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ASUS Eee PC 701 4G  (Source: Notebook Review)
ASUS' original "$199 laptop" debuts at nearly $300 on Nov 1

One of the more anticipated pieces of technology to hit the market, the ASUS Eee PC, has been the subject of many articles on DailyTech and other news sites. With reviews and first impressions trickling in from various sites, the price point has finally appeared -- and it's a far cry from the initial hopes.

NotebookReview has managed to snag a slide from a presentation showing the U.S. price points for the Eee 2G Surf, 4G Surf, and 4G models. None of them are the original, much-touted $199; in fact, the price for the model originally flaunted by ASUS is no less than double that at $399.

In addition, the $399 unit will be the only one available for launch on this coming Thursday. The 8G model was not listed on the presentation, but judging by the existing prices, it would not be a surprise to see it debut at $499.

While many will clamor that the Eee is an ultra-portable machine and as such can't be compared to the latest budget 15.4" notebook from Dell, Gateway or HP, the average consumer may now see little reason to save only $100 by purchasing the Eee over a laptop with "far more power."

ASUS has already announced plans to debut a second-generation Eee in April 2008 sporting a Merom-based CPU and possibly fanless cooling. Hopefully the price can be reduced or the Eee may become yet another footnote in annals of computing history.

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$399 with XP would be acceptable...
By therealnickdanger on 10/29/2007 12:12:43 PM , Rating: 2
I would rather spend $399 on the EEEEEEEEEEPC for my carputer than a "hefty" 15.4" laptop... but perhaps the time is not yet right...




RE: $399 with XP would be acceptable...
By pattycake0147 on 10/29/2007 12:16:12 PM , Rating: 2
Yeah not bad, but I'd like to see a model with more than 4GB of storage. Is it such that you could replace the 4GB SDD with a larger capacity 2.5" HDD?


RE: $399 with XP would be acceptable...
By Chris Peredun on 10/29/2007 12:25:34 PM , Rating: 3
quote:
Yeah not bad, but I'd like to see a model with more than 4GB of storage.
The Eee 8G should be arriving, but my best guess at a price is $499 for that model.

quote:
Is it such that you could replace the 4GB SDD with a larger capacity 2.5" HDD?
No, the solid-state memory is soldered onto the motherboard. You can expand the storage via SD card (the Eee does support SDHC) or possibly via a solid-state mini-PCI Express card.


By zombiexl on 10/29/2007 1:36:26 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
The Eee 8G should be arriving, but my best guess at a price is $499 for that model.


That's great except you can get a 15.4" laptop with 80GBHD, DVD-Burner,802.11G (maybe N), Vista, etc for that price.


By lumbergeek on 10/30/2007 3:54:37 PM , Rating: 2
With a USB port (dear lord, it does have USB right?) you could plug in an external 2.5" USB drive for data storage, etc. When you need the data on it plug it in, when you don't - leave it in your briefcase or carry-on.


RE: $399 with XP would be acceptable...
By mWMA on 10/29/2007 12:32:34 PM , Rating: 1
This price is not really that awesome when you can easily get a very nice 12inch notebook with dedicated G8400 card (128MB) and very decent spec (1.8Ghz, 1GBRAM, 120GBHDD) for less than $900. You will not be dealing with a cramped keyboard and wasted size. For $499 they better have a 10inch model.

But then again a 14inch cost only $450 these days.


RE: $399 with XP would be acceptable...
By therealnickdanger on 10/29/2007 12:49:02 PM , Rating: 2
Well, I never said it was "awesome", but merely "acceptable". If I wanted a 12" laptop with those features, I would just buy such a device. The EEEEPC is great due to its ultra-low power parts, tiny design, and most important, cheap price.

Ultimately, I'm still waiting for a Vista-powered UMPC Sprint phone. LOL, I'm gonna be waiting a while.


By spluurfg on 10/29/2007 1:54:14 PM , Rating: 2
Still though...if the EEPC had bluetooth, it'd be awesome. The blackberry synch in such a small package would be amazing.


By plewis00 on 10/29/2007 5:09:51 PM , Rating: 2
Why on earth are you even mentioning a $900 notebook? That is 100% irrelevant to this article, just as a dual-core desktop for $500 would be. They are completely different price and market segments, this laptop quite obviously isn't designed for people who want a dedicated graphics card or a high-capacity mechanical hard disk.

With regards to XP, that's been taken out for meeting a price point, just put it on yourself if you absolutely must. Why waste $100+ on putting a licence into the machine's cost?

Seriously...


By helios220 on 10/29/2007 1:11:17 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
I would rather spend $399 on the EEEEEEEEEEPC for my carputer than a "hefty" 15.4" laptop... but perhaps the time is not yet right...


Personally, I'd rather spend the money on components and build my own 'Carputer' and get the enjoyment of a challenge out of the process as well, but to each his own.

