RSSNew Asus netbooks will feature Windows 7
By Jacqueline Emigh | Published January 6, 2009, 6:38 PM
At a press conference at CES 2009 Tuesday evening, Asus introduced the Eee 131, its first netbook with a built-in 512 GB hard drive. Asus has been working closely with Microsoft, so that the new Eee will run Windows 7.
5:59 pm PT: Both of Asus' new convertible netbooks will use Intel's Atom processors, though different versions. The 10-inch Eee will use Intel Z270 processor, which is what most netbooks use today. But the 8.9-inch model will use the Atom Z520, which provides 20% greater energy conservation.
4:10 pm PT: Asus also demonstrated a convertible tablet -- again, conceptually, with no products announced. Shih said, "There will be a lot of interesting things happening" with user interfaces, but did not go into more detail.
Yesterday was Asus' 19th anniversary, and for the duration of its existence, the CEO said, his company has always been focused on innovation.
4:07 pm PT: During a Q&A session, Shih was asked whether an Eee PC would eventually run Google's Android operating system. "It seems like many companies are considering Android," Shih responded. As for placing it on the Eee, he said, "I'm not sure about that yet."
Later, the CEO admitted that Asus needs to do more work on multi-touch before coming out with a notebook that features it. Asus did demo multi-touch capabilities, at least conceptually, as well as a "dual-mode PC." This latter device would have two hard drives, so you could connect to the Internet using the smaller HDD if you were running applications on the larger one, or you could run a movie from the smaller drive. No products were announced for either concept, however.
3:53 pm PT: The Eee 131, Shih said, will ship within the next three to five months.
3:50 pm PT: Next, Shih showed off a curious controller called the Eee Top, which he described as "a device for every room in the house." It appears designed to connect to home networks, and operate using an "easy navigation system" using gestures rather than touchpad or keyboard.
3:47 pm PT: It is a "highly reactive" keyboard, Shih said, with a five-inch touchscreen display built-in. You can use this keyboard or a touchpad in any room in the house.
3:41 pm PT: "You've never seen Windows run this fast," said Dave Fester, Microsoft's marketing manager for OEM products, speaking at this afternoon's conference.
Later, Asus previewed its Eee PC T91 touchscreen notebook, which features a built-in TV tuner and a built-in GPS. Asus Chairman and CEO Johnny Shih described this Eee as a "next generation" netbook, with a "superset" of features for mobile computing.
Shih also showed the Eee Keyboard, a wireless keyboard for "sharing, playing, and communicating."
The real question everyone ignores is:
What OS is reboot with patches the most, and which one takes the longest to patch?
IME, Windows 2000 is patched the least, while still supported, and it installs those patches fast and reboots the fastest. Vista is currently the slowest. Vista take a terrible amount of time patching, shutting down, and starting back up. Very irritating.
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|Yes...THAT is my biggest concern of all...which OS takes the longest to patch in the middle of the night while I'm sleeping...
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|vista for me takes 4 seconds to shut down, 30+ seconds to boot up, patching takes no time whatsoever, a minute usually.
learn how to use and configure a PC.
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|Yawn.
"..."a device for every room in the house." It appears designed to connect to home networks, and operate using an "easy navigation system" using gestures rather than touchpad or keyboard." YET "the CEO admitted that Asus needs to do more work on multi-touch before coming out with a notebook that features it."
"It is a "highly reactive" keyboard, Shih said, with a five-inch touchscreen display built-in. You can use this keyboard or a touchpad in any room in the house."
"You've never seen Windows run this fast."
Gee, how can I improve on that bit of understatement? I'll just let that quote stand on its own! Hell, that should have been the thread title! LOL!
...A phone with a larger screen. Oops, sorry. You can't make calls.
So its basically an MP3 player with a larger screen as "It appears designed to connect to home networks"...
I think I will just stick with a real laptop.
So, what is the REAL theme of this year's CES?
Manufacturers desparately trying to discover a real market for all sorts of marginal toys that fail to completely feature true convergence and which don't quite deliver real value in any particular usage area.
Oh, but they can use the words "green" and "smaller" a lot.
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|Yea, but it's seriously depressing to see that the netbook you want to buy costs $249 more than the same one with Linux on it, and the Linux version boots in 4 seconds! You're paying as much for the OS as the netbook. Sort of defeats the purpose when you consider what the device is built for.*
_________
*Hint: it's not a gaming or entertainment machine!
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|Exactly.
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|Price wasn't mentioned once in the article. The Current Asus models don't have anywhere *near* that price difference between XP and Linux models.
I'd ask that you try and have at least some clue about what you are talking about before making complete idiots out of yourselves, but...Zaine and sjc?....right.
What was that about "the stupid" Zaine? You couldn't even get the numbers right... (and of course you're disciple couldn't resist agreeing with your BS...)
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|The S121 model that was also shown, according to other sites, is going to start at $1,649, so one can use that as a good guessing point on this one.
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|Nothing is a netbook that costs more than $400. Half the point is the low cost.
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|That's what the world needs! A limited netbook starting at $1,649.
Now, if we can just find a small economy car starting at $130K we will be set!
LOL!
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|Its all win win for microsoft. Vista, XP, Windows 7, Windows -insert name here-
... who cares.. microsoft owns the OS market.
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|It says it will run Windows 7. It does not say it will ship with it.
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|i would take 'feature' to mean ship with it in most cases.
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|So Windows 7 is nothing more than Vista re-skinned, right, folks?
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|no, do a little reading up on it and you'll see what all is different
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|Actually its just the opposite..an improved Windows with a Vista skin. Maybe Stardock will save it.
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|Amen. Those people are just plain ignorant...
http://www.winsupersite.com/faq/windows_7.asp
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|I think you need to google sarcasm...
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|I might suggest their starting with "sentience".
It might do well for them to crawl a bit before they try to walk...
Figuratively as well as literally...
;-)
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|No. Here is a list of features which Microsoft will be trying to clone, but will fail like they did with Vista.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X_v10.4
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|A 512 gb hard drive in a netbook? That seems huge, heck its larger than most notebooks. Is it a typo?
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|It is just what Windows 7 will need to install with the new improved Solitaire!
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|sh*t, this is just epic news... optimized for smooth sailing on the Eee, MS really has shaped up and listened to consumers
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|I take it you're completely oblivious to the fact that netbooks have been shipping with Vista for some time now?
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|yeah i'm sure that runs smooth as silk, i don't own one so i don't know... but i doubt it otherwise why would microsoft tout windows 7 as solving netbook problems.
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