Asus' Eee PC 701 exposed in Russian review

Well, would you take a look at this. Turns out, 3DNews somehow managed to get their palms around (and within) Asus' Eee PC 701 for a hands-on review. Granted, a heap of the writeup was a bit hard to grasp without understanding Russian (or being a master in deciphering broken translations), but we were able to notice that their sample unit boasted a 900MHz ULV Intel Celeron M processor, 512MB of DDR2 RAM, a seven-inch 800 x 480 resolution display, Ethernet, a 56k modem, and 802.11b/g. Additionally, the wee machine was even put through a series of benchmarks, so if you're interested in digging through an early review (or just want to brush up on your Russian), head on over to the read link -- but for those just yearning for a few more pics, they're posted after the break.

[Roland @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:37PM]

Cute as usual for subnotebooks from ASUS...

[Brad @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:44PM]

WindowsXP ?

[Alan Erickson @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:48PM]

If I remember correctly they are supposed to be Linux.

[Wolfticket @ Sep 23rd 2007 2:13PM]

I think XP will run happily on it except for the display resolution. 800 pixels wide is just not enough for a modern, non-optimised desktop environment (try changing your desktop to 800-600). Maybe the built in linux distro allows for this, but Windows XP and most websites certainly don't.

[iofthestorm @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:41PM]

@wolfticket:
The OQO, a really annoying to use UMPC thing which you've probably heard of has an 800x480 screen. It works, but it sucks to use.

[frogger @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:48PM]

links down?

[imacmatt09 @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:53PM]

http://www.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.3dnews.ru%2Fmobile%2Fasus_eee_pc_701%2F&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

:)

[Rollins @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:51PM]

Things I noticed:

1) I wouldn't want to try to run XP on that. Not sure why, I just can't imagine that it would be a comfortable experience.

2) Battery life of about 150 minutes, if I was reading/interpreting the graph correctly. Not sure about what it was doing while running, but I think that's right around what people thought it would be.

3) Ooh, it's black.

4) Awkwardly not-flat bottom. Could be problematic for using it on one's lap, although I guess it presents a better angle for using it on a flat surface.

An official price and release date would be very nice to have. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. I'd like one, though.

[MV @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:22PM]

150 min under heaviest load (running benchmarks). And it is said "to last almost the whole day" under light load

[Akshat @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:11PM]

The Russian price seems to be $478 once converted from the stated 12000 Rubles. Fairly high isn't it?

[DeepKeeper @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:50PM]

Compare it with Dell's Inspirons (6400 for ex.) which costed about 500$ in US and are still avaible for about 1500$ in Russia with the same specs(=

[Cagrino @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:17PM]

The longer this is taking to come to market, the less appealing it is becoming to me. Two months ago I would have jumped on this; now, not so much.

[bob @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:35PM]

My thoughts exactly.

[ark_v2 @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:45PM]

Hype effect. Happens a lot with games ;)

[Zach @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:33PM]

It looks like it came out in 1998 and the specs match that idea. It's kind of like retro, but it's not old yet. What's the point of UMPCs? Do we really need one more gadget between phone and laptop? The specs are about 6 years obsolete.

[raul @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:51PM]

Umpc for $1000... I don't see much to it, but if it starts at $200 as rumored before I'd have it with me all the time, just like the cellphone. It still looks very appealing to me. I'd buy it with XP... although linux sounded better.

[arthur barnhouse @ Sep 23rd 2007 4:44PM]

It really depends on what you see the purpose of a laptop being. I own a desktop computer (iMac), and a 10.6" laptop (Averatec 1000). I see laptops as something to bridge my activites between using desktops. I need it to do internet, play some videos, do some typing and that's it. It should be thin and light. DVD Burner/Player is nice but not necessary. Due to this, a machine like the EEE PC, weighting less than 2 lbs, is really right up my alley.

However, if you see a laptop as a desktop replacement, then this is not at all the right sort of machine for you.

[Peppie @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:35PM]

In Soviet Russia, Asus' Eee PC 701 exposes you.

[adw333 @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:42PM]

their sample eeepc was equipped with celeron M 800mhz running at 579, and they couldn't change it. it's good to know russian :D

[adw333 @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:46PM]

oops. not 579mhz but 570mhz. sorry for mistake

[Homeboy @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:48PM]

Doesn't look that hot in that cheap black plastic, but as long as it's priced under 400 euro/dollars. I'll happily buy it.

