The Asus Eee PC T101MT hasn’t started shipping yet, but we’ve been seeing pre-release versions for the last few months. And the verdict has generally been that the computer feels a little sluggish and the touchscreen was a bit unresponsive. But it looks like the final production version of the netbook is much better.

Andrei Mihai at Netbook Live managed to snag some time with an Asus Eee PC T101MT convertible tablet style netbook — and his demo unit is basically the same as the ones that Asus will begin shipping son.

He says the production model has a much better touchscreen. You can use either a stylus or a fingertip to interact with the multitouch display. Handwriting recognition seems to work reasonably well, but you’ll notice that Andrei doesn’t place his palm on the display as he writes, so don’t expect a true “inking” experience.

The user interface seems a bit zippier and more responsive on the T101MT than on the 9 inch, Eee PC T91MT. That makes sense, since aside from having a larger, 10 inch display, the T101MT also has a faster, 1.66GHz Intel Atom Pine Trail CPU, while the T91MT is stuck with a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 processor.

You can check out Andrei’s video overview below. It’s worth pointing out that the YouTube video he tested in the review was a stop-motion film, so the video playback wasn’t actually that choppy. But while standard definition Flash video should be fine, I wouldn’t expect HD Flash video to play smoothly on this netbook.

via Engadget

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Credit: All Touch Tablet

The Asus Eee PC T101MT still isn’t shipping to customers yet. But the folks at All Touch Tablet got their hands on a review unit of the first 10 inch touchscreen tablet-style netbook from Asus. And they’ve posted a short review of the laptop.

Asus wisely decided to drop the sluggish Intel Atom Z520 processor used in its 9 inch Eee PC T91MT tablet. Instead the T101MT has a faster 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail CPU and GMA 3150 graphics. It also packs 2GB of RAM, a 320GB hard drive, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and Windows 7 Home Premium.

Review John Pope says the build quality is decent, with little flex in the keyboard and a solid hinge that doesn’t feel like it’s going to break off. On the down side, he says the hard drive is kind of noisy, and the touchscreen wasn’t very precise near the edge of the display — although this may be the result of a defective screen on the demo unit.

He says the computer also feels overall pretty sluggish — although it’s not clear if it’s actually any slower than any other Atom-powered netbook. Clearly, a more powerful processor will provide zippier performance. But there are few budget tablets available with Intel CULV or faster processors.

You can check out John’s unboxing and hands-on video after the break.

via SlashGear

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I totally missed this the other day when perusing the specs for the upcoming Asus Eee PC T101MT touchscreen tablet-style netbook, but aside from being the first 10 inch touchscreen model from Asus, the T101MT is also apparently the first netbook to come standard with an SDXC card slot.

What’s an SDXC card? It’s basically the next generation SD card. First there were SD/MMC cards, which could hold up to 4GB of data. Then we got SDHC cards which are the same physical size, but which can store up to 32GB. An SDXC card blows them both away, with a maximum capacity of 2TB.

I’m guessing it will be a little while before we actually see 2TB cards hit the streets. But if you want a partially future-proof flash storage card reader on your netbook, SDXC might be the way to go.

via nDevil and GadgetMix

The Asus Eee PC T101MT convertible touchscreen tablet-style netbook continues its slow crawl toward general availability. There’s an official product page for the tablet on the Asus web site, complete with pretty pictures and detailed specifications. And while there’s still no release date available for the US yet, French site Blogeee reports that the Eee PC T101MT will be available in France by April.

According to Asus, the notebook will be available with Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, or Home Premium. It has a 10.1 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display with a swivel that allows you to fold it down over the keyboard for use in slate mode. The T101MT comes standard with 3 USB ports, 1VGA port, mic and headphone jacks, and an SD card slot and 802.11b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1. It has a 35Whr battery that Asus says should last for up to 6.5 hours.

The Windows 7 Starter version of the netbook will come with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard drive, while the Windows 7 Home Premium model has 2GB of RAM and a 320GB hard drive. It looks like the notebook will be available in black or white.

via Eee PC.it

The first 10 inch netbook with a touchscreen display from Asus is inching closer to general availability. Asus first showed off a 10 inch tablet-style netbook with a display that could be folded down over the keyboard for use in slate mode at CES in January, 2009. Over the past year the company has spruced up the specs a bit, giving the netbook an Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor, 2GB of RAM, 320GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Home Premium. But you still can’t actually buy one yet.

