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Asus Eee PC

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Eee PC
ManufacturerAsusTek Computer Inc.
TypeSubnotebook
Media2/4/8 GB flash memory
Operating systemXandros-based OS or Windows XP
CPU900MHz Intel Celeron-M ULV 353
Memory256MB/512MB/1GB DDR2-400 RAM
Display7 in TFT LCD with LED backlight @ 800×480; although the unit is slightly larger than the screen to accommodate the speakers
GraphicsIntel UMA
InputKeyboard
Touchpad
Camera
Microphone
Camerabuilt-in 300K pixel video camera (4G and 8G models)
Connectivity10/100 Mbit Ethernet
802.11b/g wireless LAN
3  USB 2.0 ports
MMC/SD/MS card reader
Power4 cell 4400 or 5200 mAH battery

The ASUS Eee PC is a series of ultra-portable laptops designed by Intel and ASUSTeK, aimed at the consumer market. According to ASUS, the name Eee (pronounced as the letter E, IPA /iː/) derives from "the three Es": "Easy to learn, Easy to play and Easy to work." ; Excellent Internet experience and Excellent mobile computing experience.[1]

Overview

Two models have been announced at COMPUTEX Taipei 2007, the Eee PC 701 and the Eee PC 1001.[2] The 701 based model Eee PC 4G has been released on October 16, 2007 in Taiwan[3]. The remaining three models will be available by the end of November. The originally announced second model 1001 will most likely not be released due to an overlap in productions with similar devices released.[4] ASUS expects to sell about 200,000 units in 2007,[5] 300,000 to 500,000 by March 2008 and 3–5 million by 2009.[4] Intel has described the Eee PC as in line with its "World Ahead" marketing drive – which aims to provide anyone around the world a chance to own a PC.[6]

Both the price and the size of the devices are relatively small in comparison to similar devices, such as Ultra-Mobile PCs. The Eee series is viewed partly as a response to the XO-1 notebook from the One Laptop per Child initiative.

ASUS plans to introduce second-generation Eee PCs in April 2008 which are meant to feature Intel's Merom processors. The power consumption of the next-generation notebooks will reduce to 7W TDP, down from 11W TDP, and the removal of the fan to save more power and reduce noise.[7]

At the Intel Developer Forum 2007, Intel demonstrated its Classmate PC and the Eee PC, and also had specifications listing four models of the Eee PC. ASUS at the time claimed that models may start at the promised US$199 price point and transition up in price and feature to US$399.[8]

The price and specifications for the Eee PC, officially announced in September 2007, changed from those first announced by ASUS. The price rose from US$199 to US$245, while the base model went from a 4 to a 2 GB solid state drive, the VGA camera was dropped and the RAM was decreased from 512 MB to 256 MB. As of October 25 2007, the price range is now expected to be US$299-399.[9]

Since October 13, 2007 the ASUS website shows revised specifications. The products now have the marketing names EeePC 8G, 4G, 4G Surf, 2G Surf instead of the model numbers 700 and 701 shown in pre-release information and on the Eee PC label and on the packaging.[10] There is no indication that the model numbers are not still present for the Eee PC, but they might not be used in advertising for the systems.

Great anticipation accompanied the official launch press releases enabled the Eee PC to sell out on Yahoo Taiwan and Taiwanese 3C shops like Tsann Kuen within hours of availability. Sources in Taiwan have claimed that user response at 3C shops were very encouraging. "There were people waiting for them to go on sale, and 98 of them were gone almost immediately," said Lin Che Chun, a sales associate at the 3C electronics chain store in Neihu run by Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co. Ltd of Taiwan[3]. Although the Eee PC has been launched in Taiwan and Hong Kong, the rest of the world will have to continue twiddling their thumbs as exact launch dates worldwide are still unconfirmed.

Details

Mobility

The Eee PC is about as small as a subnotebook. It can be configured to either display a simple user interface for first-time PC users, or full desktop mode for greater functionality.

Display

Asus has not yet released the resolution figures, but according to press images the 7-in model appears to have a resolution of 800×480 or 800×600  pixels[11]and engineering samples seem to confirm this resolution[12] while variants with larger screens may have up to 1280×768 pixels. In the case of the former the screen does not cover the whole model, as is common with other laptops, but is rather flanked on the sides by stereo speakers and the (optional) camera in the trim at the top in the otherwise unused space.[12]

Software

On top of the base Linux system, which is said to require under fifteen seconds to boot,[6] the Eee PC runs a custom tab-based interface. The quick start time brings the operation of the device closer to that of small electronic devices such as mobile phones and PDAs. Bundled software includes OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox, Skype[13], E-mail and Internet radio applications, Google Docs and Wikipedia look-up tool.[14] In an effort to cut costs Asus does not include Windows XP, but has already posted a stack of drivers necessary to run the OS.[14]

It was announced on October 16, 2007, that a version of the Eee will be sold with Windows XP.[3]

Storage

The Eee PC uses a solid-state drive for storage (instead of a hard drive) which consumes less power, allows the device to boot quickly and makes it less susceptible to shock damage. The RAM in some Eee PC models will be replaceable with one slot for a maximum of 2GB but the upgrade would also effectively void warranty.[15]

Marketing

The Eee PC is not seen as a competitor to the OLPC XO-1, another inexpensive laptop computer. Whereas the XO-1 is targeted solely towards the education market in developing countries and is largely unavailable to individual consumers, the Eee PC is publicly available, marketed to the personal user who desires a portable, cheap, WiFi-capable platform. However, ASUS does feature a lot of children in its EEE campaign — see this page.

