Asus to slash retail Eee PC line-up
'Luxury' and 9in models for the chop?
Asus today confirmed a version of its MacBook Air-like netbook, the 1008HA, with a removable battery will indeed be coming to the UK, part of a scheme to streamline the Eee PC line-up here.
By July, Asus will be offering three key Eee PC netbooks to the general public - all of them 10in models pre-loaded with Windows XP and equipped with 160GB hard drives.
The 1008HA - aka Seashell - went on sale in the UK today, selling out almost immediately, the company said. More units are incoming, Asus' netbook marketing chief, John Swatton, told Register Hardware.
He also confirmed that the 1008HA's chubbier twin, the 1005, will also be arriving in Blighty very shortly. The 1008HA has a built-in lithium-polymer battery that's not designed to be removed by users.
Swatton said the battery comes with a full 12-month collect-and-return warranty - many netbook batteries are warranted only for six months - but admitted that some buyers will want the reassurance that they can swap out power packs themselves.
Enter the 1005, with the ability to do just that - and for around £30 less than the £380 1008HA too.
The new machine marks the death knell for the recently released 1000HE, a machine with a battery life of a whopping nine hours. It's being phased out to make way for the 1005 - once 1000HE stocks have been cleared, in will come the 1005.
Asus' 7in and 9in models - including the still unreleased T91 tablet - will be primarily reserved for sales to schools and other large organisations. That said, we're sure some of them will make it out into consumer-oriented channels.
Come summer, Swatton told us, the UK consumer-oriented Eee PC range will centrally feature the 1008HA, the 1005 and a yet-to-be-announced 1000-series machine alone the lines of the 1000H. This new machine will become Asus' entry level Eee, he said. ®
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COMMENTS
Asus could have done better
First off - it has to be light enough to be carried about in a bag without caring - I think 1KG max should be the aim.
Second - Ubuntu (Remix) should be used. A full-fledged OS miles better than any version of Windows - and it runs beautifully on these machines. Mass of applications and a huge community of users to work with to enhance/extend things.
Third - No HDD - this cuts down noise and power usage.
@Michael
Try the Dell Mini 9 which sounds like it fulfils your specs - I picked mine up for £220.00+VAT.
All I need is a client machine because I mostly work on LAMP servers. I was able to use the Mini 9 as my main machine for several weeks - I plugged it into an external monitor, keyboard and mouse at work. All I need is standard Ubuntu, Foxmarks, import keys, connect to mail server and I'm sorted.
As a brucie bonus - it's dead easy to take away with you - and will even fit inside the normal safes used in most hotels.
Mind you - it might be worth checking the Mini 10 - currently £199 - or the Mini 12 which unfortunately seems to come with a HDD only.
Intel Atom devices can't compete with ARM, soooo
they are moving the device vendors up-scale where they can market the higher performance value against the ARM devices. If they tried to stay on the lower end, ARM would eat them up with the same or better performance, longer battery life, and a cheaper price. By pushing the hardware up the chain some and eliminating the lower end, they'll create the impression(marketing) that those ARM devices aren't in the same category.
While I think this is their only current option, I also think they'll fail since what created the netbook market is the $250 price with good enough performance. So they'll have to make the ARM devices look really really bad compared to the higher end netbooks. We already saw many netbook manufacturers refuse to create identical Linux and Windows XP versions and most likely it was the Microsoft contracts which caused this.
It's gonna be an interesting 2nd half of the year.
Welcome back trusty Psion netBook....
As others have said...
10in scrren == too large
Windows XP == too old/not netbook friendly (yes - I installed it on my 701 for 2 months and it was cr*p - put Xubuntu back on)
no SSD ==not rugged enough
battery life == less than same machine running Xubuntu (by 1 hr)
so goodbye Asus - you've killed your netBooks and If I cannot find one I can install a touchscreen on (Mini 9? Aspire One?) then the good 'ol Psion is back
Psion netBook 64Mb RAM and.....
sub 10 in screen ==tick
EPOC OS==tick - OK old but it's reliable and has apps I need and no crud
no SSD (4Gb CF)==tick
battery life - 16hrs (with nB Pro battery) ==up to 12hrs (not tested beyond - got bored)
*Stokes his 701*
My Precious...
Seriously, good little machine (perhaps could have benifited from uping the screen to 8") but with a nice memory card it's a good machine. MORE LIKE THIS PLS :D
Hmm
"Swatton said the battery comes with a full 12-month collect-and-return warranty - many netbook batteries are warranted only for six months"
Isnt the minimum required warranty 12 months in the UK anyway? Or was it 24 months?
Let me guess, minimum warranties dont apply to batteries?
