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�100 Eee PC 701 laptop – Asus springs surprise solid state cheapie

Asus100poundlaptop

The Asus £100 Eee PC 701 Laptop was announced yesterday at Computex by Asus chairman Jonney Shih. If it launches as promised, and there’s no immediate indication that this is vapourware, then it’ll be a real shocker to the industry. History has shown that the public flock to low cost computers which offer basic but competent functionality (anyone remember the Amstrad PCW Computer?). The specs are not yet all out there, but it’s Linux powered (what else eh?), has a 2GB solid state disk and 512 MB RAM. Wow. [Update: It’s called the Eee PC 701, the dimensions are: 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1~3.5cm, 0.89kg, it’s XP compatible but runs Linux on an Intel Mobile CPU and comes with Wi-Fi and a camera, up to 16 GB of flash memory and a battery life of 3 hours. More here.]

 Asus chairman Jonney Shih sprang a surprise during Intel’s Computex keynote today with the announcement of a $189 laptop. The notebook measures roughly 120 x 100 x 30mm (WDH) and weighs only 900g. We saw the notebook boot in 15 seconds from its solid-state hard disk. The huge auditorium then burst into applause as Shih revealed the astounding price tag. Dubbed the 3ePC, Shih claimed the notebook is the ‘lowest cost and easiest PC to use’. As the crowds rushed the stage, we sneaked off to the Asus stand to take a closer look.

8 Comments

  • Now THIS is something I could get my teeth into – I’ve always been excited by the implications of OLPC will mean for the rest of the world. I’ve always wanted a laptop, but have been unwilling to spend the cash on one which I could spend on upgrading my own PC. But this brings it more inline with something that I’d be willing to spend money on – its the Zire of Palms, the cheap version with minimal functionality, which will free me to write whereever i like!

    Yay Asus! Now let’s lose the white skin, eh? White is like, SO 1995!

    CX

  • Just one thing though – I’d be willing to pay an extra £50 for more internal memory, a nice wee XP operating system, and extra program file space.

  • Ha, you see, now you’re ruining the whole thing. :-) Actually even an SD slot would help I reckon. But who knows, by launch it might have all this stuff included.

  • It’s only 120 x 100 x 30mm? Surely some mistake…

  • Wow interesting Phil, didn’t notice that. Must be a mistake….?

  • I just found the Asus page on the product and have updated our front page accordingly. It’s a pretty amazingly well specced machine for the price (although obviously the �100 version will be at the 2 GB flash memory end of the scale). If they can produce these machines at this low price, they’ll fly away.

  • …the only disappointment is the 3 hour battery life, but hey, at these prices….. :-)

  • Here’s a product demo page. Not a lot there, but gives an idea of the size etc.

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