that price only seems to be available for those of us who pre-ordered units, they've upped the list price since then, to £180 (with a slightly improved spec). The spec is significantly lower than the EEE.

I think it's pretty obvious that making money off these netbook type units at the $200 price point has turned out to be unrealistic at this point in time, as no one has really managed it even at the lower specs around.

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree with the "used" approach.

I spent $100 on a deal for two used Compaq Armada M300 machines (PIII) and a docking station. They're small (barely bigger than an Eee PC in one dimension, because the screen is 4:3 aspect), light (magnesium shell), 1024x768 12" displays, run various version of Linux and PCMCIA wifi with no problems, and even run Windows 2000 fine (I haven't tried XP). What more do I really need for web browsing and e-mail? These things aren't for gaming or heavy-duty stuff anyway. The only downside has been the battery life and the cost of it: ~$100 more for replacement batteries that give only ~2.5hrs, because the batteries that came with the units were dead. Still, 2 laptops for the price of one EeePC ain't bad, and the form factor is fairly similar. Oh, and the wifi sticking out of the PCMCIA slot looks a bit ugly, but so what.

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?

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[hattig]

How about the Elonex Onet+ then ...

It's Linux only because it runs on a 400MHz non-x86 CPU.
7" display. 2GB storage. SD. WiFi. 3 USB2 ports. VGA out. 3hr battery. 625g.

http://www.reghardware.co.uk/2008/07/09/elonex_unveils_second_scc/

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[bersl2]

I think the point is that light and portable is (finally) down to similar price points ro clunky desktop replacements. For the longest time, these light machines cost twice as much as middle-of-the-road laptops.

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[TeacherOfHeroes]

Of course the world isn't independent of the US dollar. The world also isn't independent of the Euro, either, or just about any other currency, for that matter. Isn't that the whole point of this globalization thing -- that people rely on each other, that no one is wholly isolated anymore?

Maybe I'm misinterpreting you here, but your response makes it sound as if you're arguing that the world is uniquely dependant on the US dollar, which just isn't the case.

Re:Where's my $200 laptop

[coolsnowmen]

I agree with you completely. You only misinterpreted what I said because the AC annoyed me and I didn't give a complete picture of the world economy.

If the Euro, Yen, Yuan, or Dollar crashes, very bad things happen for the US. And as a net foreign debtor the US would be in a particularly bad position.

I just don't like people stereotyping ALL Americans as...well anything. If one wants to negatively characterize the recent US government and its actions, I might even join with you. But I was being called stupid and self-important-- for no good reason.

Had [s]he been modded troll before I read it, I might not have even responded; but as it was, I had no mod points.

How much do those MS Windows licences cost?

[pembo13]

$0?

Re:How much do those MS Windows licences cost?

[moosesocks]

$0?

(rimshot) that's about what they're worth! (/rimshot)

Re:How much do those MS Windows licences cost?

[Toreo asesino]

You dropped this - http://www.instantrimshot.com/

Stiffed? Wow.

[Madball]

Looks like those early Eee PC 900 adopters (£329 inc VAT, initially) have been stiffed.

An early adopter "stiffed"? A technology buyer getting more stuff for less money if they just wait? No way!

Next, you'll claim that man has gone to the moon, or that Linux >> Windows, or Bush is disliked. You so craaazy.

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

[Romwell]

Something better will come out for less money next year

Surely, as we see the trend of Eee PC prices going down with each new model, this will happen most definitely. We can be sure that Asus will release a cheaper and not-so-beefed-up model for the folks that are waiting for the $200 model.

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

[Just Some Guy]

We can be sure that Asus will release a cheaper and not-so-beefed-up model for the folks that are waiting for the $200 model.

Someone will, if not Asus.

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

[Just Some Guy]

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

Likewise. I have a nice used Mac in my home office that I use when I need a full-sized screen, but in practice that means maybe once a month or so. At home, the 701 has become my main computer.

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

[Anonymous Coward]

I have a 17" LCD that sits, alone, on my desk... plugs nicely right into the 701, and poof, 1280x1024. :)

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

[mrchaotica]

and poof, 1280x1024. :)

That's just pitiful. IMO, even 12" screens ought to be higher-res than that nowadays (mine is 1400x1050).

