I’ve been negative about technology for the last couple of days, but that is all set to change with MSI announcing the Wind. It is MSI’s competitor to the EeePC, with a few small differences.
It will feature a 10-inch display, a inch and a bit larger then the upcoming EeePC. It will use Atom architecture, and though the tests have shown it isn’t lightning, I’m confident the battery tests will be impressive. It will feature a 2.5-inch HDD, meaning the user should be able to put any size drive they want in there, as long as it fits. OS wise it features other Windows or Linux.
Some people are saying that “those features are for a notebook not a UMPC”, but the EeePC is a notebook.If the EeePC could do the same thing it would be an even more attractive package. If you consider what you gain, especially with an expected 7 hour battery life, the Wind will be more complete for the mobile user.
The price range is pretty crazy, with it being as low as $US450 and going to around $US1000. It really excites me to imagine a device that I could charge and use for a whole day without needed a second battery. No date as yet, but expect a rant when the product is released and reviewed.
For more info, hit up Gizmodo.
I am not always negative about technology, but the second announcement today has be to be viewed objectively. Asus has announced Windows XP for the EeePC.
It could cost an additional $US30-60 for the Microsoft OS, and will come pre-installed with software such as Live Mail, Messenger, Photo Gallery and Family Safety (for parental lock). These are all great, except that you will need to have internet to really take advantage of the ‘Live’ services.
It doesn’t come pre-loaded with office, and of course you will be stuck with IE, unless you install Firefox (or Opera). It also means that you have a OS that can do everything, on a machine that clearly wasn’t created to do everything. In other words I don’t think Windows XP should go anywhere near the EeePC.
It isn’t all bad news. Giving you the ability to install your favourite Windows applications to your portable companion is great. It opens up options to use peripherals that aren’t supported for Linux, and makes it easier to be hacked by the hardcore Windows geeks.
On the other hand, those things don’t balance the fact that Windows XP is a heavy OS that will take up a lot of space to do less then the Linux OS can do. It will need more memory and won’t run very nicely on a 900MHz Celeron processor.
There are advantages to many people to have Windows XP on such a device, but the device was never created for that purpose. Microsoft really need to make a lightweight OS that does a little less, but handles the lower speed processors and plays nicer with SSD’s. Meanwhile I will keep reading my Linux For F##king Idiots Books (adults version, with swear words and naked women).
For more info, click over to DailyTech.
How much do you want a 9-inch LCD on an EeePC? Keep on waiting, because the screen that is coming is 8.9-inch (haha, I’m a funny man).
Rumour has it that Asus are going to announce the EeePC 900, which will feature the larger screen with a 1024×600 resolution, 1 GB of RAM and 12 GB of Flash storage. This will set you back a pricey $US600, but for an EeePC fan it will be worth it.
Unfortunately, it is believed that the little guys battery life will suffer (down to a possible 2.5hours). Also, now it is going to the $600 mark, is it sill going to be value for money considering it doesn’t feature a touch-screen or a fast processor (it is still a 900Mhz Celeron). Sorry Asus, but I’m waiting for Atom’s.
For more info, click over to Gizmodo.
I was Digging as I usually do when I’m extremely bored, and I came across a front pager about why an assortment of technology companies dislike Asustek. Normally I wouldn’t waste my time pointing out articles that only focuses on drawing in traffic, but this time I have to. The article is a very ridiculous call from a person who is supposed to be informative, not misleading them.
The article can be found on Datamation, and is titled The Most Hated Company In The PC Industry. To sum it up the writer discusses how Asustek and Intel are now chums, owing to the success of the EEEPC. He also states that the new technology is negatively effecting companies like Microsoft, Apple, Palm and Dell.
Firstly i would like to say the EeePC will have a minimal effect on Microsoft. The EeePC supports Windows XP and has even been seen running Vista. Xandos is a very powerful OS, and is known to be user friendly and intuitivel, but it has been around for years and hasn’t affected Microsoft’s OS market share in the slightest. Also, if you didn’t already know, Microsoft and Xandos have a collaboration, meaning it would be to Microsofts advantage if Xandos was to take market share from other Linux distro’s.
In the article the writer compares the price of an Apple iPod Touch (16GB model) to the 8GB EeePC, and concludes that the EeePC is slightly cheaper ($US69). Considering the devices are completely different and designed for such different functions, comparing them is just crazy. To even debate the comparison is a waste of the readers time.
It is true that Dell and other PC manufactures, who have a series of flash drive based notebooks, could be affected by the EeePC. That is, if their notebooks had not been designed for a completely different market. Ultra Mobile Personal Computers are usually designed to be used without a desk or while standing. Wrap your hands around the EeePC and you will quickly discover it is merely a tiny laptop. Examples of true UMPC’s are the Samsung Q1, Sony UX Series and Gigabyte U60, which all feature a QWERTY keyboard, and are engineered to be used on the move.
To further elaborate on Apple’s position, consideration must be given to their pre-established advantages over Asus. Apple have this thing called MacOSX which doesn’t natively run on anything but an Apple computer. Apple also get very good deals on NAND memory due to the fact they use over a quarter of the NAND memory produced worldwide. Apple also have this little program called iTunes, and does that run on Linux natively? No unfortunately it doesn’t .
Palm had to cancel their Foleo, not because of the Asus EeePC (though it could have been part reason), but because the Foleo had no way of reaching the hype that Palm had created. Match that with their ageing Treo series of smart phones, and financial difficulties and you get a cancelled product. Palm should hate themselves if anyone, because for a long time they were the best at what they did.
