A 10-inch 8GB Asus Eee PC: Will the masses bite?

When the first generation Asus Eee PC was initially announced and eventually shipped, hordes of people were dying to get their hands on one. Why? Because it filled a gap in the niche that no other computer manufacturer ever tried before.

Asus Eee PC Now Asus is announcing that a newer line of the Eee PC will be released this year (2008). It will come with an 8GB of flash-based drive and 10 inches of real estate (so you don’t have to squint at the 800×600 pixels anymore). The rig might also include 1GB of RAM. Of course, they will come at a much higer price than the original $400 price tag.

This time, I believe Asus is pushing it too far. Let’s review why the 7″ Eee PC was hot item:

It’s small and lightweight. It’s the ultimate in portability for a full-featured personal dcomputer.
It’s flash-based. 4GB might be small but at least there are no mechanically moving parts inside. We all know the hard drive is the first thing we think of whenever our laptop suffers an accidental rock and roll. Say goodbye to a crashed HDD.
It’s unbelievably cheap. Why couldn’t Fujitsu, known for their ultra-small laptops, offer something like this? We all thought anything below 12″ will cost us an arm and a leg. The Asus Eee PC busted that myth.

So, an 10″ Asus Eee PC which might cost buyers 50 to 100% more than the old $400 might not cut it anymore. I reckon the deciding factor will rest on the SRP. Asus will need to find the sweet spot for this one to really sell it as fast as the first one. I say $499 will do.

Abe Olandres

Abe is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of YugaTech with over 20 years of experience in the technology industry. He is one of the pioneers of blogging in the country and considered by many as the Father of Tech Blogging in the Philippines. He is also a technology consultant, a tech columnist with several national publications, resource speaker and mentor/advisor to several start-up companies.

https://www.yugatech.com

27 Comments

bittersweetcollide says:

17 years ago

i just got my sister one and it’s great, the 8g still comes with 7″
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yalee says:

17 years ago

hmmm, Could I buy it online?
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bong says:

17 years ago

for us desktop users, it’s surprising to know that technology has come up to this level. i think i’m gonna buy one. for a change!
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natalie1981 says:

17 years ago

I actually saw an 8GB Asus EEE PC at Pccorner’s online store, Laptopking.com.ph. I’m satisfied with the Asus EEE’s current specs. BTW, visit my blog for the Asus EEE PC Review
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hana says:

17 years ago

Meron na bang 16GB dito sa Philippines? Saan pwede mabili yun? Inform me please. Thanks in advance.
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Jomark Osabel says:

17 years ago

I am tempted to buy it because of its portability. I just don’t want to carry a $2000 dollar brick. I will decide to buy within the week.
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JC John SESE Cuneta says:

17 years ago

I will be buying 2 Asus Eee PCs, one for me and one for my girlfriend.

I will remove the Asus modified Xandros distro and install Eeebuntu (Ubuntu for Eee). We prefer Ubuntu over Xandros, but Xandros is great, too bad you have to pay for it to get a desktop. ;)

Also, I doubt Filipinos will be disappointed with it. You just need to give a short and eye-opening explanation about Linux and demonstrate it to them. I am converting people to use Linux for their home desktop PCs, success rate is 8 out of 10! :D I’m just not dedicated to converting people… unless I get paid :p
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Arnel Reodica says:

17 years ago

I think I’ve seen one in Megamall….. It will be a great tool for linux geeks out there….
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andre says:

17 years ago

i guess the complaints about the screen isn’t much on the 7″ screen but on the woefully low 800×480 resolution. if it was 1024×600 or something near that, it would have been much better.
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Adrian says:

17 years ago

dami ako nakita nyan sa rob manila 18K with different colors pa.
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JuP says:

17 years ago

currently the 8g model are available through importers meaning no local warranty, local distros are still waiting for their orders to get here (or did it already arrived?) will see next week for an update….
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BrianB says:

17 years ago

Here is the news item on the bigger screen asus. My blog is number 1.

http://news.google.com/news?q=8.9+inch+asus&sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1B3GGGL_enPH243PH243&um=1&sa=N&tab=wn
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sylv3rblade says:

17 years ago

I’d go with the 7″ version (considering that a 10″ version receives the go signal) anytime.

BTW.. There’s an 8G here now? Can anyone direct me where?
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BrianB says:

17 years ago

I heard it’s more like an 8.9-inch screen with WiMAX support, which would just be fabulous.
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jun says:

17 years ago

what would be disruptive will be a 30-40GB version for roughly the same (or a little higher) cost. Then as time goes by, cost goes lower.

That would really change the game.
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Mindanao Bob says:

17 years ago

Yes, Asus has denied that there is a 10″ in the works.
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JuP says:

17 years ago

the 10 inch is just a speculation i believe…

where did you get this info?

i have an eeepc, and the most believable is therelease of the 8.9″ which will hopefully be announced next week by asus – but that has yet to be back up by credible proof, so everyone is waiting for next week’s announcement… if ever will it come..

the 8g that is currently available in the phils is still 7″
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Kevin Yapjoco says:

17 years ago

Obviously Fujitsu, Sony or any other laptop manufacturer couldn’t do this because there wasn’t a market for this type of product before the OLPC project came into the picture. Now that there is a market for these types of computers after the OLPC project, it makes sense to produce these kinds of computers. It’s a chicken and egg thing; large companies just simply thought that there wouldn’t be a demand.
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jennifer apolinar says:

17 years ago

like the features but don’t like the color
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Mindanao Bob says:

17 years ago

I’ve got an Asus Eee. I love it! The 7″ display is fine for me, I wouldn’t want to make the pc any larger to get a larger screen.
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John Lloy says:

17 years ago

and ang dami ng nag mo-mod ng laptop na to. saw one at gizmodo nilagyan nya ng 3G at touch-screen. ayus!
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acantos says:

17 years ago

I say no to that. I like the 7″.
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CallCenterVet says:

17 years ago

I’m actually pondering to buy a portable myself this year. $499 should be in the ballpark of my budget. Anything more could be turn-off.
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vance says:

17 years ago

Its being sold in Greenhilss for less than 20K.

One thing that most user will not like about it is the OS. It comes with a Linux distro so those people who don’t like linux they still need to wait for the MS based one.

Another thing is that it doesn’t comes with an optical drive (obviously with the Asus EEE’s size).
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