DailyTech - Update: Asustek's Eee PC Coming Shortly to Best Buy, Newegg

Submit News

Gadgets Update: Asustek's Eee PC Coming Shortly to Best Buy, Newegg
Brandon Hill (Blog) - October 16, 2007 9:25 AM

90 comment(s) - last by Oregonian2.. on Oct 18 at 2:23 PM

The Eee PC will be priced at $199 for bulk customers; retail prices start at $299

Ultra Mobile PCs (UMPCs) should be nothing new to readers of this site. Over the past year, DailyTech detailed the Samsung Q1 along with Sony's Vaio UX series -- more recently, we've seen new offerings in the form of the Samsung Q1 Ultra and Fujitsu LifeBook U810.

While the UMPC platform has sparked some interest from consumers, the high price of entry -- around $1,000 for entry-level models -- has stalled significant growth of the sector. Asustek hopes to change that with its new Eee PC.

According to Reuters, the Eee PC will be priced from $199 for its bulk customers. Asustek's Eee PC will be available at brick-and-mortar stores like Best Buy and online retailers like Newegg within the next few weeks. The UMPC will later make an appearance in Europe.

"If we can sell a couple million [Eee PCs], we'll be confident," remarked Jonathan Tsang, Asustek's president of sales and marketing.

The Eee PC features a 7" display (800x480), 10/100 NIC, 56k modem, WiFi, 256MB to 1GB of DDR2 memory and solid-state memory for storage (2GB to 8GB). To keep prices low, the device runs a Linux-based operating system although it is compatible with Windows XP.

The range-topping Eee PC 8G features 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage space. It also features a 5200 mAh battery good for 3.5 hours of battery life (lesser models are stuck with a 4400 mAh battery good for 2.8 hours). Device weight is a trim 2 pounds.

A Russian review of the Eee PC revealed that the device is powered by an ULV 900MHz Intel Celeron processor which is backed up by an Intel 910GMLE Express chipset.

Updated 10/16/2007
Asus has released official specifications for its Eee PC and this article has been updated to reflect the additional information. According to Gizmodo, the Eee PC will retail from $299 USD.

Comments

Threshold

Username
Password
remember me

This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled

RE: Interesting indeed.

By theapparition on 10/16/2007 8:54:59 AM , Rating: 1

OK,
I'm getting a little tired from people reading too much into this article. I'm really not trying to flame, but I am going to burst your bubble.

quote:
The high end one looks good: 1GB ram, 8GB solid state hard drive.

Nowhere does it have 1GB ram, its listed as 512MB.

quote:
the Eee PC will be priced from $199 for its bulk customers.

Here's the bubble bursting part. It will start from $199. That is for the low end 4GB model, expect the higher end models to cost more. That is also the price that bulk customers will pay. You will certainly pay more. I expect this to actually get into your hands for $299 at launch.

I think this is pretty cool by asus, so I'm not trashing it by any means. I just don't think you'll be able to buy one at $199.

Parent

RE: Interesting indeed.

By jtemplin on 10/16/2007 10:08:57 AM , Rating: 2

Um...your not very good at bubble bursting. The article clearly states that the

quote:
range-topping Eee PC 8G features 1GB of memory and 8GB of storage space.

Parent

RE: Interesting indeed.

By wordsworm on 10/16/2007 10:12:35 AM , Rating: 2

quote:
Nowhere does it have 1GB ram, its listed as 512MB.

Insert sarcastic comment here: ..........

quote:
256MB to 1GB of DDR2 memory and solid-state memory for storage (2GB to 8GB).

I'd be surprised to find them much over $199 to savvy consumers. But, this is speculation at best. I wouldn't be surprised to see the high end version at around $399-499.

Parent

RE: Interesting indeed.

By theapparition on 10/17/2007 7:45:44 AM , Rating: 2

That information was only added after the article was updated at 9:25 before both your and jtemplin's replies. In fact, that ASUS site has it listed starting at 256MB of memory, which was never in the original Daily Tech article. I don't doubt that it can go to 1GB, but it will start at 256MB. And that again is for the base price.

As I originally stated, I guessed that the retail price was going to be $299. Guess what the official starting retail price is........???

If it had the originally stated 512MB ram, 8GB SS storage, all for $199, I would have snapped one up in a heartbeat. As would you and most others here who were excited about this. But I was skeptical, and posted my doubts that you'd be able to actually get that machine, with those specifications, for that price. As it turns out, I was right.

quote:
I wouldn't be surprised to see the high end version at around $399-499.

I agree, and because of that, my enthusiasm has completely died. Why pay $499 when you can get a cheapo Dell or HP laptop for similar. And those laptops will far exceed anything this one can do (with exception of battery life).

Parent

RE: Interesting indeed.

By murphyslabrat on 10/18/2007 10:57:34 AM , Rating: 2

But it's small! you can fit it in your backpack, and you cannot do that with other brands!

/sarcasm

Parent

"We can't expect users to use common sense. That would eliminate the need for all sorts of legislation, committees, oversight and lawyers." -- Christopher Jennings