There’s no doubt many would-be EEE PC users are waiting for the new Asus EEE PC 900 (E3PC 2.0), arriving on May in the US and June in Europe and offering some improvements (8.9 inch display, multi-touch trackpad, larger storage and memory and a 1.3 Mp webcam) but also some more size/weight (100g hevier and 6mm longer than the EEE PC 701) and, of course, a higher price (the new subnotebook should cost 512US$, 399 Euros or 329UK£).
CNET UK publishes a mini-review of the new EEE PC 900 subnotebook, underlining the advantage of the larger display (Asus moved the speakers at the bottom of the keyboard, below the machine, to make room for the new almost-9-inches screen) and the improved trackpad with improved left-right buttons and the mostly hyped multi-touch gestures similar to those already found on the MacBook Air (and of course iPhone and iPod Touch) by Apple.
As I feared, the larger screen translates into more energy hungry video performances, so there’s about half an hour less to take into account when measuring the EEE PC 900 battery life compared to its predecessor. Of course the 1 GB DDR 400 RAM upgrade helps in speeding the overall performance of this new model, which cannot borrow such speed from an improved CPU as Asus decided to keep the original Celeron 900 processor for this first shipping and adopt the Atom one for the next breed of EEE PC 900, probably to speed the arrival of the new model and thus fight its competitors.
About its hardware, maybe you should take a look at how Richard Swinburne dissected the EEE PC 900 showing its hardware in full.
Also welcome is the new internal SSD, which has been expanded to 20GB for the Linux (same Xandros flavour as the EEE PC 701) and 12GB for the Windows XP version of the machine, coupling a second SSD disk (of 12 and 8 GB respectively) attached to a PC Express interface inside the EEE PC. This latter choice is, of course, a strategy to keep the price down being a Windows licence already a plus that adds to the still high price of the SSD units, but Gates’ fans will surely appreciate and of course be happy to know that, (also) thanks to Asus’ choice, Windows XP will add two more years to its existence.
Will the new EEE PC 900 repeat the success of its predecessor? Are the new features still a bargain in the new tag price? Is there any negative side effect in the new specs beyond the shorter battery life? Only more hands on reviews will tell, and of course your comments will help in forecasting or actually confirming some the hopes and fears about the new machine. In the meanwhile, let’s watch one of the first preview videos of the Asus EEE PC 900 in action.
UPDATE: Asus EEE PC Demo blog has published a complete collection of EEE PC 900 (or EEEPC 2.0) videos from various sources
Posted in EEE PC Reviews |