Eee PC - Blog

Toshiba may have sent some feelers that it is also keen on coming out with its own netbook/mini-pc that would rival the Eee PC and the others the past of couple of days. But if the market trends for netbook is to be its basis for manufacturing their own netbook, Toshiba would rather explore on a different avenue rather than join the already saturated netbook market since, prices of netbooks and UMPC would seem not to be a profitable niche anymore.

PCAuthority is running a story on Toshiba’s prototype mini-book. A 5.6-inch mini-book which runs on Vista and powered by Intel’s Atom processor. It’s motherboard was said to be half the size of the Portege R500 notebook’s motherboard. It is also packed with a 64GB SSD and a GPS.

However, although the mini-book prototype may seemed cool, Toshiba doesn’t think that it is a viable product due to its small screen. Hence, Toshiba is looking into coming out with a ULPC instead of a netbook since it doesn’t want to compete with the Eee PC and the netbook brands anymore due to the decreasing prices of netbooks.

Actually, the prototype could very well speak of what Toshiba is planning to manufacture. We’re thinking that with a larger screen, it would now be a more viable product for the UMPC market.

Let’s see what Toshiba can come up with in the coming days.

Via [Electronista]

We all know that despite the fact that the newer models of the Eee PCs have already improved on their battery power with the use of the 6-cell battery, still 5-6 hours max of battery would not be enough for some heavy users. So Asustek is determined to improve on the Eee PCs battery life some more by introducing some new features that will give the Eee PCs “whole day” battery life and internet storage.

Likewise Asus is also looking into introducing both software and hard upgrades on a monthly basis to fill the gaps in the netbook market. This is in anticipation of the growing demand for the Eee PCs especially in the Western European countries.

Asustek will also continue working with Pegatron Technology and is said to be most satisfied with the company being the Eee PCs OEM.

No further information were provided though as reported by Digitimes regarding the new features that Asus is planning to introduce in the coming days. But we expect to hear more from these later on.

HP’s mini notebook PC has been out for quite awhile now. Although it has been touted as a great computing machine for its size, consumers are set back by it high price, especially with the availability of newer and more affordable netbooks.

So, to compete with rival companies’ more affordable offering, HP is reportedly eyeing on releasing a newer and more affordable version of the HP Mini Note machine. HP said the new machine will be in-tuned with other netbooks and would definitely carry a lower price than the original Mini-Note model.

Expected date for the release of the new Mini-Note is said to sometime in 2009. No other details have been provided yet. But certainly, the only way HP can compete in the netbook market is to load its new machine with the Atom Processor. The current HP runs only on VIA C7-M processor, since the Atom processor was not available yet when it was released.

Via [APCMag]

As if the barrage of Eee PC models were not enough, Asus may soon be launching another set of products made specifically for its Eee PC product line. Although these are nothing but rumors yet in lieu of an official announcement from Asus, they are definitely worth a second look nonetheless.

So, we might be looking at future accessories of the Eee PC products which include the following: a hard drive, optical drive and a 3G card.

If the expanding storage capacities of the new Eee PC models are not enough for your needs, this new Eee Hard Drive may suit your needs. It looks like your typical Western Digital My Passport products. It might come in package with low storage capacity Eee PCs.

The next product which is an optical drive seems rather unnecessary unless of course if Asus got some other plans for it.  The last product - the 3G card may seem to be the most useful ones especially since it’s a much sought after feature for an ultraportable PC such as the Eee PC. This would make the Eee PCs more and more like mobile phone devices now.

Via [Eee PC News]

Benson Lin, the general manager for APAC, Middle East & Africa has announced the exponential growth for Asus after the launch of Eee PC sometime in January, 2008.

Asus has planned to aggressively market its notebook in India the potential and huge demand for notebooks in the country. One out of four computers being sent to India is a laptop in fiscal year 2007-08.

According to Lin, this is a good sign because statistic shows that the consumer notebook segments have the 141% growth rate, as compared to -6% growths in consumer desktop segment.

The demand for Eee PC in countries like Taiwan, US, Singapore, China has been reported to be extremely high, as crowds were seen queuing up awaiting the sale launches.

