Hands-on with the 9-inch Eee PC

If you hadn't guessed from the headline, and as rumored just an hour ago, there's 9-inches of LCD on this thing. Actually, 8.9, but who's counting? We found out that and a few other little tidbits about this Eee PC "New Generation" at the ASUS booth just now, but for the most part the 9-inch Eee PC is quite similar to its 7-inch forebearer. Anything past that ASUS is saving for tomorrow's press event when this laptop will become officially official, but whatever they end up calling it (Eee PC 900 is rumored), it's certainly for real. The battery impact of the new display is said to be "negligible," with 2.5 to 3 hours of battery quoted. ASUS wouldn't let us turn it on since it's all so very secret at the moment, but they did confirm some release details. The 9-inch Eee will hit in the "middle" of 2008, with that €399 pricetag for the 12GB version, but other capacities available (we saw an 8GB on display). No word yet on US pricing, but we're trying to pry it out of them.

From : Engadget.com

Asus Eee PC: Could Steal the Show at the CeBIT

Fans of the Eee PC from Asus have definitely been excitingly awaiting the German electronics conference, the CeBIT. It has long been expected that the manufacturer would use the occasion to introduce innovations to their successful mini-PC. Now we know from a press conference that representatives of Microsoft and T-Mobile will be present as well. Many fans and journalists have put two and two together and are now pretty sure what the huge innovations will entail.

The simple equation goes as follows: Microsoft equals Windows, T-Mobile equals UMTS. In bold letters: The Eees were previously delivered with a Linux system and could not get online over the mobile network by themselves. It makes sense, that the makers of the most successful operating system and support for fast, mobile internet would then find a place on the small computers. Eee fans have especially long awaited support for standard HSDPA, which enables broadband speeds while mobile. We will know more on March 4th when the CeBIT begins.

Everex CloudBook First Thoughts Review

The Everex CloudBook marks the latest entry to the expanding world of UMPC-type subnotebooks at affordable prices. With a 7-inch display, 1.2GHz processor, and 30GB hard drive, the CloudBook certainly doesn't make a very good desktop replacement computer, but it does look like one impressive little road warrior. What did we think of the CloudBook after one day in our office? The answers may surprise you.

[tabletpcreview.com]

Why Are PC Manufacturers so Afraid of the Asus Eee?

At the Sony Open House, Mike Abary (SVP of Information Technology Products Division) shared his view on the Asus Eee and used the expression “race to the bottom” (in terms of pricing) to describe what would happen if consumers would go for ultra-cheap PCs massively. It is an interesting subject, and here is what we think of it at Ubergizmo: given the success of the Eee, it’s not hard to imagine why PC manufacturers keep an eye on the issue.

“Good enough” is a danger for PC Makers

High-end laptops are not going away but $400 laptops like the Eee could put the other sub-$999 laptops in danger, and the volume is huge in this segment. It is interesting to understand why consumers like the Asus Eee (and the likes) to see why there is a potential for a “race to the bottom”. We call it the “good enough” effect.

“Good enough” is the single scariest thing for all technology companies. They maintain their average selling prices (ASP) by improving functionalities (speed, storage…). Now, what if users’ needs do not evolve as quickly as the hardware? Average selling prices (ASP) would spiral down.

Software innovation is the key

To create more “needs” for the masses, the industry has to create new compelling and mainstream applications (like a new, slow OS with exciting features?) Unfortunately, PC makers have no control over that – software developers do. Additionally, many consumers are now using web-based applications, and the speed of these programs is often limited by the web – not by the PC. That’s one less reason to go for a fancier computer.

The Asus Eee is uber-popular because it addresses a strong demand: it is a light, small, cute and its performance is deemed “good enough” by buyers.

It would naive to think that ultra-cheap PCs are not a real danger for the gross margins of established PC makers: the market pressure is extremely strong: manufacturers are flocking to build these cheap PCs. Even HP is working on a small, but slightly more expensive one. Is Sony in danger? Not in the short term. Should they be worried? Certainly.

Linpus rolls out Linux-based OS aimed at low-cost laptops / UMPCs

While its claim of being the "first" to offer an OS specifically designed for the latest crop of low-cost laptops and UMPCs may be a little dubious, the unfortunately-named Linpus is at least pretty quick to jump on the bandwagon. To that end, the company's just let loose its Linpus Linux Lite OS, which it says will run just fine on laptops like the Eee PC and Cloudbook, or any other system with as little as a 500MHz CPU, 128MB of RAM and 512MB of storage. Just as importantly, the OS is also apparently designed with low-res 7-inch screens in mind, although as CLUMPC points out, it doesn't go so far as to include support for little things like built-in WiFi out of the box. Still, if you want to give it a shot, you can grab it now in the form of a Live CD direct from Linpus.

HP so confident in the UMPC 2133 it's building 2m units?

HP apparently wasn't kidding when it said it expected people to buy that hot new UMPC 2133 sub-notebook "without a thought": DigiTimes is now reporting that the company has contracted Wistron to crank out two million units this year. That's an astonishingly high number -- almost 10 percent of HP's worldwide laptop sales last year -- and even wilder compared to the EeePC, which completely blew away expectations by selling 350,000 units worldwide last quarter, or Samsung's Q1, which has only moved a couple hundred thousand in two years on the market. Sure, the 2133 looks sexy as hell, but at a rumored $630, HP's going to have to put some serious sales muscle behind this guy to move that many -- it's just slightly too expensive to be an accessory, and probably way too underpowered to be your primary machine. On the other hand, while this is just a rumor and could be totally wrong, we'd actually like to think HP has a product so good it's going to roll the dice a little. Guess we'll find out soon enough, eh?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Eee PC hacked to accommodate 1.2GHz Pentium M processor

In case you haven't noticed, the Eee PC has quickly become a favorite among folks that like to, shall we say, customize things, and it now looks like you can chalk up another big modification to the list of operations the laptop has gone under. This latest come to us from one "guryhwa," who managed to cram a 1.2GHz Pentium M processor into the laptop, giving it a bit of boost of the stock Celeron. Needless to this, this particular hack involves some soldering and a good deal of guts, but you apparently at least don't have to make any modifications to the BIOS. Without any changes, however, the processor only runs at 840MHz, although guryhwa's apparently working to improve that.

[Via Eee Site]