Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless

You don’t see a lot of PMPs or netbooks out there with carrier branding, but both the Archos 5 and the Eee PC have gotten themselves 3G-enabled recently, and French wireless company SFR isn’t wasting any time with the silkscreen machine — it’s just announced subsidized versions of both. The Archos 5 3G+ comes dressed in sharp new black suit and features a smaller 30GB drive to go with its integrated 3G modem and custom SFR menu items — you’re looking at €249 ($320) with a monthly data fee of €19 ($24) for existing SFR customers or €24 ($30) for new subs. More or less the same deal with the Eee 901: you’re getting the familiar 1.6GHz Atom with 1GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, and an integrated 3G modem for €279 ($358) with €29 ($37) / €34 ($43) monthly contract fees. Hopefully we’ll see some Stateside carriers pick up on this trend soon, eh?

Read - Archos 5 3G+
Read - Eee PC 901

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Filed under: Laptops, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Wireless

You don’t see a lot of PMPs or netbooks out there with carrier branding, but both the Archos 5 and the Eee PC have gotten themselves 3G-enabled recently, and French wireless company SFR isn’t wasting any time with the silkscreen machine — it’s just announced subsidized versions of both. The Archos 5 3G+ comes dressed in sharp new black suit and features a smaller 30GB drive to go with its integrated 3G modem and custom SFR menu items — you’re looking at €249 ($320) with a monthly data fee of €19 ($24) for existing SFR customers or €24 ($30) for new subs. More or less the same deal with the Eee 901: you’re getting the familiar 1.6GHz Atom with 1GB of RAM, a 16GB SSD, and an integrated 3G modem for €279 ($358) with €29 ($37) / €34 ($43) monthly contract fees. Hopefully we’ll see some Stateside carriers pick up on this trend soon, eh?

Read - Archos 5 3G+
Read - Eee PC 901

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Filed under: Laptops

With the introduction of the well-received N10, we thought maybe — just maybe — ASUS was moving beyond its disgusting obsession with mutilating the Eee brand. Instead, we’re now faced with fresh hues of two old faces: the blue 901A and the gilded 900A. Looks as if all the internals have remained the same, though there’s no indication what kind of premium (if any) you’ll have to pay for your color of choice.

[Thanks, Sascha]

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Filed under: Laptops

If you like the Eee PC 901 then you’re going to love this. ASUS just announced an integrated HSUPA option for its 8.9-inch netbook. When coupled with that 7.5-hour (rated) 6-cell battery you’ll have ample time to try and locate a carrier “in many destinations around the world” capable of delivering 7.2Mbps down and 2Mbps up — ASUS doesn’t say but we’re sure it’ll step down to older WWAN coverage as required. Available in October (just missing the September launch rumor) for an undisclosed price on undisclosed frequencies.

[Thanks, Michael A,]

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Filed under: Laptops

For reasons unknown, netbook manufacturers (on the whole, at least) have been asking ridiculous sums of money for their wares, but now that the novelty of the sector is wearing off, we’re seeing those figures start to head south. Following in Acer’s footsteps, ASUS has evidently lowered the entry price for its Fine Ebony / Pearl White Eee PC 901 to $499.99. Yep, that’s the one with an 8.9-inch display, 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 12GB SSD and a 6-cell battery. So, is that low enough for you, or are you waiting for the Buy 1 Get 1 offer that may never come?

[Thanks, Nathanael]

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Filed under: Laptops

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Filed under: Laptops

We’ve gotten just about as much info on the Eee PC 901 and 1000 as we can handle, but we’ve been missing that most important piece of data until now: a US release date. That might be about to change, though, as ASUS’s pre-sales department has apparently been telling people that the 901 and 1000 will ship on July 8th. Of course, that’s not a firm commitment, and ship dates have been known to slip, but if you’ve been waiting to cold-cock that piggy bank, well, let the countdown begin.

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Filed under: Laptops

ASUS’s Eee PC 901 has been unboxed, examined, pictured, tested, and now to end it all, it has been completely dismantled by a curious writer at bit-tech. They didn’t find anything terribly unusual, but highlights include a monitor-diameter 802.11n antenna, the all-important SSD module (not soldered to allow for upgrades), internal fan, an IDE3 slot, and solder points labeled “3GCard” which you can interpret as you wish (we’ll give you two guesses). Finally, they found a mysterious button that doesn’t seem to do much of anything. So there you have it: The Eee PC 901 has officially been pillaged. Hit the read link for some exposed silicon.

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Filed under: Laptops

We now have official US pricing for ASUS’ new Eee PC lineup. The Eee PC 901 nabs a $599 MSRP for both Linux and Windows XP versions. The pricing for the 1000 and 1000H models is a bit more fluid (read: could change) but is currently pegged at $699 for an Eee PC 1000 (Linux or Windows XP) and $649 for the Windows XP 1000H (H, as in hard disk drive). We’ll have to wait and see how that pricing works out for them with MSI’s $399 Wind coming later this summer (the $499 XP version in a few days) along side Acer’s $400 Aspire One. Oh, and then there’s that pesky Dell E-series said to be starting at $299 by the time they ship in August or September. For now you can check the full reviews, which, as you’d expect, see the evolutionary jumps made by the Eee PC 901 universally commended — especially the 6-cell, 6600mAh battery. Laptop managed to eek-out 4.38-hours (Stuff, well over 5-hours) of life with WiFi turned on — well short of the 7.8-hours listed by ASUS but much better than previous Eees. Both reviews share our concern: price.