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.

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

[blackest_k]

i love my 701 it's battery life is good enough and its small enough to carry anywhere I'm out of town 5 days a week theres a place with internet access but very limited software, but luckily they don't mind me plugging one of the monitors into my EEE.

They would have some nice pc's but they are running XP in 384 Meg of ram so dispite being pentium4 extremes at 3ghz+ my EEE runs rings round them.
the eee is quite happy running with a 1280x whatever external monitor.

even net access is easy with 3 doing mobile internet for £5 a month I can just plugin a usb bluetooth dongle its not hspda but thats available for £10 a month and also works on ubuntu.

Occassionally i do need to use windows but i have a 2000 install which takes about 2gb on an sd card which i run in virtualbox.

however the screen can be small for some things which is where the 900 series wins.

I think the 1000 is a bit too big and the hdd is a backwards step. if you need more storage plug in an external drive mostly its not needed.

i wouldnt get a 1000 but the 900 series is tempting

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

[RulerOf]

In retrospect, I'm a little extra heated about this particular topic because I just see it happen so frequently. Its excruciatingly annoying, and also somewhat personal. I can't tell you how many times people have consulted me on what "Laptop" to buy that fits in their budget, only for me to ask them enough basic questions to determine that a desktop really is more appropriate. After my advice goes unheeded, and that person complains a year later about how their laptop's battery won't hold a charge because it's been left plugged in for a year straight, and they're running out of space on their miniscule HDD... You get the idea.

I attempted to clean up what I originally wrote to make it much more introspective, because I figured if I was going to attempt to pick an argument, I'd do it in a more... intellectual manner, but I hit "submit" a little too soon.

That said, the majority of people I meet or know with EEE PC's have them for totally the wrong reasons. Four people bought them because they apparently believe the hype. The other one only whips out his EEE (with handy USB-to-Serial adapter) when he needs to telnet a router.

Again, I see the market for the EEE misplaced. It's being touted as being "ultra-portable," but it also has a very ultra-small list of applications that it's better for than more traditional, proven devices.

I think there is a huge market for a device that sits somewhere between a fully functional (but small) laptop and a cell phone, but I guarantee that said device will boast the form factor of neither.

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

[Just Some Guy]

I do understand what you mean. I feel kind of the same way about iPhones: they're a cool toy, but 99% of the people who think they need one really don't. Still, that doesn't change the fact that some really do, and in the case of the Eee and other UMPCs, I'm finding that I'm in that 1%. I'm not going to trot out my resume to prove my geek cred, but suffice it to say that I know a bit about computing and that the Eee hits the sweet spot for me.

If nothing else, a tiny little SSH terminal that also supports apt-get is a sysadmin's dream come true. It's almost as portable (for me) as the series of Palms that I'd previously run through, has a much larger keyboard than any phone I've seen, and has a huge Free software library on tap. Those aren't big advantages for the general public, but dang, I like it.

I think there is a huge market for a device that sits somewhere between a fully functional (but small) laptop and a cell phone, but I guarantee that said device will boast the form factor of neither.

I'm not so sure. PDAs were neat, but generally too small to get serious work done. While I wouldn't want to use the Eee as my primary programming machine (and that's the main reason I mentioned for my once-a-month eMac usage), I've needed to use it that way for short periods. Maybe I'm just not creative enough, but I can't imagine something as generally useful fitting in a package too much smaller.

The world is full of idiots.

[Lord Ender]

If you buy electronics, the price WILL GO DOWN in the future. This is not being "stiffed." This is reality. Stop whining. The fact that internet whiners got lucky ONE TIME with the iPhone is a freak occurrence. Do not expect your whining to every pay off for any of the millions of other electronic devices sold every day.

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:The world is full of idiots.

[Anonymous Coward]

I also own a 701. And for me, it has been a wonderful gateway into the World of Linux.
Just over a week ago I installed my *brand* new PC as Ubuntu. My old PC has now been turned into a 2.25TB RAID5 FreeNAS server. With the 701 as my little screen in the living-room, or for when I go away.

