Club Troppo

I’ve praised the Asus Eee PC before (though not its peculiar marketing name) as the direction I’ve been hoping portable computing would take for some time. It seems to have been a success and now they’re unbundling their way to success it seems. Three new models are on the way – and they’ve taken up the idea of separating the monitor from the unit – very sensible.

Without the monitor they’ll sell it for US$199. Every home should have one – instead of multiple boxes on the wall running individual systems, like heating and security, they could all be integrated with a much more powerful system with monitor somewhere else – like the TV!

From the report.

The company will release a desktop PC, dubbed the E-DT, which will initially run on Intel’s Celeron processors when it’s launched later this Spring, but will move to Intel’s new Shelton platform towards the end of this year. The E-DT will ship without a monitor with the company aiming for a launch price of $199.

Asus will also launch an all-in-one PC/screen called the E-Monitor. The 19-21in device will again run on the Shelton platform and will include a TV tuner. As ever with the Eee brand, the key factor is the price, with Asus aiming for $499 – which will place it well below rivals such as Apple’s iMac and Dell’s XPS One, which both cost in excess of $1,000. The E-Monitor should launch in September.

The third, and most ambitious, product in the range is a 42in LCD TV which again includes a built-in Linux PC. Details are thin on the ground, but Asus claims the E-TV will cost around $200 more than conventional LCD screens of that size.

It’s all good.