Liliputing news roundup

I go offline for a day or two, and look what happens? Here’s a brief roundup of news that broke while I was in the process of moving and getting my broadband connection up and running:Asus Eee PC News

  • Elantech, the maker of the Eee PC 901 touchpad have issued a software update that enables additional multi-touch features like task switching, rotating, scrolling, and zooming. Jkkmobile has more, plus a video which you can find below.
  • Jkkmobile also added an internal 3G card to his Eee PC 900. You can check out a ton of pictures and some video on his site.
  • But wait, there’s more. Jkkmobile also decided to slap a touchscreen display in his Eee PC 900. This isn’t jkkmobile’s first foray into touchscreen Eee PCs. He was also one of the first folks to add a touchscreen to an Eee PC 701. You can check out a video of the touchscreen Eee PC 900 below.

    PC Retail Magazine says it has received confirmation from Asus that the company will indeed be releasing a laptop bearing the Eee PC 904 moniker. The Eee PC 904 HD will be available in the UK within the next few weeks, and will be the same size as an Eee PC 1000, but while that means it will have a larger keyboard than the Eee PC 901, it will have the 901’s smaller 8.9 inch display (and a big bezel around the screen). The price hasn’t been set, but PC Retail Magazine reports it will be around £250, or about $500 US.

  • A whole slew of Eee Monitor photos leaked out this week. The Eee Monitor is basically an all-in-one PC that bears a vague resemblance to the Apple iMac. In other words, it basically packs all your usual PC components into a case that’s not much bigger than an LCD monitor. Oh yeah, and it includes an LCD monitor, plus 6 USB ports, a webcam, ethernet, and audio ports. Word on the street is that this puppy will start at around $500 and will run Linux or Windows XP.

MSI Wind News

  • While it should be a few more days before the Wind notebook lands in the US, it looks like the company has managed to push a handful of units out the door in Europe. Scan Computers in the UK had a few units in stock briefly. And reviews and hands-on videos are starting to pop up. [via Mobility Site]
  • The Medion Akoya Mini, which is basically identical to the MSI Wind in all but name is also on sale in Europe. And you can find unboxing photos and reviews for that as well. Sascha Pallenberg promises to post an English language video later today.

Acer Aspire One NewsIt looks like the Acer Aspire One will come in several flavors. Acer has announced a new 150 series to compliment the 110 series. The 150 will have a higher price tag and a larger hard drive. Oh yeah, and Acer appears to have bumped the price up a notch. According to the product pages at Netbooksbillinger.de, here’s a rundown of the prices and specs:

  • Acer Aspire One A110L – 329 EUR (or $522 US), 512MB RAM, 8GB SSD, Linux OS
  • Acer Aspire One A150L – 359 EUR (or $570 US), 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD, Linux OS
  • Acer Aspire One A150X – 399 EUR (or $633 US), 1GB RAM, 120GB HDD, Windows XP Home OS

It’s not clear yet whether those prices will be reflective of the US price. Acer had originally promised to release a $379 laptop, and generally computers do cost less in the US. But $140 less? We’ll just have to wait and see.[via Eee PC News.de]

Eee PC multi-touch:

Eee PC 900 with a touch screen display:

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008, 9:48 am by Brad Linder | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Some new members of the "Eee Family"

Leave it up to LAPTOP Magazine to pull out all the stops and help ASUS with its next line of Eee PC products. Ok, we don’t really want a lot of these gadgets to start appearing in the Eee family but the brilliant and beautiful folks over at Laptopmag.com came up with some pretty clever future Eee PC gear ideas. And let’s be honest ASUS has been taking the Eee brand farther than we thought with the Eee Stick, the Eee Box, the Eee Monitor and the Eee TV. So will we see an EeeCar? Or an EeeCrank? I guess we never know what ASUS will do next.

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008, 5:26 pm by Brad Linder | Tags: , , ,

First look at the Eee Monitor all-in-one PC

While Asus isn’t ready to show off its upcoming all-in-one PC just yet, the company did show a few tantalizing images of the “Eee Monitor” at Computex.

If you think the Eee Monitor looks an awful lot like an iMac, you’re not alone. But there’s one major difference: The Eee Monitor will have a starting price near $500, which is less than half the price of an iMac. Of course, Asus will only be able to achieve that relatively low price by packing the Eee Monitor with cheaper components, a slower processor, and possibly less RAM and storage.

The Eee Monitor is scheduled for a September release, and will come in 19 and 21 inch models. Some units may have a built-in TV tuner, although I’m guessing you’ll have to pay a few bucks extra for that feature. And if history tells us anything, we can probably expect the Eee Monitor to be available in Windows and Linux flavors.

[via Gizmodo]

Thursday, June 5th, 2008, 12:40 pm by Brad Linder | Tags: , , ,