10yrs I stuck with Windows. Through thick & thin. I remembered trying Linux in the late 90s, and commented on how it would be the future. I still have my 'old' PC inside a VM. But, it doesn't get much use now.

All of the above is thanks to the 'eee'.

Perfect

[InlawBiker]

Every possible combination of screen size, chip, storage and memory have been packaged and named almost identically. Asus' plan to thoroughly confuse customers is complete.

Re:Perfect

[Anonymous Coward]

You got that right: http://www.mobilecomputermag.co.uk/20080709673/the-asus-handy-cut-out-and-keep-guide-to-the-eee-pc.html

Re:Perfect

[spudnic]

I'm sure the 40Gb SSD is much more expensive than the 80Gb HDD.

SSD is a premium. No sound, less heat, faster boots, longer battery life.

Re:Perfect

[djikster]

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

Re:Perfect

[MoonBuggy]

There's nothing that surprising about the 20GB and 40GB SSDs - they're not exactly the super high speed ones you see selling for thousands, they're just the same memory as the SD cards or USB keys you see selling for next to nothing. They're not as cheap as spinning discs, hence the 80GB one and a Windows license being the same price as the 40GB drive alone, but they aren't an enormous distance off.

Why are you 'upset' about the higher spec on the Linux versions? I guess they could've offered the same spec for less money, but the volume cost of a Windows license probably isn't that much, so I doubt it would have been very significant.

Re:Perfect

[Hognoxious]

Is it true that the SSD drives are soldered in? It's not just the capacity for upgrading - as someone who's rescued a few unbootable laptops, I'd like to know I can pop the drive into some form of USB box to get the data off.

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).

How the 'Eee' got it's name.

[Anonymous Coward]

The CEO saw the margins that these computers would make and said 'eeeeeeeeeeee'!

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.

erm, who actually wants one?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are low-end but fully-fledged laptops (i.e. 10s of gigs, 512MB-1GB, 13"+ screen) of the OEM-unbranded type in this price range selling all over the Web in the UK. For 50 quid more, you get an Acer. And they all come with 12 month warranties, often extensible. Who actually wants the eepc?

Re:erm, who actually wants one?

[Westley]

Someone who wants a small form factor. Like me.

I take two laptops to work every day - my company one, and my Eee (which I'm using to write this post). I don't want to use my company one on the train for various reasons, hence the need for a second one. So, space and weight is at a premium.

Given that most of my time on the train is spent browsing or blogging rather than doing anything *hugely* taxing, I don't mind having a lower power machine.

My current Eee is a 701G, but I may well treat myself to a 1000 some time next year, mostly for the larger screen but also for the improved battery life and more power when I want it.

Re:erm, who actually wants one?

[danzona]

There are low-end but fully-fledged laptops (i.e. 10s of gigs, 512MB-1GB, 13"+ screen) of the OEM-unbranded type in this price range selling all over the Web in the UK. For 50 quid more, you get an Acer. And they all come with 12 month warranties, often extensible. Who actually wants the eepc?

I think the niche that Eee PC is trying to fill is for people who don't want the size and weight associated with the 13" screen. The Eee PC models have screens that range from 7" to 10", in weights from 2 - 3 pounds.

There are other options for palmtops and ultraportables, but they all seem to be quite a bit more expensive than the Eee PC models. I'm sure the competitors are justified in what they are charging - perhaps Eee PC has found the sweet spot of price and performance.

Re:erm, who actually wants one?

[Hatta]

I don't want one, but for the opposite reason. I want something slower and cheaper. All I want is something with enough power to SSH into a server over wifi, a qwerty keyboard, and a battery that lasts more than a couple hours. The EEE is overkill, both in performance and price. Is anyone making the device I want?

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.

Re:erm, who actually wants one?

[itof500]

I recently took my OLPC on a trip to Japan, and it worked very well. I could read the New York Times on the browser, get my gmail, and ssh into my workstation to keep jobs going. And it was solid enough that I didn't worry about throwing it into my luggage. The downside is that it is a bit heavier than the eee.

duke out

Early Adoption

[JuanCarlosII]

I bought my 900 back in May for £329 so I guess that makes me one of the early adopters who are being stiffed, but to be honest that's just what happens whenever you buy electronics. I'll get over it.

