Asus 8.9in Eee PC surfaces
Larger screen, bigger SSD, same look
CeBIT Asus is showing the 8.9in Eee PC at the CeBIT show this week, but while it hasn't formally announced the sub-notebook's specs yet, Taiwanese moles have quickly rushed in to fill in the blanks.
Asus' Eee PC 900: like the 4G, but scaled up
The laptop is expected to debut as the Eee PC 900. The 8.9in display has a native resolution of 1024 x 600 bringing some welcome extra screen real estate. According to sources cited by Chinese-language site HKEPC, the 900 will come with a choice of 8GB or 12GB of solid-state storage when it goes on sale in Q3.
Shots of the machine reveal it's almost identical to the current Eee, just scaled up slightly to accommodate the bigger screen. Expect the standard three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, SDHC card slot, audio I/O sockets and 0.3-megapixel webcam.
There's no indication of what CPU and memory complement the 900 will contain, but the announcement yesterday of Intel's Atom processor - aka 'Silverthorne' - which was designed specifically for low-cost, handheld PCs like the Eee, means it has to be the most likely choice. Memory? 1GB running to 2GB on bigger-SSD machines, we'd say.
Asus Eee PC 701 and friend: bigger model imminent
It's also being reported that the Eee 900 will cost €400 (£306/$608) when it ships over here, but we've yet to receive confirmation of this from Asus.
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COMMENTS
expect to pay over the odds if you can get one
9" model is expected to be £300 - that's list so past experience with the 7" model suggests that sel price will become inflated by suppliers and be next to impossible to get. Expect to pay £350+
For that amount you can get a very nice laptop these days.
Yes I know that small is beautiful but Advent do a very nice range of 12" models - 9912 - physically small enough to be properly portable without being too small and much more powerful.
Besides if you really want to give your kids eyestrain why not just order the Elonex One - http://www.elonexone.co.uk/ - at a much more appropriate price £99
Why didn't you just buy a laptop then?
> I have a seven-incher already and really the only thing I want is for a slightly bigger screen.
>Why didn't you just buy a laptop then?
Well I originally wrote that because the thing I want is... a slightly bigger screen.
I've already got a laptop and it's fine for being a LAPTOP - a portable computer which is a desktop replacement. I have on occasion lugged it around and it's not fun, not least because I don't want to break it.
The eee is NOT a desktop replacement. I didn't expect it to be. If I do break it (unlikely, it's pretty sturdy) I will just buy another one. It sounds w@nky but you really have to think of it as a whole new class of computer.
When this one gets retired (probably within six months) it will end up as a webcam server, or an always-on 15W torrent peer or, well... anything. It might even manage to be a Media Centre PC, with an external tuner and HDD.
"Why didn't you just buy a laptop then?"
Oh for crying out loud! not ANOTHER fricken person going on about how they (or someone else) could have bought a 'real' laptop for the price of an Eee and how the 'real' laptop can do more because it's faster/bigger hd/bigger screen etc.
Well you COMPLETELY MISSED THE POINT OF THE EEE, it's very lightweight compared to a 'real' laptop of the same price and more importantly it's literally pocket sized (I can easily fit it in my coat pocket, sideways orientated), no spinning drive inside so it's more rugged etc. etc. and if I could be botherd I'd list more reasons but I don't think you'll listen.
http://www.haku.co.uk/pics/wall.gif (if only something like this could be a posting icon)
Yes please!
I'm already saving parts of my measly student budget for this. The only gripe I had with the old one was the screen & speaker layout. Headphones and monitor real-estate all the way! For those complaining about the price hike too, if the spec update is fairly accurate it should be worth it, especially for the size of the device. A 10" laptop by everyone's favourite Sony would set you back a good few times more than the eeepc.
Touchscreen
If they manage to fit a touch-screen, then I'll buy one to sit next to my 701 for sure.
