back to article Asus offers Brits Eee PC 900 battery swap plan

Asus has bowed to consumer pressure and agreed to swap Eee PC 900 buyers' old, 4400mAh batteries for a new 5800mAh model - and for a payment of £11.75. In a statement issued late last week, Asus said the battery swap programme would commence on 10 June. It also said it had posted a Bios update that would eke out the 900's …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    eee girl

    it seems asus also responded to the reg readers request that it add more eee girls to its line up :)

    mines the one with the corkscrew, cause i'd open her a bottle anytime

  2. Dominic Kua
    Thumb Down

    Better battery good, paying bad

    But now to the important matters,

    New girl doesn't work for me. Far too thin, arms like twiglets.

    I will now buy an Elonex one in protest. Oddly thin woman who probably would never allow the calories of a glass of wine to enter her body, you have lost Asus a customer.

    I demand better looking models, with more meat on their bones.

  3. Senor Beavis
    Thumb Up

    Screw the battery - let's focus on the real story

    I approve of new Eee PC girl, and it looks like she's on the way to getting drunk.

  4. Simon Cresswell
    IT Angle

    Never mind the beach..

    bring on the Chateauneuf do Pape...

  5. Tom
    Thumb Up

    Nice one asus

    I'm glad they have decided to do this - I was a bit cheesed that I could only get an hour and a half out of a full charge!

  6. alistair millington
    Thumb Down

    What?

    Another 17 quid on top of hte price, puts it beyond being cute, cheap and ultra useful to the realms of a normal laptop which usually have bigger screens as well.

    Not impressed.

  7. Mark
    Gates Horns

    Strange World..

    Where Asus can do battery swapouts for £17.50, whilst all other laptop manufacturers want over hundred quid for a replacement battery.. My HP battery for example, was £140

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Flame

    Gee thanks Asus

    Yup, I can't wait to post off my battery, then sit around waiting for a month while Asus pull their finger out and get around to sending me my replacement. If they can get enough stock into the UK to deal with the replacements.

    Yup, an ultra-portable laptop with no battery is going to be really useful thanks Asus.

    Also, the announcement I've seen is that the cost is £10 + VAT (or is El Reg adding the cost of the special delivery, to prevent Asus claiming they never received the battery for replacement)

  9. Steven Raith
    Thumb Up

    Oddly thin woman...

    In my experience, oddly thin women will allow many a thing to enter their body, but lets not go there, eh? I'll go as far as to say Mars Bar Party.

    Strange decision by Asus, but perhaps shows how much profit [or little, more to the point] they are making on the Eee-range in the UK/EU if they are resorting to this as a 'response' to the comments from many quarters.

    Perhaps they are cutting it closer to the bone in the UK/EU than they would like?

    I'd still have one though. And Eee-PC too. Arf.

    Steven R

  10. Richard

    2 year warranty for 701's as well ...

    The 701's have a 2 year warranty on the hardware anyway, so giving it to the 900's is no great extra (although the cost differential between a 701 and a 900 is!)

    However IIRC the battery on the 701 only has a 6 month warranty ... which means that if the 900's have a 2 year battery would represent an improvement but I bet they don't 8-)

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

    @Mat

    Maths cock-up: should be £11.75 - fixed now.

  12. b

    good move.

    Asus once again showing what a good company they are.

    tho i don't think they had much choice. not doing this at this time would have been so the wrong thing to do, just as this space is opening up.

    cheers,

    bollos

  13. Albert

    What about the Nokia N800/N810

    I don't own either, but I see the Nokia N810 and the Eee serving the same purpose. Portable, small computer to access email, web with the ability to run other applications.

    In my head I'm going more towards the N810 than the Eee.

  14. Danny Thompson
    Heart

    Got the 700

    Don't see the need for the 900 - the extra £s don't seem worth it to me. But that said, these eeePC are superb bits of kit, even with the Xandros Linux which I haven't bothered to replace with XP, its quite functional enough out of the box. Particularly loved the OOTB Huawei 3G/HSDPA modem support which took all of 90 seconds to configure.

    Asus Stick Girl doesn't do an awful lot for me, I much prefer their beach babe with the cleavage sufficient to hold a spare battery. And didn't anyone bother to tell her not to wave a glass of wine over a keyboard!

    That said, gotta love the Asus babes

  15. Sapient Fridge
    Linux

    Grey imports?

    I bought an Asus 900 when I noticed that the El Reg review back in April linked to a supplier who claimed to have them in stock.

    Interestingly it arrived with a 5800mAh battery but an American keyboard so I suspect it was some kind of dodgy, grey import ;-)

    Nice box, very happy with it. I also picked up a 6600mAh from Amazon UK which seems to work fine (though I fully expect it to explode any day now)

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    New eee girl

    I'm liking the new eee girl - she may be a bit on the super-model thin side but she looks a lot more happy and friendly that the beach girl. And considerably less badly Photoshopped to boot!

  17. Richard
    Coat

    New eee girl

    Bet she's got a nice Asus!

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Coat

    wtf??? only 2years???

    I thought all Electrical products sold within the EU, had under EU directive to be sold with a 3 year warranty.

    This should still apply under UK law, which can demand upto 6years for large electrical appliances.

    Mines the one with the warranty disclaimer... all goods are covered under warranty as far as the shop sales counter exit....

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Alert

    Please ask them about the old battery

    What can they possibly do with the old battery? It's a sealed unit and it's used - so they can't sell them on. All they will be left with is a pile of toxic waste to dispose of.

    So, surely the only conclusion that can be drawn is that Asus are being deliberately bloody-minded to make what appears to be a "generous" offer much less attractive than it would first appear. Fewer people will take it up and it will cost Asus less. Job done.

    And as for the warranty, well that's nothing more than weasel words: Italy is getting a 5800mAh battery (the largest) and reports from France suggest it is getting a 5200mAh battery - still larger than the one the UK has been shafted with. And they will all get the 2-year warranty.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Stop

    And how much does it weigh?

    Another thing for you to look at, Tony: Asus trumpets the fact that the 900 weighs "0.99kg", but that is with the 5800 battery - the crap UK battery actually weighs more, bringing the weight of the unit to more than 1kg.

    http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?pid=279415

    So, can you ask Asus how it can claim that the 5800mAh battery isn't universal whilst also claiming that the unit weighs less than 1kg, when with the 4400mAh battery it weighs MORE than 1kg?

  21. Tim
    Thumb Up

    bbbbbbbattery......

    Well after The Planet server debarcle all I can say this that my little Eee PC has been a complete and utter life saver .... The battery lasted for ever .. I just don't see the issue ... stunning little box with a more than adequate 2 year warranty battery ...

    battery smattery ...... !

  22. Simon
    Unhappy

    more info

    I've just spoken to asus on their 0870 premium rate number to be told the deal is not available until the end of the month and will be £15 quid.

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like