back to article Second-gen Eee PC a CES no-show

Asus today committed itself to expanding its Eee PC line-up not only with WiMax wireless broadband-enabled versions but also machines with 7, 8 and 8.9in displays. They'll appear in Q2, Asus said. However, the anticipated second-gen Eee PC failed to make its anticipated appearance. The larger screen size – rumoured for some …

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  1. spegru
    Linux

    Pricing

    What will be interesting to see is what happens to the attractive price of the eeepc, with windows. The great thing with the current Linux version is we can see what it costs without windows. So if the price difference is small then it will be clear for the world to see that MSFTs pricing is predatory. On the other hand, If it is large then maybe the windows units wont sell because it will be too close to a full laptop.

    A couple of other things:

    1. How much could a full size linux eeepc be made for? Do you think £250-280 is possible? That could be interesting.

    2. I wonder if they will bundle open office with the windows version .............

    spegru

  2. Charles Manning

    re Pricing

    No doubt MSFT would play some sort of game to ensure that a Windows-based Eee PC was still reasonably priced. They would not want to create some huge price differential that could be used as a lever in the future.

    The above is really moot: Eee PC is underspecced to run Vista and MS would not want to hurt Vista more than it is already by introducing stripped versions. Their easiest course of action is to just ignore Eee PC and hope it goes away.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    GPS?

    "The R50A will incorporate GPS, always part of Microsoft's UMPC vision but never implemented until now."

    Um, are we forgetting the Nokia N810 with built-in GPS and already shipping? It's ultra-micro and it's a hell of a PC... at least my N800 is.

    The included mapping software is absolute crap, though.

    And did you notice how you speeled "Microosoft's"? Shame!

  4. Alan Donaly
    Dead Vulture

    I am so stupid for buying the first of these.

    Beat me whip me make me do embarrassing things I bought the first of these devices never never never do that. Oh well I like it OK even if there is a couple of dead pixels and you can't see it in bright sunlight. Flame me to death I deserve it. The dead bird is for me to eat.

  5. Eric Van Haesendonck
    Thumb Down

    I wonder if they will do so well with windows...

    Part of the appeal of the EEE PC beyond the size is the low price, robustness to viruses and inovative interface. These are all things that the machine will probably lose if moving to windows, so I am not sure future versions will look as appealing to users.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    I am sensible for buying the first of these

    I have no need for Windows Vista, I don't play games which need powerful graphics cards, what I wanted was a portable machine that I could use on the train (thanks National Express for the free wifi by the way) for replying to emails, this sort of thing (yes I'm using it at the moment) and entertainment (great for watching movies)

    For me the current eeePC is perfectly good

  7. Steve Evans
    Stop

    @Alan Donaly

    Don't be sad Alan, you've got a light weight, compact, fast and cheap tool there. By the time the mark II comes out with the bigger screen and M$ onboard, you'd be hard pushed to tell it apart from all the other budget laptops available.

    You only have to look at the enthusiast forums, when was the last time you saw so much fuss about one laptop? At £200 people don't mind pulling the top off and poking about.

    If the mark II comes as M$ only, and therefore lack the required linux drivers, I'll still be buying a £200 mark I.

    As a slight aside, Asus, forget all this wimax b*llox, you've got an RJ11 on the side of the Eee, now give us a damn V90/V92 for it, I've got several perfect buyers for Eees, if only you had a modem in it!

    (And before anyone says USB Modem, find me one with linux drivers in the UK... Ta!).

  8. frank denton
    Thumb Up

    @Alan Donaly

    You just beat yourself, whipped yourself and made yourself write an embarrassing comment. Keep up the good work ;)

    (Try 3 hours at Gas Mark 5).

  9. John

    beaten by the anonymous coward

    just popped in to ask for a comparison with Nokia's N8x0.

  10. Anonymous Coward
    Dead Vulture

    $500 for WiMAX!!!!!!!!!!