Amazon’s German site, however, is taking pre-orders for the Eee PC T101MT for 499 Euros. That comes to about $687 US, although the price will likely be much closer to $500 by the time the laptop is available in the States.

It’s also worth pointing out that Amazon Germany claims the Eee PC T101MT has a 12.1 inch display, which I’m pretty certain is wrong, since the model I saw at CES last month was definitely a 10 inch tablet.

via Eee PC.de

Have you been waiting patiently for the past year and change for Asus to get around to releasing the 10 inch convertible netbook/tablet that it first introduced at CES 2009? Asus polished the Eee PC T101MT up a bit for CES 2010 by adding a new Intel Atom N450 processor, Windows 7, and a multitouch display. And the company put out a video this week to demonstrate the computer’s touchscreen user interface. But the T101MT still isn’t available for purchase.

Asus promises that the netbook should be available this year. But if you just can’t wait, it turns out there are other options. Most of them are either really expensive, such as the Gigabyte TouchNote T1028, which sells for $728 at Amazon, or cheap computers from Chinese companies you’ve never heard of. But if you’re wiling to take a risk, some of those Chinese 10 inch tablet-style netbooks are available in the US through companies that import products from China.

Here are a few models I came across today:

• 10.2″ netbook w/1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, 160GB hard drive, 1GBof RAM, 802.11b/g WiFi and 3 cell, 2 hour battery for $429.99 from ChinaGrabber
• 10.2″ netbook w/1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, 802.11b/g/ WiFi and 3 cell, 3 hour battery for $469.99 from ChinaGrabber
• 10.2″ netbook w/1.6GHz Atom N270 CPU, 1024 x 600 pixel touchscreen display, 802.11a/b/g WiFi, 1GB of RAM, 160GB hard drive, 3 cell, 2.7 hour battery for $365 from HightonTech

All three notebooks come with Windows XP or Linux, so if you’re holding out for Windows 7 you’ll need to install it yourself or wait for Asus or another PC maker to offer the 10 inch tablet of your dreams (hopefully with a higher capacity battery). You could also look at the Asus Eee PC T91MT, which has a 9 inch display, a smaller keyboard, and a slower processor.

I should also point out that while ChinaGrabber offers free shipping, HightonTech charges $69 to deliver a netbook to a US address.

The Asus Eee PC T101MT is a 10 inch tablet-style netbook with a touchscreen display that supports multitouch gestures. You can fold the screen down over the keyboard for use in tablet mode, or use the T101MT as a traditional laptop. The computer isn’t available for purchase yet, but Asus is expected to release the new model soon. And the company has posted a video on YouTube which shows some of the touch-friendly features of Windows 7 Home Premium as well as the custom software that Asus created for its touchscreen netbooks.

You can check out the video after the break. But in a nutshell, it looks like the Eee PC T101MT will come with the most of the same software that comes with the Asus Eee PC T91MT, the company’s existing 9 inch netbook.

The biggest differences between the two models is that the T91MT has a smaller screen and display and a slower processor. The Eee PC T101MT will pack a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor while the T91MT has a 1.33GHz Intel Atom Z520 CPU.

via Netbook News.de

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Asus plans to launch its 10 inch tablet-style netbook this year. No, really. Sure, the company first showed off the Eee PC T101 at CES last January. But the device has undergone a bit of minor surgery over the past year, and the new version actually looks pretty slick.

Under the hood, the Eee PC T101MT has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N450 Pine Trail processor, and it can run Windows 7 Starter or Home Premium. The Starter version will come with 1GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive, while the higher end model will pack a 320GB HDD and 2GB of RAM. You also get 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, and a 35Whr battery that Asus says is good for up to 6.5 hours of run time.

The touchscreen has been bumped up to a capacitative  multitouch display. It’s similar to the screen on the smaller Eee PC T91MT which is already available. But you know, bigger. But I think the two factors that really make the T101MT more attractive than the T91MT are the larger keyboard and the use of the Atom N450 CPU instead of the sluggish Atom Z520 found in the smaller model.

You know the drill by now. More photos after the break.

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