The big news yesterday was the release of the 9-inch screen version of the Asus EEE PC, here shown alongside its little brother:
As you can see, the screen displaces the speakers that surrounded the screen on the original. I wonder how that affects sound quality – I’ve been surprised by how good the speakers are on the EEE thus far. Also, the new model is slightly larger, with a heavier hinge and deeper footprint. It also comes in your choice of the Linux or XP OS, though there still isn’t any word on US pricing.
The screen resolution is 1024×600, with the same pixel density as the 7-inch version. That is really appealing, but price remains the key – I wouldn’t want to pay more than $500 for an EEE because then I lose the value proposition over a regular laptop. I assume that ASUS will follow the Apple model and drop prices on the low end models as new ones come out. My expectation is that the new 9-inch will be in the 600 range, which is just too expensive for my usage model, but would still be appealing to a traveling business type.
The EEE website says it’ll cost 399 Euros… not sure what they’ll do in the US though. If it’s roughly the same as Europe, it’s going to be too expensive… (unless they’re just talking about the Windows version, which could add significant cost).
I’m in the market for a portable laptop. I don’t know that it needs to be as small as the ultra-portable EEE, but it would be nice to have something for trips and whatnot. Any recommendations?
Mark, I think that the best laptops out there are Thinkpads, bar none. But, they actually are not a good value for a portable (unless its being subsidized by a company) because of the cost premium. For personal use I would advise a Dell XPS M1530, because it’s a solid machine, looks sleek, and has a lot of power. The advantage of the Dell is that its not prohibitively expensive but still a very solid and reliable build (of course everyone has a Dell horror story, but Dell has pretty good customer service overall). For a portable machine you want something that isn’t too expensive given that it’s going to get a lot of wear.
Check out the sidebar above, I just added a new link for $500 off an XPS (or $250 off any purchase above 1249, if you decide to go the Inspiron route, though frankly the XPS units are better than the Inspirons in every category).
Note, I am an affiliate with Dell, Thinkpad, and NewEgg. Profits from these links don’t quite cover the Bentley, but they do keep Haibane.info afloat 🙂
Looks like the spambots have discovered your comment system.
sigh. dont they understand that all links in comments are nofollow, so they get no googl juice whatsoever?
its a waste of my time and theirs.