Criticism

The unreleased OS install seems to leave just over 1 GB available to the user for personal files on the internal SSD on a 4 GB system.[12] By using small capacity storage a user may be expected to purchase extra storage peripherals which brings the total cost of ownership for the system up, negating some of the low price advantage. The price and specifications for the Eee PC have reportedly changed from those first announced by ASUS and prices are yet to be confirmed officially. The price of the low-end model rose from US$199 to US$245 (reportedly at least partly due to rise in prices of 7" LCD displays[16]), while the solid state drive went from 4 to 2 GB, the VGA camera was dropped and the RAM dropped from 512 MB to 256 MB. The situation may be due in part to confusion over which models will be equipped with what.[8] Also, upgrading RAM in upgradeable models would void unit's warranty since one would need to open the access panel which has a warranty sticker sealing either one side or one screw of the panel. Unfortunately, the only way to have more RAM and keep the warranty is to buy the most expensive model, which is currently (29 October 2007) not available for sale. The LCD screen resolution is also a concern; 7" at 800×480 would force user to scroll sideways to read any website optimized for a wider resolution (however, sites are generally designed to be usable at 800 pixels wide so they can be printed satisfactorily).

As of October 25 2007-10-25, the price range in the USA is expected to be US$299-399[9]. In the UK it is available from £169–£199, depending on the model[1].

Configurations

The new marketing naming convention seems to link the size of installed SSD, presence of webcam, and battery type into a name that indicates the Eee PC configuration.[17] The Eee PC Surf models seem to include the 4400 mAH battery pack and no webcam while the non-Surf models seem to have the 5200 mAH battery pack and a webcam installed. The model numbers (700, 701) may still be the same as has been seen on pre-production samples, differing on if the RAM is soldered on or has a slot and if the Mini PCIe slot is present.

Eee PC 2G Surf (700)

Eee PC 4G Surf (701)

The 4G Surf model includes everything from the 2G Surf model with these changes:

  • 4GB SSD
  • 512MB RAM
  • Price: NT$9,990[24] (around 307 USD)

Eee PC 4G (701)

The 4G model[10] includes everything from the 4G Surf model with these changes[1]:

Eee PC 8G (701)

The 8G model includes everything from the 4G model with these changes:

  • 8GB SSD
  • 1GB RAM
  • Price: NT$13,800[24] (around 425 USD)

Branding

Announced October 2007 Research Machines will be selling the Asus Eee PC in the UK re-branded as the RM Asus Minibook.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b "ASUS Eee PC". ASUSTek. 2007-10-01. Retrieved 2007-10-01. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ "Asus unveils ultra-low-cost Linux laptop". LinuxDevices.com. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2007-07-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  3. ^ a b c "Eee PC Makes Hot Debut". PC World. 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2007-10-17. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help) Cite error: The named reference "PCWorld" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b "Some unconfirmed information about pricing, availability and more". EeeUser.com Forum. 2007-08-13. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Chen, Shu-Ching Jean (2007-06-07). "$199 Laptop Is No Child's Play". Forbes. Retrieved 2007-06-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ a b ">"Enter the 'E' Era with ASUS Eee PC" (Press release). ASUSTek. 2007-06-08. Retrieved 2007-06-28. {{cite press release}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ Ting Chen, Yen (2007-09-05). "Asustek aiming for strong brand notebook business; to launch second-generation Eee PC in April 2008" (fee required). DigiTimes. Retrieved 2007-09-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ a b "Asustek's EEE now expected in October". The Inquirer. 2007-09-23. Retrieved 2007-09-23. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ a b "Asus Eee PC Initial Hands On and Video Review". NotebookReview. 2007-10-25. Retrieved 2007-10-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  10. ^ a b "Eee PC Packaging".
  11. ^ "Asus Eee PC specs". Citrus Micro. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
  12. ^ a b c d e f "Unicap and UCView on the Asus EeePC". Unicap. 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
  13. ^ a b Jastrzebski, Paul (2007-06-11). "ASUS Eee PC Hand's On Preview". HotHardware. Retrieved 2007-06-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  14. ^ a b c d e "Asus launches tiny PC". The Register. 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-10-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ a b "Confirmed by ASUS: Eee PC RAM will be Replaceable". EeeUser.com. 2007-09-11. Retrieved 2007-09-12. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  16. ^ "Glass BOM blamed for Asustek price hike". The Register. 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2007-10-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  17. ^ "ASUS Eee PC".
  18. ^ "Mobile01 Eee PC". {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  19. ^ "Intel Celeron M 353".
  20. ^ "Rise in quotes for 7-inch LCD panels raised Asustek Eee PC price". DigiTimes. 2007-10-22. Retrieved 2007-10-22. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  21. ^ Lemon, Sumner (2007-06-06). "First Look: Asustek's $199 PC". PC World. Retrieved 2007-06-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  22. ^ "Hands on with Asustek's $199 Eee PC". Infoworld. 2007-06-06. Retrieved 2007-07-02. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ "Asus Eee PC news photos". Xfastest.com. 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-10-16. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  24. ^ a b c d "Asustek EEE prices leak out". The Inquirer. 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-10-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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