EEE PC News - EEE PC 901 and 1000 / 1000H for Sale!

Asus presented the new ultra portable laptop EEE PC 901 at the Computex conference (Taipei) with the following features

• 1.6GHz Atom CPU
  
• 1GB memory
• 12GB or 20GB SDD hard disk
  
• 8.9-inch display
• Bluetooth and WLAN (802.11n)
  
• up to 3.2 to 7.8h battery
  life

The EEE PC 901 basis version should cost about $559.
At the same time Asus announced the launch of the subnotebook EEE PC 1000, main difference from the 901 seems to be a bigger display (10.2-inch) and hard disk 40GB / 80GB SDD.

I already pre-announced (some details about the new EEE PC 901)

EEE Journal Home Page

EEE PC News - EEE PC 901 (Atom based) for Sale

According to several sources, the EEE PC 901 will be launched on June 3rd. The ultra portable laptop will cost below $650 (NT $20000), however it isn't clear how much "below".
To be honest the biggest news that I was awaiting for was a cost reduction: the original idea behind EEE PC was to build a low cost ultra portable laptop , competing with the $100 shool PC initiatives. Now we got to $650 and a this price level the EEE PC 901 is competing with (much more powerful, not so portable though) entry level laptops. Furthermore Asus should watch out ultra portable competition: the MSI Wind is priced starting from $399 with comparable feature set...

Back to the original news, some features for the EEE PC 901

• Intel Atom CPU
• Bluetooth
• 8.9-inch display
  
• Cosmetic changes, making the look a little bit more "metallic"

EEE Journal Home Page

EEE PC News - EEE PC 901 with WiMAX!

Asus announced WiMAX support in several EEE PC ultra portable laptops, WMV25E1+, WMNV25E2+, WUSB25E2V2 and WEXP25E2V2.

WiMAX technology allows wireless connectivity everywhere.

EEE Journal Home Page

Bluetooth for Aspire One A150, Samsung NC10, Medion Akoya Mini E1210 netbooks

UPDATE: Netbook and Bluetooth - Integrated vs USB Dongle

Please go directly to the newest post, since the Bluetooth dongle suggested in this post may have major software problems!

You want to buy the netbook that best fits you (e.g. using the netbook features database),
you are close to buy a top class netbook/mini laptop, such as the Samsung NC10, the Acer Aspire A150 or the Medion Akoya Mini E1210 when you see that it is missing a Bluetooth interface. What to do? You really need Bluetooth in the netbook to synchronize the mobile phone calendar or just to listen to music!
My suggestion: Bluetooth support in the netbook shouldn't be a go/not go criteria, you can simply add Bluetooth support using a Bluetooth USB dongle, there are many starting just below $10 (USD) and some of them are so tiny that you even won't see it.
This micro USB Bluetooth adapter simply disappears in the USB port of your netbook, so you can plug it once and forget it. You won't notice it! No damage to break it!
The Samsung NC10 or the Acer Aspire A150 got 3 USB ports so you'll have "just" two USB ports left, however it is far enough for 99% of us!

(At the time of writing) Beside the mentioned one, many other netbooks aren't equipped with a Bluetooth port: the HP MiniNote 2133, Acer Aspire A110, Fukato Jupiter, Lenovo Ideapad S9/S10, Fujitsu Amilo Mini Ui3520, Gigabyte M912, EEE PC 700/701/900/901. So if you really like the netbook however you miss Bluetooth, just buy an USB dongle/adapter!

Important! Installing a Bluetooth USB dongle/adapter is matter of minutes with Windows XP, for a Linux netbook the installation is a bit more complex and you need a minimal linux experience, look here for instructions on EEE PC (mostly similar for other netbooks).

UPDATE: Netbook and Bluetooth - Integrated vs USB Dongle

Please go directly to the newest post, since the Bluetooth dongle suggested in this post may have major software problems!


Remember that using the EEE Journal Netbook database helps find your dream netbook, with or without Bluetooth and refining the search with many other paramenters (operating system, size, battery, etc...)
http://www.eeejournal.com/2008/12/netbook-feature-database.html

Acer Aspire One A150X, A150L or A110?

The Acer Aspire One is a big sale success, it is one of the best 8.9-inch class netbooks, well maybe even more, the Acer Aspire One is one of the best netbooks that you can currently buy. I like very much especially the keyboard: one of the best for the 8.9-inch netbooks. What I miss in the Aspire One is only Bluetooth.
I think that the main reason for the Aspire One success is(was) a price level much lower than similar featured Asus EEE PC 901
If you want to buy an Acer Aspire One netbook be aware of the fact that there are three models currently shipped, all three equipped with the Intel Atom processor N270 1.6GHz, wifi a/b/g, 3xUSB and a 0.3 megapixel webcam. Please note that, as mentioned above, the Aspire One doesn't include Bluetooth yet. If required you may use a compatible Bluetooth USB adaptor.

The main differences between the three models are Aspire One A110L, Linux Linpus distribution. 512MB DDR2 and 8-16GB SDD hard disk. 3 cells battery. Aspire One A150L, Linux Linpus distribution. 1GB DDR2 and 120GB hard 3-cells battery. Aspire One A150X, Windows XP, with 1GB DDR2 and 120GB hard disk with 3-cells batery or 160GB hard disk with 6-cells battery.

What about price?
You can buy the Aspire One A110L for about 300 US$/Euro (8GB SDD), for the Aspire One A150L you have to give out about 50 bucks more.
The Aspire One A150X is currently available online for about 350 US$/Euros (with 120GB hard disk and 3 cells battery) or 400 US$/Euros (with 160GB and 6 cells battery).

Which Acer Aspire One to buy? I prefer the Aspire One A150 models, however at the end of the daysl... it's up to you! First of all you should be clear on the operating system: are you ready for Linux? If the answer is yes and you just want to have a good netbook, to be used for casual surfing and email the Acer Aspire One A110L is already ok for you.
If you want to do something more than casual internet surfing and emails, you definetly have to think at one of the Aspire One A150 models. Again, if Linux doesn't scare you, grab the One A150L, otherwise the One A150X is the netbook for you!

Remember that the some One A150X ship with 6 cells battery, giving you about 4 hours of battery life vs 2 hours for the 3 cells battery (standard for all Linux models).

Other posts about Acer Aspire One

Netbook features database: find best netbook for you!

I've updated my netbook/mini-laptop/mini-notebook comparison table with many more models and details, it can be a great help to find the best netbook for you!
I called it "netbook database" with many details/features about the most important netbooks/mini laptops actually on sale and especially some filter criterias that can help you choose the right netbook to buy.

You can search by display size, operating system, bluetooth support and battery. In the next few days I'll add more and more search criteria and especially details about performance/benchmarks.
Among others, you can currently find

• Many EEE PC 701, 900, 901, 1000, 1000H, S101, N10
  
• Acer Aspire One models
  
• MSI Wind U90 and U100
• Samsung NC10

Display class any size 10-inch 9-inch 7-inch
Operating system Any Windows XP Linux Vista
Bluetooth support I don't care Yes No
High capacity battery I don't care Yes
Weight I don't care Up to 1000 gr Up to 1200 gr Up to 1400 gr
ExpressCard I don't care Yes
WLAN/WiFi I don't care High speed (draft n)

Link to the netbook/mini laptops database