[rudebo @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:53PM]

these are very usefull for a lot of professionals providing just enough computing power and presence

[Blackster @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:59PM]

looks like a thinkpad in the first picture. not bad ;)

[Jon @ Sep 23rd 2007 2:17PM]

It would be perfect for those old-school starcraft lan parties. Maybe even get some total annihilation going on it. The perfect old school gaming rig :P

[strider_mt2k @ Sep 23rd 2007 2:23PM]

I'd like to try one out, though the sub-1Ghz CPU worries me a little bit.
The rest of the pipes seem reasonably fast, so maybe it wouldn't do so bad running XP and some basic stuff.
I think I'd still like to see 1GB of ram in the thing if possible though.

Probably a cool piece.

[gtbarnes @ Sep 23rd 2007 2:28PM]

I got tired of waiting, so I bought an old Toshiba Portege 3110ct laptop with a 10.4" screen for $70 on eBay. It'll be here this week.

[Kirby @ Sep 23rd 2007 3:27PM]

So, you paid 70$ for a subclass 300mhz laptop w/ prolly a bad battery, which is currently going on ebay for 20$?.


If you waited till decemberish when this should be released, you could've gotten a much better deal, you just paid around 1/4th the price for a machine that's a POS. Hope you won't be using that to view youtube, or anything advanced...since it won't work.

Have fun w/ your 1997'ish laptop, I'll be Sporting an Asus EEE which can do twirls around yours :).

[Jon @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:19PM]

Hi Kirby. I bought a 12" ThinkPad X31 1.4Ghz for $350 used. With an almost new authentic battery too.

Have fun with your 2007 laptop with 1999 specs.

[Kirby @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:59PM]

Hey Jon,

I'm sorry..are you an idiot? If this technology was around in 1999, please show me links, sources...oh wait, you can't. Because it wasn't.

Let me give you a run down, flash memory..was..at best 32/64 and 128mb was it's highpoint. Ram for computers was 128/256. Windows XP wasn't around, and wouldn't be until 3 years later (2002). Theres alot more I can go upon the CPU and Chipset specs, but Obviously if you made a jest comment about being in 1999, you wouldn't understand those.

And as for that, I got my T40 for 200$, 1.5 Ghz P-m, 2 (one new)Extended Batteries, Intel 2200BG (Centrino), and a Warranty which has yet to expired ;)

[Err0r @ Sep 23rd 2007 3:10PM]

WHAT! Did I fall asleep and wake up in 1990s?

[Sam Winter @ Oct 10th 2007 7:52PM]

HAHAHAHA -- totally. What a piece of *** - IMO, Worse than a FOLEO!
My advice: Get a Kohjisha SH1 or Flybook V5
: http://www.dynamism.com/Notebooks/Subnotebooks/categorygroup.shtml

[NightMKoder @ Sep 23rd 2007 3:34PM]

Short translation of second paragraph:

But this summer rumors appeared on the internet that ASUS is readying a revolutionary laptop - costing about $200 it is not bigger than an A5 sheet of paper (almost letter), and weighs under 1 kilo (2.2lbs). Sadly these some of these rumors stayed as rumors. Like we wrote recently, this new laptop will be released to the Russian market very soon, but its cost will be much higher than the aforementioned $200.

Some features not mentioned:
Operating system: Linux based (that's all it says)
The display is widescreen.
HDD is a solid state 4GB.
Weight: 0.89 kg ~= 2 lbs
Dimensions: 225mm x 165mm x 21~35mm (8.8" x 6.4" x 0.8"-1.4")
For some reason there is no webcam on top of the display, there is just a stub.

"The display is small, but deserves nothing but praise. It has very wide viewing angles, rich color and contrast and is suitable to watch movies on the road - and not just by yourself."

"The speakers are nice, almost as good as that of any other laptop. But the volume is very low - even sitting next to the computer required the meter to be cranked all the way up."

"The whole thing is soldered together, you can't expand the RAM or the HDD."

...And at this point I get tired of reading. Sorry, but there is nothing else other than benchmarks (which are in english) and a thermal/noise review.

