ASUS confirms Eee PC 900 specification and UK release date

[HEXUS]

ASUS has today confirmed the hardware specification of its forthcoming Eee PC 900, and amid the good news, there's a touch of bad; there's no Atom in sight.

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[TAKTAK]

i wish i'd held off and waited for this instead of buying the 701

[nichomach]

Atom would be nice, but this is still a great spec for the cash - the uprated screen + greater SSD storage is looking like the mutt's. Given that Atom isn't a drop in replacement, and uses an entirely different supporting chipset, I'm thinking that there won't be a rapidly released 900A, but that later on this year we'll see a distinct product.

[wombar]

I love my EEE, but I'll be holding off until they throw in a better CPU. I'm one of the biggest supporters of the original EEE and I use mine quite a lot (2-3 hours a day usually), but the CPU is the one thing that annoys me about it.

It's great for watching films and doing a bit of web surfing on the sofa, but there are times when you can see that a few more horses under the hood would make it the perfect machine. I've clocked mine back up to 900Mhz, but it could really do with just a little more poke.

For people who don't already own one, the 900 looks like a really nice machine, but the price is slowly creeping up (I paid £220 for my 700 and I have no regrets). Obviously the more they upgrade the components, the more they have to charge. If they can slot in a better CPU (i.e. Atom) into the 900 and keep the price under £350, they should have another winner on their hands.

[Funkstar]

I've said previously that once they ship a version with a larger screen I'll buy it.

Changed my mind now

I think I'll wait until sometime in teh summer when all the other manufacturers have jumped on the micro laptop segment and we see some real competition.

I would probably spend upt to £500, if it was significantly better than the £329 option. A convertable tablet version would be great, especially for watching videos while traveling.

[directhex]

same price for linux and xp? yeah, THAT won't make a difference to sales, honest

[slypie]

I think the laptop is moving in the correct direction but the price is moving in the wrong direction. Wasn't the point of the EeePC to provide a cheap portable laptop. £329 is the point where you can buy a vastly better speced laptop (yes it will be bigger but offer a lot more for your cash). I think they have gotten greedy. Hopefully with other makers releasing their portable laptops there will be a price war and drive the costs down.

[nichomach]

I disagree about the "Vastly better specced" bit; at £329, you're probably talking about a Celeron M of some form in a box that weighs slightly more than all of your local WeightWatchers group put together. It'll have a mechanical hard disk and a slightly whiffy 1280x800 15.4" screen. Weight and size ARE part of the spec, and the 8.9" Eee still scores massively in this department, and is easily powerful enough for common or garden apps, as well as being better able to deal with being moved around thanks to the SSD. I certainly don't think £329 is greedy.

[TheAnimus]

same price for linux and xp? yeah, THAT won't make a difference to sales, honest

The space problem is kinda iratating thou.

I think their price point, as others have said, is too high.

the 900 is to big to be a UMPC, the screen is too crap, the CPU too slow etc, to compete with the cheap end laptops you see at that price point.

I think the EEE has lost its way a bit, that said if people buy the mac book air.

[directhex]

I disagree about the "Vastly better specced" bit; at £329, you're probably talking about a Celeron M of some form in a box that weighs slightly more than all of your local WeightWatchers group put together. It'll have a mechanical hard disk and a slightly whiffy 1280x800 15.4" screen. Weight and size ARE part of the spec, and the 8.9" Eee still scores massively in this department, and is easily powerful enough for common or garden apps, as well as being better able to deal with being moved around thanks to the SSD. I certainly don't think £329 is greedy.

it's still outside the "impulse buy" territory the old model was in though

it's more than a games console, for example

[slypie]

I disagree about the "Vastly better specced" bit; at £329, you're probably talking about a Celeron M of some form in a box that weighs slightly more than all of your local WeightWatchers group put together. It'll have a mechanical hard disk and a slightly whiffy 1280x800 15.4" screen. Weight and size ARE part of the spec, and the 8.9" Eee still scores massively in this department, and is easily powerful enough for common or garden apps, as well as being better able to deal with being moved around thanks to the SSD. I certainly don't think £329 is greedy.

I do think it's greedy, plus for £329 or a little extra (under £400) you can get a dual processor with 2GB ram and a big hard drive. I do agree that size matters for laptops but so does price and whats under the bonnet.

I've just sold my 701 for the same price I bought it for and was waiting for the newer generation of portable laptops but am disapointed with the specs and price of the 900. I'm going to see what the MSI Wind is like as it looks like a very nice unit.

[slypie]

it's still outside the "impulse buy" territory the old model was in though

it's more than a games console, for example

That's how I bought my 701 through impulse. I agree the EeePC is now outside of that bracket.

[Mike Fishcake]

Like I've said before - the EEE has never been about raw specs. It's main selling points are size and price (decide the order yourself) followed by usability. It's one of those things where as long as it does it's jobs - internet browsing and typing. The price of the 900 is a little disappointing, but not really a surprise. Directhex is right in saying that it's outside of the "impluse buy" territory though.

[nichomach]

Well, I guess it depends on where you set your impulse threshold; I wouldn't have bought the old one on impulse, but the new version, almost the same size and weight, better screen, better storage - that actually tempts me more.

[wombar]

That's how I bought my 701 through impulse. I agree the EeePC is now outside of that bracket.

Yep, that's the thing, my Eee was bought on impulse as it was only £220. For a fully functional laptop that seemed like an absolute steal at the time (and I still think it was). But £300+ is getting into the "I need to justify this purchase" rather than "it's just a bit of fun" which is where the old one was for me. I would replace my Eee in a second if it broke, but that's only because I already own one. I don't think I would spend £300+ as a new Eee user because for me that's outside my impulse buy territory.

The only thing that is missing from the 900 for me is a better CPU, the trouble is putting a better CPU in could mean that we approach the £400 mark very quickly at which point I don't think I'd bother. It looks like every other manufacturer is jumping on the bandwagon now, and whilst I love my Eee, I won't be surpised if I end up buying an HP or Dell when they release their versions of the Eee.

[dangel]

same price for linux and xp? yeah, THAT won't make a difference to sales, honest

I'd go for the linux one. And then install XP on the larger drive it comes with.


I'm going to wait and see what happens in June. I'm in the market for another ultra-portable so..