DailyTech - ASUS Eee PC 900 Series Gets Price Cut, New Sibling

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Gadgets ASUS Eee PC 900 Series Gets Price Cut, New Sibling
Brandon Hill (Blog) - July 8, 2008 6:47 PM

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16 comment(s) - last by Freddo.. on Jul 11 at 1:33 PM

Eee PC 900

ASUS shakes up the Eee PC family

With increased competition coming from all sides, ASUS is finally taking steps to cut the prices of some existing Eee PC models. Today, ASUS announced rebates for its existing Eee PC 900 12G and 20G models.

Both models still retail for $549.99, but retailers like Amazon.com are now offering an ASUS-backed $100 rebate [PDF] to drop the price down to a more palatable $449.99. The price after rebate puts the two Eee PC 900 models beneath MSI's most expensive Wind which rings in at $499 with Windows XP Home and within striking distance of MSI’s $399 Linux model.

In addition to the $100 rebate, ASUS also today introduced a new Eee PC 900 16G model. As the name implies, this model features 16GB of flash storage space and the same hardware as the other members of the Eee PC 900 family (900MHz Celeron Processor, 8.9" display, 1GB of DDR2 memory). Newegg currently has the Eee PC 900 16G in stock for $399 when equipped with Linux. Models featuring Windows XP are priced at $449.

Rounding out today’s shakeup in the Eee world is news that the Eee PC 901 is finally in stock. Newegg currently has the Eee PC 901 12G (Windows XP) in stock for a whopping $599. As previously reported, the Eee PC 901 comes equipped with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of DDR2 memory, 8.9" WSVGA display, and Windows XP Home.

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A quick question

By j@cko on 7/8/2008 7:03:53 PM , Rating: 2

Please fill me in on this one. As Eee PCs have become more expensive and powerful... How does it differ from regular laptops?

RE: A quick question

By Joz on 7/8/2008 7:05:25 PM , Rating: 3

"name."

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RE: A quick question

By Clauzii on 7/8/2008 7:26:26 PM , Rating: 3

LOL :)

It was supposed to be a inexpensive line-up. I can get faster machines at the same price elsewhere.

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RE: A quick question

By diego10arg on 7/8/2008 7:43:06 PM , Rating: 3

It is not it's speed the main point of this product, rather than their (ultra-small) size.

New competition will bring better prices for us, and faster machines, for us too. Let's keep waiting...

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RE: A quick question

By Clauzii on 7/8/2008 7:51:41 PM , Rating: 2

And the winner will be the who first accomplishes the total integration of PC, phone, connectivity, long battery time, sleek design, easy to use AND cheap. There are solutions that come close, but most miss the point of TOTAL integration and/or ease of use.

So I'll guess what I was saying was that You're right :)

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RE: A quick question

By ET on 7/9/2008 3:59:49 AM , Rating: 2

Do you really think phone intergration is a big selling point? I can't see many people not having a separate phone. Nobody will carry a subnotebook, small as it may be, everywhere.

IMO the market will settle when these subnotebooks are good enough as a substitute for standard low cost notebooks, and about the same price. They'd still be a little weaker, but not enough to matter for basic usage. Currently they're still a little too weak or a little too pricey.

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RE: A quick question

By Ryanman on 7/10/2008 2:34:48 AM , Rating: 2

meh. A lot of people don't care if something's slow, or they'll make it slow by downloading spyware.

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RE: A quick question

By teldar on 7/8/2008 8:18:48 PM , Rating: 2

I have to imagine that Asus is raking in the money hand over fist on this one. The specs of the computers say they should not be terribly expensive to build unless Intel is raking them over the coals on the hardware. Flash memory has dropped to the point that SSD's are going to start hitting the market at reasonable prices (see the new OCZ drives).

I will say, however, that the Asus multi-touch trackpad adds a huge amount of attraction as far as I'm concerned. Apple's corner on the market of having a convenient track pad rather than an unwieldy square of trash is coming to an end. Finally.

Now all that needs to happen is Asus needs to get dual core Atoms (when available) and make sure they have improved graphics power use (I have read the chipsets in the 700 and 900 EEE's is terrible) and not raise the price to adjust for improved hardware. Then they'll have a real winner on their hands that I would consider using on a daily basis.

T

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RE: A quick question

By Clauzii on 7/8/2008 8:42:44 PM , Rating: 2

Even though SSD is THE way to go, for a supposed low-price product to include it right now seems odd to me.

I agree with the rest :)

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RE: A quick question

By UNHchabo on 7/9/2008 12:45:48 PM , Rating: 2

To me, one of the big selling points of the Eee line is durability for the price. Sure, you can buy a Dell for $500, but you get a heavy piece of shit that will fall apart if you actually try to carry it somewhere.

An SSD is part of that durability, with being much more able to handle physical shocks than a platter-based HDD. Not to mention that the build quality on the Eee is high. The hinge seems like it's nearly unbreakable, unlike (again) the $500 Dells.

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RE: A quick question

By repatch on 7/9/2008 11:38:07 AM , Rating: 4

Size and weight.

Show me a "regular" laptop that's the size of a larger paperback novel and weighs just a bit over 2lbs?

Up until the EEE, that sort of PC used to cost $2000. To complain about it costing $600 is laughable.

Yes, the EEE isn't that fast, but WHO CARES. When I'm on the road I mostly use my laptop for email, web browser and some viewing of pictures, the EEE is PERFECT for that.

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RE: A quick question

By Freddo on 7/11/2008 1:33:36 PM , Rating: 2

My main interest in these, is because they are small and supposingly energy-efficient, not because of the speed. Unfortunately, they didn't turn out that energy-efficient yet, cause the chipset is rather hungry. But I look forward to the day when they offer a model with an Atom processor and a nice chipset for it. A HDMI output would be nice too, incase one wants to connect it to a large TV-screen now and then.

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Wind or Vapor?

By MonkeyPaw on 7/8/2008 10:48:49 PM , Rating: 2

MSI announced the Wind back in early June. It's now a month later and they are still rare/non-existent.

RE: Wind or Vapor?

By Brandon Hill

(blog) on 7/8/2008 11:25:58 PM , Rating: 4

I ordered one (White, 3-Cell, XP Home) this morning from Mwave's eBay store (Tech Treasure) -- it shipped this evening (already received a UPS tracking number).

Price was $499 - 25% Microsoft Live Search discount + $15.99 shipping. Grand total was $390.98 shipped.

More info on the Live search discount:

http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=...

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