    According to the BBC "The entry level Eee with Wimax will cost about $999, according to reports. "

    Assuming MS give a decent price for XP_Lite, the current £180/$370 entry price might creep up to $499, so that makes $500 for the WiMAX module!!!!.

    Give me a HSPA dongle or module for <$200 that I can use globally anyday

  11. A. Lewis
    Thumb Up

    @spegru

    I would imagine an EEE desktop would be less than that, since even small form factor desktops are much cheaper to manufacture than laptops. Until recently, Wall-Mart in the US sold low-end mini-ITX linux boxes for about $300 I recall.

    Kudos to El Reg for managing to conjure up yet another excuse to use that picture!

    Also I will add the usual comment that I bought an EEE before Christmas and it seriously rocks!

  12. David Gosnell

    Eee 2.0 pricing

    BBC are saying $999 for the entry-level WiMax Eee. Surely not?

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7173582.stm

  13. yet another Matt
    Stop

    @ David Gosnell

    I doubt it, at least, I really hope not. That's probably like £550 once you include import tax. I'm not sure how a slightly larger screen and a different miniPCI card can more than double the cost.

    Theres got to be more to it. Maybe we will find out when we get some pictures.

    Personally I'm looking forward to the 10" model which is also omitted from CES. I hope this doesn't mean that ASUS are out of touch with their fans.

  14. heystoopid
    Coat

    But

    But is it as good as my P3 Toshiba Portege running Windows 2k which last 3 hours on one 3ah battery has an 11.3" screen and was built at the turn of the century complete with wifi connectivity ?

  15. Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware (Written by Reg staff)

    Re. BBC

    The BBC got it wrong.

    Asus said it will offer a $999 "or less" laptop with WiMax, but the emphasis of the discussion was on full-size notebooks, not the Eee PC.

  16. david

    Very lovely

    I got one for a few weeks. The little thing is actually very lovely, no bulk of notebook, more functional than nokia tablet. Please don't make it bigger and heavier - it won't compete with a regular notebook.

  17. simon
    Unhappy

    Can the eee pc afford to cost more ?

    I bought one of these, and love it, My missus loves it , my kids love it, even my co workers (several M$ fanboys included) love it as well. . But if it was bigger, cost 300 quid and had Xp on it , would anyone be interested ? probably not as there are loads of 350 quid full size laptops in PC world right now.

    What asus should do is look at what the comunity is doing (adding bluetooth etc) and explore this. Ignore your customers at your peril !

  18. J
    Paris Hilton

    Ah...

    ...there she is! I missed her. Well, not really, but not a bad picture to see, cellulite and all.

  19. John Layt

    Undoubted high level of Linux Intel Wi-max support...

    "given the undoubted low level of Linux driver support for WiMax hardware"

    Erm, so what exactly is Intel currently demoing at CES??? That's right, Memron based devices running Linux, Wi-max included. There's not an Intel chip from CPU to graphics to wireless that ships these days without an open-source Linux driver for it.

  20. Pete Peterson
    Stop

    R50A GPS

    "The R50A will incorporate GPS, always part of Microsoft's UMPC vision but never implemented until now."

    Actually, the R50A predecessor (the R2H) features built-in GPS too - available since way back in August 2006! Also a long time before the N810.

    Just thought I'd point that out.

  21. PHILIP LIVINGSTONE
    Heart

    I want it....with Linux, and better screen res ... oh, and 3G support

    Hi

    First - I love it....and I want it!

    But the one thing holding me back is the low screen res ...so I'm gonna wait and see what's out by the end of the summer - even if the screen is still 7", I'd like to see a better native screen resolution in Linux!

    Can anyone tell me - 2 questions - is there any kind of S-Video support, and can I add a card with a SIM in it for mobile connectivity using HSDPA - or is that what the WiMax is for (I thought that was still in it's infancy)?

    thanks

    Philip

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