It is true for the most part that the cheaper laptops tend to be heftier and I suppose there are worse bargains than $399, but personally that combination of price and features isn't that attractive.


RE: $399 with XP would be acceptable...
By das mod on 10/29/2007 1:30:02 PM , Rating: 2
just a $100 less off this price and it would've sold nicely.


By Mitch101 on 10/29/2007 1:42:04 PM , Rating: 2
I agree for $399.00 I will get a low cost laptop instead.

Black Friday im sure will have a lot of $399.00 laptops.


By nancy on 10/31/2007 10:07:06 AM , Rating: 2
License Fee is a lot more on XP from my understanding. $399.00 is such a great price for the features EeePC is having. What else can you expected with a Wireless unit that you can surf online, chat, skype, using work and excel and so on. Plus it's weighted less than 1kg and comes with SSD 4G. I think I would GO FOR IT. I will rather buy this for my son than a PS3; more educated for sure! For myself, I just need a light unit to use internet and messanger. This is more than enough for my need. Plus it's very light...


Good deal to me.
By sherifftaylor on 10/29/2007 2:27:10 PM , Rating: 3
I pre-ordered the $259 eee pc model from AllAsus.com. It was $40 cheaper because it had no webcam (wouldn't use it), no case, and only came in black. With about $18 shipping and $30 an a 4gb sdhc card, it will come to about $310 and it will have 6gb of total storage. I could also upgrade the RAM to 512Mb for about $20 but I don't see any need due to the OS's low overhead and what I will be using it for. It will be perfect for notetaking in class and surfing the web and checking my mail in between classes (or during class if I'm bored).




RE: Good deal to me.
By Chris Peredun on 10/29/2007 2:55:31 PM , Rating: 2
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but there isn't a $249 model anymore - your preorder is probably for the $299 2G Surf model. In addition, the RAM on the 2G Surf (or the 4G Surf, for that matter) is not upgradeable - it's soldered directly onto the motherboard.


RE: Good deal to me.
By sherifftaylor on 10/29/2007 3:45:19 PM , Rating: 2
That is slightly bad news, not because of the non-upgradable RAM(I wasn't going to do that anyways), but because of the extra $40 dollars. The $259 model is still for preorder on AllAsus.com though. But it does say on their web site that they will confirm potential changes to models by 11/1 so I guess they still have a couple days. Still $350 total for one with 6gb via sdhc is a good deal. Just hope AllAsus comes through.


RE: Good deal to me.
By FrankM on 10/30/2007 11:58:51 AM , Rating: 2
Are you sure it's soldered in? All that I've read so far said that there is a SO-DIMM slot, and it is replacable.


RE: Good deal to me.
By regpfj on 10/29/2007 6:09:43 PM , Rating: 2
How does the Nokia n800 fit into this cheap as chips small machine conversation? One difference is the ARM processor with only very modest horsepower. One similarity is the screen resolution. Price is about $250.


3hr battery?
By zombiexl on 10/29/2007 1:18:34 PM , Rating: 2
According to the spec, this thing only comes with a 4 cell 3hr battery. Is that correct? I thought this thing was ultra low power..




RE: 3hr battery?
By pnyffeler on 10/29/2007 3:08:58 PM , Rating: 2
It weighs 2 lbs. What did you expect?

Besides, while I can understand the draw of an all-day laptop, spending more than 3 hours typing on that keyboard makes my hands hurt just thinking about it.


Not attracting to me
By laok on 10/29/2007 1:53:54 PM , Rating: 2
Storage is too small and I hate to see the wide black frame around the LCD. Price is not good either.

Waiting for the competition to come in.




Failed to understand...
By DeepBlue1975 on 10/29/2007 3:20:25 PM , Rating: 2
400 US dollars is still a very good price for an ultraportable. Granted, an OQO or Vaio UMPC may have more features (not always translated into better performance) but they cost double than this one, and you could compare their prices almost to that of a very good dual core, 17" notebook.

Normal sized notebooks allow you to have a "your desktop, anywhere there's a table" kind of experience, but an UMPC gives you a "computer everywhere, regardless of the presence of a table and with no need for any special big bag whatsoever" kind of experience.

You basically end up paying for portability and high integration designs (you have to spend some more bucks to design something that has barely the space for all the stuff it'll have cramped inside it, than to something where you could throw in double the stuff you plan to include as standard)

Just compare the EEE's price not with a normal notebook, but with a relatively good, unlocked, smart phone in the likes of an HTC Hermes, or with a good PDA: You'll find the EEE to be cheaper, but then again, an EEE won't fit into any pocket of yours, unless you have some kangaroo style sweater :D




Rig
By restrada on 10/29/2007 11:12:59 PM , Rating: 2
I'm sold. I'm going to get one the day they are available on Newegg.




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