Via: [The Inquirer] Via: [Techtree.com] Via: [IT Examiner]

If Vodafone Portugal is offering the Eee PC 701 as a mobile broadband bundle, Orange UK has a better offer for its customers. Possible taking on rival O2’s release of the iPhone 3G which is Apple’s partner in UK, Orange is offering up the Eee PC 900 bundled to its “Connected Laptop” package.

Orange customers who are getting the Connected Laptop package get a dongle with the Eee PC 900 with a data allowance of 3GB and 100 texts using the Eee PC 900. Orange customers will have to pay a $49/month for 24-months to get the Eee PC 900 plus the mobile connectivity package. That’s around $1200 for two years which is half the price of the Eee PC 900. But of couse, you have to consider the data services that users will enjoy during the duration of the service contract.

This Orange deal is certainly a practical deal for users who both want the Eee PC 900 and a good mobile broadband connectivity package.

Any other Eee PC-related  promotional gigs that you know about? Please tell us by leaving a comment.

Via Silicon.com

The much awaited 10inch Eee PC 1000 and 1000H has finally hit the UK shelves today. The 1000 model runs on Linux and weighs only 1.33kg as opposed to the 1000H which runs on Windows XP and is 1.45kg. Even though the price difference in tiny (£349 and £369 respectively), the 1000H also offers a hefty 80GB hard drive while the 1000 model offers a 40GB SSD. Both use Intel’s new Atom processor and support both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for those who are always on the go.

So which one do you prefer? Asus is also boasting that the 1000 series have around 7.5 hours of battery life due to many design enhancements done on these models too.

Via [VnuNet]

The Eee PC 701 might be too old for all of us, having witness the barrage of Eee PC variants that Asus has launched and released so far. But like, Asus Philippines where the Eee PC 701 was tied up with free travel package contest, Vodafone Portugal on the other hand is marketing the Eee PC 701 via a bundled hardware for their internet mobility package.

Dubbed as the Vodafone NetPC, the Eee PC 701 gets bundled up with a Vodafone Connect Pen which would enable Vodafone customers to browse the web at a speed of 7.2mbps. Of course the package comes with some Vodafone service agreement - and that’s an 18-month contract for the price of around 199.90 euros for the Linux version or 229.90 euros for the Windows XP Eee PC 701 models.

Via [Into Mobile] Via [Telecom Paper]

After knowing about Sony’s plan of entering the netbook market, we know have LG reportedly prepping up its own netbook. Whereas Sony’s netbook doesn’t have a name yet, LG’s own low-cost machine will be called the X110. In fact it was also known that MSI may actually be manufacturing the said netbook.

As with other netbooks available in the market today, the LG X110 will have Intel’s Atom processor. Among its specs are - 8.9-inch LCD display, 2GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, Windows XP OS. It was also reported that MSI may be manufacturing the said LG netbook.

The LG X100 is expected to have an SRP of around $790 for the model with 3G and $625 for the one without.

Via [Register Hardware] Via [Ubergizmo]

Asus USA has announced two new Eee PC models - the Eee PC 1000HD and the previously announced Eee PC 904HD. This two new Eee PC are different from the previously announced 1000 which is now available for pre-order at Amazon and the 1000h which was announced previously. These two 1000 series models are both running Intel Atom processor. The Eee PC 1000HD on the other hand has the Intel® Dothan 353/ 900MHz. The Eee PC 1000HD will also come with an 80GB HDD, while the 1000 only comes with a 40GB SSD .

Alright, to avoid confusion, here’s a rundown of the features and specs of the Eee PC 1000HD and Eee PC 904HD.

Eee PC 1000HD

• 10-inch LCD display
• Intel® Dothan 353/ 900MHz
• WLAN: 802.11 n
• 1~2GB (DDR2) RAM
• HDD 80GB
• 1.3M Pixel
• HD Audio, Stereo speaker, Digital Array Mic
• 6-cell battery
• Windows XP/GNU Linux

Eee PC 904HD

• Windows XP
• 8.9-inch display
• Intel Celeron M
• WLAN: 802.11 b/g
• 1~2GB (DDR2)
• HDD 80GB
• 0.3M Pixel webcam
• Stereo speaker, Digital Array Mic,
• 6-cell battery

Via