I'm also not entirely convinced that there'd be that much difference in performance for my usage (casual web browsing) between my 900 and the 901, and a few extra gig of HD is fairly inconsequential when I have 320gb of USB drive for transfer/backup between my various computers anyway.

If I'd known about the new models back when I bought my 900 I *might* have waited for the 1000 series (the reason I didn't get a 70x was because I was holding out for the bigger/vaguely usable screen) but if I'm honest I'd still probably have bought then safe in the knowledge that whatever I bought, whenever I bought it, would be superceded within months anyway. Anyone who complains about their computer hardware being superceded needs to get a grip on reality.

Progress? Conspiracy!

[pla]

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

I know, right?

Like that first IBM PC clone I owned... Can you believe I (or rather, my parents) paid almost $2500 for a crappy ol' 8086 CPU with 256MB of RAM???

Bastards, just stickin' it to those of us who can't hold out for the $0.99 Walmart special on Quantum computers with a petabyte of memory and a sub-etha WLAN adapter! I say we sue!

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.

Re:Progress? Conspiracy!

[jabuzz]

I think that will have been 256KB of RAM, otherwise it would have cost a *LOT* more than $2500

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:Stiffed? Wow.

[maxume]

Quick, buy technology product before it goes up in price!

Always had a choice.

[eddy]

They've always been available in both XP and Linux versions. The difference is that the original 700 version was out using linux first, and XP came later, the newer versions are doing it the other way around. 901 are now becoming available in the west, and so far it's all Windows XP. The cynic in me wonders if Microsoft called Asus up and said "If you ship XP versions one month before the linux versions, we'll give you a nice little rebate on your XP licenses. giddigy"

Re:Stiffed? Wow.

[__aalruu9610]

So wait...I realize your last comment was sarcastic. At least I know Bush is disliked... If I take a bitwise right shift of Linux, I'll end up with Windows? Holy crap...makes me want to try a left bit shift...

My thoughts on it...

[WonderGod]

I almost bought a 900 a few wEeeks back. I'm glad I didn't because now I can get a 900 for 399 with a 8.9' screen and 16 gig hard drive at newegg. Or find a good deal on regular 900's at lots of online retailers(100 Mail in rebate). Although the 901 is better, I'd rather save 100 bucks and get a slightly lesser processor. I mean the whole point of this thing is to be simple and surf the web. The upgraded processor isn't really worth the extra 100 IMHO. They really need to get these things in local stores nationwide, and then they'll be cooking.

Re:Progress? Conspiracy!

[camperdave]

Well, the 80386 had a 4GB address space, so having a mere 5MB is easy. The 8086 only had a 1MB address space, so squeezing 256MB onto it would be a feat.

Re:They may be paying for portability

[TheRaven64]

What are you paying in weight for?

In US dollars

[metamechanical]

For those of us on the other side of the pond, that's about $529.66 and $687.18 respectively, using yesterday's exchange rate (i.e., the first one I found)

Re:In US dollars

[Falstius]

Newegg has the Eee PC 901 for $599
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Description=Eee+PC+901&x=0&y=0

No need to guess.

Re:In US dollars

[vidarh]

Weight and size. Cheap laptops are usually heavy and big. The EEE is the cheap and small, so it competes against high priced Vaio's etc. for people who want a small and light laptop but don't need the performance / memory of the expensive models.

For comparison a Vaio in the same weight class costs 2.5 times as much in the UK, and is larger.

Re:They may be paying for portability

[91degrees]

Interesting. Jupiter's gravity is only about 2.5x Earth's. so a 2lb Laptop would only be about 5lb there.

as sound as a pound

[myCopyWrong]

That only makes the quoted prices worse. People in the UK and EU are looking for a 100 Euro or Pound notebook. If you figure in the lower value of the same processors, the $350 700 models should be available for less than $300 by now but essentially the same components are being sold for twice that. Finally, as the dollar fails, they should be looking to cut costs not raise them if they want to increase their share of huge US market.

