ASUS is clearly dominating the ultra-mobile notebook market with its Eee PCs. But local executives said that it will remain a niche player in this ever-competitive market for notebooks.
The photo features the Eee Box (left) which comes with a 16-inch LCD monitor, while to the right
is the Eee PC 900, the first to have the Intel Atom processor, which has not yet been introduced to the Philippines due to the availability of the Eee PC 1000 series.
INQUIRER.net community evangelist Alexander Villafania talks to Asus Philippines Country Manager Leon Yu who stressed that its latest Intel Atom-based ultra-mobile notebooks will not compete with other brands using the same processor.
“The market for ultramobile PC is huge and we’re only targeting people who have specific needs. We don’t have any problems with the other brands in the same market,” Yu said.
Yu, however, acknowledged that the Intel Atom-based ultra-mobile notebooks will boost demand for low-cost, low-power computers especially in the Philippines where there is a huge segment for budget-conscious buyers eyeing their first computers.
So why are people going gaga over the new Eee PC and Eee Box?
Here are the published specifications:
The Eee PC 1000 incorporates several new features not seen in previous Eee PC models. Among these include the Atom N270 processor running at 1.6 Gigahertz (the previous Eee PC 900 uses an Atom processor but was not introduced in the Philippines). It is also the first model to have Bluetooth connectivity and the new 802.11N Wifi antenna allowing for faster Internet connection.
The Eee PC 1000 also has a standard 6-cell battery instead of the 3 or 4-cell battery. This should make it last approximately 7 hours on idle or about 3 hours on active mode with all the wireless connectivity switched on. It has a 1 Gigabyte memory and 80 Gb hard disk.
The keyboard is also bigger at 95 percent making it more comfortable to use than previous generations of Eee PCs. The screen is also bigger at 10.2-inches and can render images up to 1 megapixel.
Meanwhile, the company also introduced the Eee Box, a mini-desktop computer that uses the Atom 230 processor variety. It is just slightly bigger than the Eee PC 1000 but has nearly the same features, except for Bluetooth.
Both the Eee PC 1000 and Eee Box use Windows XP Home operating system. The former costs P29,900 while the latter costs P24,999 bundled with a 16-inch widescreen LCD monitor.
