Asus finally is starting to leak the details of its upcoming e-book reader, and I was pleasantly surprised to see not just one but two e-book reader models are coming out for our favorite computer manufacturer. After having no e-book readers to show at the CES, we’re seeing two e-book readers from Asus, and honestly, I’m impressed.
The two e-readers are called Asus DR-570 and the DR-950. What’s the difference between the two, you may ask?
The Asus DR-570 (pictured on the right) will be a 6-inch color OLED e-reader, will play back Flash video, includes WiFi and 3G, and supposedly can last for 122 hours on one charge under “real world conditions.” Those specs are possible because of its 124 x 170 x 8.8-mm / 200-g footprint, 4GB of onboard storage with SDHC expansion, 512MB of SDRAM, and 1,530mAh battery. I don’t know if the final version will also include that picture of Jessica Alba, but that will be a welcome development. More »
This next laptop I’ll be featuring is by no means an Asus Eee PC – in fact it’s over at the extreme opposite of the spectrum – but this is so great I’d feature it anyway. Asus has been known for a while for making rock-solid motherboards, and recently their netbooks have given the Taiwanese manufacturer a name in notebooks. But as solid their notebooks are, they’re not exactly a household name yet. I’m guessing it’s because their notebooks are a bit lacking in the design department. But then those days are probably over. More »
Boy, talk about diluting the brand. Coming hot off the heels of the Eee PC Keyboard, the announced but never conceptualized Eee Phone (which I am still hoping would push through) and a slew of other Eee-branded stuff, Asus is going to come out with an E-Book reader.
This new reader, which Asus claim they plan to launch within the Eee series by around the end of 2009, says Asus company president Jerry Shen, will compete with the Sony Reader and Amazon’s Kindle.
I honestly don’t know if Asus can make this a hit, but if Asus can make E-Book readers as mainstream as netbooks, I’m all for it.
Currently, there are no specs available for the Eee E-Book reader. Also, Asus, I’m still waiting for that Eee Phone.
[via Eee User]
So, LCD manufacturers aren’t really keen on producing screens for netbooks. They’re saying that the market changes way too often for them to be able to keep up in demand. Well, if you’re a producer of screens pumping out a few million units only to discover that there’s no demand for them 6 months from now, you’d be kind of peeved as well.
But Brad of Liliputing posits a different reason:
Of course, that whole fast-changing market could just be a smokescreen for the same complaint chip makers and PC vendors have about netbooks: low profit margins. It’s possible that LCD makers just don’t want to give top priority to products that don’t offer as much return on investment as larger displays produced for laptops or televisions.
This makes sense, but commenter “MonkeyKing1969″ has this to say on the whole situation:
The funny part (funny sad, not funny ha ha) is that netbooks sell. The big machines are not selling as well. Slim profit margins or no profit margins are the current choice? I’d think that would be not much of a choice, unless you live in LaLa land.
Greed kills companies because greed makes them stupid. There is a need for big LCD panels but not everyoen can sell those. There is not that much demand for them, so if they all to scramble for the super profitable end of the market they all will sink.
Personally, I’m with “MonkeyKing1969.” But I want to know what you guys think. Leave your two cents in the comments.
Portable Monkey has a review of the Asus Eee PC S10H, which was recently released in Japan.
The new ASUS Eee PC S101H fails to be more attractive than it’s near rivals, the Eee PC S101 and 1002HA but if you just consider it for what it is, it is a very nice, very quiet, expensive looking netbook that is good at everything it does and is relatively light. It becomes less attractive when you consider that it is more expensive than it’s near rivals, $100+ vs the 1002HA and around $70 for the S101. Battery life is subpar for a 10-inch netbook.
Liliputing was able to get their hands on a 1002HA and posts a review.
The Asus Eee PC 1002HA is smaller, lighter, and (with a list price of about $499) a little more expensive than the Asus Eee PC 1000H. It has a nicer looking exterior and ports that are spread out across the unit, with the VGA, power, and Ethernet ports on the back of the laptop. But the netbook also has a lower capacity battery and there’s no option to purchase a higher capacity battery.
So if your primary concern is battery life, you might want to look elsewhere. If you want all the power of an Eee PC 1000H in a case that weighs about 11 ounces less and you’re OK with 3.5 hours or so of battery life, the Eee PC 1002HA might be worth a look.
You can check out his full review here.
I really am excited for the ASUS Eee PC 1000HA. Know why? Because it is set to take on the Acer Aspire One. According to Punch Jump,
The new Asus Eee PC 1000HA will include a 1.6 Ghz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, Windows XP and a 10-inch LCD for $429.99.
Retailer Amazon.com this month began taking pre-orders for a Ebony SKU and White SKU.
By comparison, the Acer Aspire One includes a 8.9-inch screen, 1.6 Ghz Atom CPU, 1GB RAM, 160GB hard drive, 6-cell battery and Windows XP for $399.99.
It is sold in Blue color and White color SKUs.
The Aspire One currently ranks as the No. 1 best-selling notebook at Amazon.com, followed by the Asus Eee PC 1000H at No. 2.
Acer also offers a Linux-equipped model for $329.99.
Dell Inc. in Sept. entered the netbook market with the the Dell Inspiron Mini 9. A Linux-based model starts at $349.
Personally, I’m thinking of getting the 1000HA to replace my 701.
Which will be the better netbook, the Eee or the Aspire One? What do you think?
Both run on the Dothan chipset: the 1000HD with Pentium-M and the 904HD on Celeron-M. Both are marketed with 5-hour battery uptimes, though, so it seems fair enough, given they’re not using Atom chips on these new EeePCs.
[via koobten]