If this is part of the M$ deal to put a stop to the growth of Linux on netbooks, it's going to work. Asus is not going to sell as much as they want, it's like they cut their throat to keep M$ happy.

Re:as sound as a pound

[Fred_A]

That only makes the quoted prices worse. People in the UK and EU are looking for a 100 Euro or Pound notebook.

Theoretically we ought to be expecting something like that (hah), but we know that any $300 laptop will turn into 350 € laptop *if we're lucky*.
Typically most vendors make some kind of reverse currency conversion and $300 are more like 450 €...

DVI-I instead

[D4C5CE]

Drop VGA output and replace with HDMI output

No, with DVI-I. While it's bulkier (and more sturdy), thanks to carrying the VGA signal as well it doesn't have HDMI's (sometimes show-stopping) disadvantage of being unable to drive the still most common projectors with analog inputs.

Your question made me curious...

[filthpickle]

so I checked.

You can't (which I am sure you already knew). The closest you can come is the travelmate 4720, which is about $800. You can get any number of laptops for $500, but none that I can find with a 13" screen. I'm sure that nobody that is responsible for deciding what specs a laptop will have view a smaller screen as a feature.

Also, small form factor aside, those of us who want an EEE also want it because it's pretty goddamned cool. I'll admit it.

Re:Why are the prices for Linux machines higher?

[Constantine XVI]

With the 901 at least, the Linux model has 20GB of flash, while the WinXP model has 12GB.

Still no touchscreen - what were they thinking?

[D4C5CE]

With iPhones around and people desperately clinging to the clamshells of their ancient Psions and fixing the Eee's missing features by eerily advanced DIY, when will Asus et al. finally look/listen/learn?

Re:But they're getting larger and heavier again...

[vidarh]

Same here - the 1000 doesn't appeal to me at all. It's too small to be my primary machine, and too large to be suitable to carry around whenever I just want to be able to work an hour or two on the move.

Re:Stiffed? Wow.

[Waffle Iron]

It's actually saying to take Linux, and shift it "windows" bit places to the left. I have no idea what that gets you.

Well, it's shifting the bits to the right rather than left. If we assume that the Linux OS disk image is a single unsigned integer of magnitude around 8^(5e8), then shift that number right by a similarly sized Windows integer, then we always get a final result of zero. (Which would make the original statement False.)

Statistical Analysis of price

[sensei moreh]

Ok, so it's a bit bogus. Be that as it may,

P = -342.27273 + 72.72727*Screen_Size - 0.45000*HDD_Capacity - 0.5000*SDD_Capacity + 4.00000*OS

where:
    P = price (in £ with VAT)
    Screen_Size is measured in inches
    HDD_Capacity is in GB
    SDD_Capacity is in GB
    OS = 1 for Linux, 0 for XP

--
Geology - it's not rocket science, it's rock science

Re:Stiffed? Wow.

[mhall119]

Well, it's shifting the bits to the right rather than left.

Oops, my mistake.

If we assume that the Linux OS disk image is a single unsigned integer of magnitude around 8^(5e8), then shift that number right by a similarly sized Windows integer, then we always get a final result of zero. (Which would make the original statement False.)

I don't understand why we're not getting modded 'Funny' like the GP.

7" screen, not 7" device

[RustinHWright]

The 700 line is a 9" screen form factor with a dinky little screen sitting in it like a VW Bug parked at a truck stop. My concern is device size, not screen size, so afaic, the 700 is the worst of both worlds. Not to mention the point made by the AC below that the 700 Linux boxen are out of stock left, right and center.

Re:Stiffed? Wow.

[Fred_A]

Quick, buy technology product before it goes up in price!

I'm glad I did, just try finding a 368SX16 nowadays, or a Tseng ET1000 even. My grandchildren will be glad I acted when the market was just starting.

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.

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.

Re:This is off topic, but

[mattack2]

They're probably the same people who top-post in email.

No, because

[bennybertow]

His Post made sense without the title as well (as well as being gramatically correct).

Re:Isn't it hypocrtical

[Hognoxious]

Firstly: No, it's hypocritical.

Secondly: I think he was being ironical.