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.
I just ran off and bought myself a new toy, an Archos 605 wifi. Not a computer really, supposedly just a media player, but it reads .pdfs and browses the web wirelessly, and all I really want at home is that, so I think it’ll rock. Touchscreen goodness too.
gah, my apologies, close tags.
I closed them for you. And verily it is a groovy machine. How much?
$500 on ebay for the 80 gb.
And now Sony admits that the little mite the Eee PC could be a game changer!
Starting a race to the bottom. Poor dears in the industry will actually have to compete on price rather than stuff their products full of features I don’t want.