DailyTech - ASUS' Eee PC 900 Gets Unboxed

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Brandon Hill (Blog) - April 15, 2008 10:17 AM

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11 comment(s) - last by Segerstein.. on Apr 19 at 7:53 PM

(Source: bit-tech)

Bit-tech gets hands-on time with the Eee PC 900

Ah, the mighty ASUS Eee PC. The tiny little device caused quite a commotion with in the PC industry and caused somewhat slow-moving giants like HP and Dell to stand up and take notice. The success of the Eee PC even caused Microsoft to backpedal on its decision to kill Windows XP on June 30, 2008.

I must admit, I was bitten by the Eee PC bug. I bought a Galaxy Black Eee PC 4G in early December. The first thing I did was upgrade the memory from 512MB to 2GB and install Windows XP Home SP2 with nLite. I also added an 8GB SDHC card to the mix.

As a companion to my Windows Vista-based desktop machine, the Eee PC has served magnificently. It even proved to be quite capable during my trip to Las Vegas for CES and numerous personal trips.

So my ears perked up when the news first began to swirl of an Eee PC with relatively the same footprint as the original model, but with a larger 8.9" screen running at 1024x600. The small, 7" 800x480 screen was one of my biggest gripes with the original -- websites often require a lot of scrolling due to the low resolution screen.

My prayers were answered when ASUS officially announced the Eee PC 900 with its larger SSD, larger screen, and increased system memory. ASUS also saw fit to bump the integrated webcam to 1.3MP -- most other specifications including the processor/chipset remain the same.

Now, roughly one month after the official announcement of the Eee PC 900, "first looks" at the device are starting to roll in. Bit-tech contacted us this morning with its unboxing of the Eee PC 900.

According to bit-tech, the new Eee PC 900 is available in both 12GB (4GB internal + 8GB internal module) and 20GB (4GB internal + 16GB internal module) versions. In an interesting move from the Linux and Windows XP versions of the original Eee PC which retail for the same price and feature the same hardware specifications, ASUS has taken a different approach with the Eee PC 900 -- the 20GB model will feature Linux while the 12GB model will feature Windows XP. Both will retail for the same price of roughly £329 in the UK.

For enthusiasts, there is no doubt that the 20GB model will be the more popular choice given its increased storage capacity.

Bit-tech promises to soon have a full review of the device, so stay tuned for more details on the Eee PC 900.

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Conversion

By nbachman on 4/15/2008 11:53:36 AM , Rating: 2

As right now:
UK£ 329 = 646.5837 U.S. dollars

RE: Conversion

By SandmanWN on 4/15/2008 12:21:25 PM , Rating: 4

Which means absolutely nothing when its goes commercial in the US. Could be less, could be more.

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RE: Conversion

By jvillaro on 4/16/2008 4:01:23 PM , Rating: 2

I'm guessing 450$ - 500$
Remember that Europe allways get things much more expensive.
If it gets higher than 500$ it will be too expensive and deviate too much from the original idea of the EEEPC's
I'm still waiting it to be 400$ - 450% and the originals to be cut even more but we'll see.

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RE: Conversion

By Screwballl on 4/16/2008 3:29:38 PM , Rating: 2

Knowing most companies, I suspect it to be around $699 to start and after a few months drop to $599... meanwhile, laptops from other companies will be faster, lighter, more storage, more desktop space... for a cheaper price.
Asus needs to keep these competitively priced in the US if they want to stay in the market.

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Upgrading

By Aikouka on 4/15/2008 12:29:51 PM , Rating: 2

Are you planning on selling your old EeePC and upgrading, Brandon? I've thought about selling my black 4G Surf (also performed the same upgrades as you) and getting a new one when the Atom-fitted models come out. The batteries simply don't last long at all in the current models if you have WiFi turned on. I have my screen brightness down fairly far and I can maybe get 2 hours max on it :(. Also, streaming (640x480 xvid) video from my server isn't possible because the WiFi connection uses too much processing power.

So, I think the Atom version may help a bit :).

RE: Upgrading

By Brandon Hill

(blog) on 4/15/2008 1:00:28 PM , Rating: 2

I may end up keeping it. My Eee PC has been gathering dust ever since I bought a 32GB iPod touch. I use the touch for mainly the same things I bough the Eee PC for:

Browsing the Internet when on the go
Checking email
Instant Messaging
Viewing Word/Excel/PDF docs, etc.

My Eee PC will still have a place when I go to trade shows or need to write long articles/emails on the go... but I've found my iPod touch wholly sufficient for my everyday needs away from my desktop PC.

So I may wait around until the Atom versions are released before I even think about upgrading, b/c right now I can't justify the price bump with my lessening use of my current Eee PC.

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RE: Upgrading

By Alphafox78 on 4/15/2008 1:14:04 PM , Rating: 2

The atom version will likely not be any better than the current celeron performance wise. we will have to wait for dimondvale for that, the silverthorn version of atom that will come out first isnt going to be much to be excited for.

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RE: Upgrading

By bruce24 on 4/15/2008 11:57:20 PM , Rating: 2

Silverthorn and Diamondville are the same silicon die that are binned differently and put into different packages.

The Silverthorn package is very low profile package for the smaller MID/UMPC devices. Diamondville packaged like Intel's other mobile processors.

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RE: Upgrading

By mixpix on 4/19/2008 1:54:34 AM , Rating: 2

It's the power draw that I'm interested in. If I can run it longer that's a good thing.

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Screen Size

By Sulphademus on 4/15/2008 1:16:43 PM , Rating: 2

quote:
The small, 7" 800x640 screen was one of my biggest gripes with the original

I believe that you mean 800x480.

Bluetooth

By Segerstein on 4/19/2008 7:53:46 PM , Rating: 2

It's a shame it doesn't have an integrated bluetooth module . I just don't like dongles. I use my phone to connect to GPRS (3G, 3.5G). This is my primary mode of connection to the internet on road, especially since I have an unlimited data plan. Searching for unreliable WiFi hotspots is such a hassle...