To me it seems that none of the companies in the article will be threatened by the EeePC. If anything Asus should be thanked for discovering another niche market. No doubt by the middle of the year you will hear about EeePC competitors that are all similarly priced and spec’ed.
The companies who could hold a grudge against Asus are Nokia and OLPC. Nokia have their N810, which is probably the closest thing to an EeePC (when you consider features and price). The OLPC should also be envious as the EeePC does more for the same price or less (though the OLPC is more technically advanced).
Intel and Asus have had a relationship for a long time, but Asus also has relationships with many of Intel’s competitors. Also, Intel have nothing to lose, because all their competitors (with the exception of OLPC and Nokia) use Intel insides to do a very similar thing.
Mike Elgan, if you’re reading this, I would like you to know your other articles are fantastic and you are usually right on the mark with your conclusions. Had you done a little more research behind the scenes I am sure you would have come to the same conclusion I have.
For the original article, click over to the Datamation Website.
Now that Asus have done such a successful launch of the EeePC, it is time for them to follow it up with the real bread and butter, the accessories. Unfortunately, unlike the EeePC (or maybe like the EeePC for some people), the accessories aren’t all that exciting.
There will be a mouse, headphones, power adapter, and extra battery. The mouse will be USB (is there any other standard?), have a 1000dpi and be available in 5 different colours (to match your EeePC). The noise-isolating headphones feature a 1.15m cable and 3 sizes of earbud gel tips. Power adapter gives power I would say, and the battery will come in 2 flavours, a 4 cells with 5200mAh or 6 cells with 7800mAh (coming soon and could possibly give you 6-7 hours life).
I’m sorry Asus but this is pretty weak. Where is the docking station? The screen protector and 20 different types of EeePC branded cases? Where are the Bluetooth and other wireless add-ons? Hopefully we will get more useful addon’s as the year progress’s and with the release of the 10-inch EeePC.
For more info, click over to the Laptoping Blog. For more info on the accessories go directly to Asus.
Some spokesman has come out of the closet and said there will be a 10-inch EEEPC and also a desktop version (you thought he was going to be gay didn’t you). The 10-inch will feature a 8GB flash drive and not much is known about the desktop.
Now its time for a rant. Currently the 8GB EEEPC is $US499, which means the 10-inch version will be more expensive. If it is $US599, which would be a good guess, it would put it in full featured notebook territory. The 7-incher has a 4 hour battery so the 10er can’t have much more and with Creative adding 32GB to the ZEN, I’m sure Asus could do something with the EeePC.
On the other hand, if the desktop EEEPC was to be cheap enough, it could fill a lot of lounge rooms as Media PC’s or a computer for the people who don’t use it more then a word document and some emails. Plus if it had a USB slot, it would be easy to add as much storage as you like.
Asus have gotten very lucky here, with getting in to a niche market that people absolutely love. They are selling them faster then they can make them, and they aren’t world changing or revolutionary in anyway. I will wait for a massive price drop (which probably won’t happen any time soon) before I would even consider one of these little fellows.
For more info, slide over to the Engadget Blog.
Since I’ve been gone we have seen the OLPC go up in price, we have seen the Palm Foreo shown off and then disappear, the VIA NanoBook impress and now we have the big news of something which sits between the lot of them. The device I’m talking about is the Asus EeePC.
It isn’t the latest news, and has been talked about for a few months now, but lets have a quick run over of what it is. Inside you are looking at something which should be quicker then your OLPC, with a 900Mhz Intel processor, integrated Intel GMA 900 graphics processor, 7-inch display, 256 or 512 MB DDR2-400 (upgradeable to 1GB), 2, 4, 8 or 16 GB flash Solid state drive, Hi-Definition Audio, 5200 mAh 4 cell battery (different numbers everywhere on life, but about 3-4 hours), PCI Express Mini Card connector, 10/100 Mbit Ethernet, 56k modem, 802.11b/g wireless LAN and a SD card slot for expandability. That is only the top of what it is capable of with some variants of the notebook to feature a built in web camera and possibly bigger screens in the future (10-inch). The whole ultralight weighs a measly 890 grams, making it light enough to keep on you most of the time.
The software part of the unit runs on a special edition of Xandros, which is a Linux based OS originally designed for simplicity and to mimic some parts of the windows environment. Asus have also said that it will be compatible with Windows XP, though that will be a extra cost to the user.
The questionable part is the reality of this unit. There has been tests run on and reviews by some websites about this unit (mostly positive), but the release dates are constantly changing and the specs as well. Even the price has gone up by around $US70 putting it at around $US269. Even those facts are being requestioned everyday!
Now I have to ask why? I understand it is cheap and does quite a bit, but then again it lacks quite a bit as well and considering the OLPC can do almost everything it can do in theory and at the same time help the poor, why would Asus release a notebook at could possibly compete with it? Is it a greedy move by Asus or just a smart one? Will be a great side kick to users who want a small cheap secondary device to travel with or Will it be to small and to under powered to be any use to anyone?
Now it is time for predictions. I expect this to be shunned by a lot of pro OLPC supporters, and for a lot of public releases from Asus saying it is the same but different to the OLPC. I expect it to be released later then we all expected (why rush? There is still no competition). I expect it to have a great initial release selling lots, but later on considered a gadget unless you upgrade to the more expensive mode. Seeing Apple and Asus have a tight relationship, expect an Apple variant of this notebook (more expensive and shiny).
For now that is all I will rant on about this product, but expect an update when I know more about the subject at hand.
For more info, hop skip and jump over to either the Asus EeePC Website, Wikipedia EeePC Page or the EeeUser Website.