Read — US Pricing
Read — Laptop review
Read — Stuff review

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Filed under: Laptops

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Filed under: Laptops

Continue reading Asus Eee PC 1000 vs Atom-based 901 vs original 701… fight!

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What, you’re not in Taipei? No problem, Engadget Chinese is at the WiMax Expo with the first WiMax-enabled Eee PC 901 pictures. Showing off a funky, cutaway hinge (likely due to missing battery), the Eee PC 901 features Intel’s Atom processor as expected, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, and now 802.11n too (hoozah!). The card reader supports MMC/SD/SDHC cards and the WiMax chipset is Intel’s Link 5150. Keep in mind that the Link 5150 is a dual-mode WiFi and WiMax module. In other words, there’s no guarantee the 802.11n will carry over to the WiMax-less 901 being announced tomorrow. A few more pics after the break, all the rest at our Chinese site.

Continue reading Hands-on with Atom-based Eee PC 901 running WiMax

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Filed under: Laptops

As you know, Asus will be announcing its Atom-based 8.9-inch Eee PC 901 and 10-inch 10001 tomorrow at Computex. However, the more obscure WiMax Expo show has already kicked off featuring a WiMax-enabled Eee PC 901. While the WiMax version won’t ship until later (for obvious reasons), the 901 models at the show are being displayed in both black and white models based on a 1.6GHz Atom processor with 1GB of memory, Bluetooth, WiFi, memory card slot, and a 20GB SSD for Linux builds or 12GB SSD for Windows. Oh, and the 1.14-kg laptop features a 4- or 6-hour battery life depending upon battery selected. As to the older Eee PCs, ASUS’ CEO said they’ll be cutting prices on those which makes the Celeron M 701 and 900 models all the more attractive.

Read — Eee PC 901

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Filed under: Laptops

As you know, Asus will be announcing its Atom-based 8.9-inch Eee PC 901 and 10-inch 1001 tomorrow at Computex. However, the more obscure WiMax Expo show has already kicked off featuring a WiMax-enabled Eee PC 901. While the WiMax version won’t ship until later (for obvious reasons), the 901 models at the show are being displayed in both black and white models based on a 1.6GHz Atom processor with 1GB of memory, Bluetooth, WiFi, memory card slot, and a 20GB SSD for Linux builds or 12GB SSD for Windows. Oh, and the 1.14-kg laptop features a 4- or 6-hour battery life depending upon battery selected. As to the older Eee PCs, ASUS’ CEO said they’ll be cutting prices on those which makes the Celeron M 701 and 900 models all the more attractive.

Read — Eee PC 901

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Filed under: Laptops

It’s only just barely made it out into the wild, but DigiTimes is now reporting that ASUS has already stopped taking orders from resellers for its 8.9-inch Eee PC 900 in anticipation of the now imminent launch of the Atom-based Eee PC 901. That word apparently comes from some unspecified “industry sources,” who also claim that the Eee PC 900 was only ever a “transitional product” to begin with, which ASUS pushed out the door with a plain old Celeron M processor in order to get an 8.9-inch model out ahead of its competitors. Certainly a reasonable conclusion to draw, but a quick glance of online retailers shows that there’s still plenty of Eee PC 900s out there for the taking if you’re not sold on this whole Atom thing.

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Filed under: Laptops

There you have it, ASUS’ Amos ‘n Andy companion to the Martin ‘n Lewis Eee PC 901. The 8.9-inch Atom-based lappie show no signs of the rumored Bluetooth or anything else unusual that we can see. Black is certainly predictable as a continuation of the original Eee PC 700-series color scheme. It’s certainly not as surprising as the expected $650 price tag on the original $199 low-cost laptop.

[Via The Gadget Site]

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Filed under: Laptops, Wireless

ASUS has been running around demoing Eee PCs with built-in WiMAX for a while now, but a new report in the always-salacious DigiTimes says that we won’t be able to get our hands on similarly-equipped units until after 2008 because the company feels the WiMAX market won’t reach “maturity.” Fair enough — and ASUS is still planning on shipping the wireless tech in its larger laptops — but something tells us that WiMAX isn’t going to mature if popular devices aren’t available with the tech built-in. Something about a chicken and an egg, you know?

[Via jkOnTheRun]

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Filed under: Laptops

It was just yesterday that the official announcement of the Atom-based MSI Wind’s pricing prompted us to wonder where ASUS’s promised Atom Eee 900 was, and would you look at that — here’s the Eee 901, looking radiant in white. Of course, the major changes are internal, so the exterior looks pretty much the same — apart from some extra buttons and the relocation of the power jack — but it’s good to know this thing is inching closer to release. Now if we could just get some benchmarks and pricing info, we’d be all set. Check the read link for tons more pics.

[Via jkkmobile]

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