[Syke @ Sep 23rd 2007 3:48PM]

The 'point' of a UMPC? You can write on the screen. At least, that's the point to me and I love this particular device, not because I'm going to get one... but because I was LOOKING for one two years ago when I was in a pinch and needed a small portable notebook to easily write on. Not everyone needs a ton of bells and whistles, nor the FASTEST and greatest machine. Some of us, just want something that works at what we want it to do, which is more than those stupid handheld web browsers. I see no point in those.. ipods or cellphones (I don't like people being able to reach me on THEIR schedules.) What I wouldn't do for a cheap UMPC that people would stop attaching everything they can think of to and just let it be a nifty neat data pad like I grew up with on scifi shows. :D Heck, just one that runs Onenote and syncs to my desktop would be awesome.. the OneNote device!

[iofthestorm @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:47PM]

Hmm, at $200 I can't see this having a touchscreen though.

[Fruition @ Sep 23rd 2007 4:09PM]

What's that small, glowing rectangle on it? Some kind of illuminator for the keyboard?--Oh wait, it's the screen.

[Gonzalo @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:09PM]

5 words... WHEN DOES IT COMES OUT?

[Argot @ Sep 23rd 2007 9:34PM]

Yes, when? This is starting to feel like Medison all over... :(

[Benjamin @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:53PM]

The thing is once this comes out there will undoubtedly be something else like it 2 months after. Its the birth of the new POS PC line. A pc that does only what you want it to. A bit like a wii really. A wii is not powerful, it plays great games.

All a lot of people want is a PC with WIFI capable of viewing flash internet pages at full speed. Office would be nice also but open office would be enough.
Thats it, nothing more. Internet and office at the cheapest possible price.

My nephew is 3 and I would love to get him one of these, but there aint no way I am going to pay any serious money for a laptop as a gift.
They should have put VIA cpus in there instead though and made a completely fanless machine.

[Gonzalo @ Sep 23rd 2007 9:41PM]

I think it can be useful for people that doesn't want to carry their "full size" laptop (even if the point of a laptop, it's to be relatively portable)...but also it should be selled with some kind of protective case, cause this stuff doesn't look resistant enough to carry with some heavy books , in case of students(I'm quoting some guy, that was remarking this last issue)
Sorry the spelling

[Matt H. @ Sep 23rd 2007 10:41PM]

I like this! Good size and will do more than anything I need on it.
(currently still using a Toughbook cf-m33 266mhz Pentium MMX 96mb ram for all my mobile needs)

Check out ebay though, used Sony Picturebooks are going for nearly a grand still... broken ones for $400 haha!

When & where are these going to be sold?

[DarkAardvark @ Sep 23rd 2007 10:50PM]

why does it have a 56k modem? seriously, who uses that? just jack your neighbor's wifi signal, goodness

[Kal-El @ Sep 24th 2007 12:14AM]

In Soviet Russia, Asus Eee PC 701 exposes you.

[Ziggit @ Sep 24th 2007 12:38AM]

It is sooo taunting, I was expecting them to be released mid September, but I'm still waiting *sniffles* one of these days its going to come in.

[teac77 @ Sep 24th 2007 12:40AM]

Here's a page that's real, and better translated:
http://66.249.91.104/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&langpair=ru%7Cen&u=http://www.3dnews.ru/mobile/asus_eee_pc_701/&prev=/language_tools

[moondy @ Sep 24th 2007 8:08AM]

Just imagine that thing with Vista Basic

[Bahama.Llama @ Sep 27th 2007 6:54PM]

#1 wewt wewt

I'm hoping the 4GB 512MB isn't too pricey...

[panther @ Sep 28th 2007 8:44AM]

I see it az UMPC w/ average sized keyboard and LOW price. Most current UMPC products have 7" 800x640 and even smaller 4.5" on some Sonys. Running XP tablet edition will be fine I think, as a Win XP is common in UMPCs also. AllAsus.com states that memory is upgradeable, not soldered.
I think that it would be good idea to make the CD also expandable: say based on common CompactFlash modules. There are several such projects mentioned in the net. 2 internal CF connectors won't raise the price too much but will enhance upgrade possibilities greatly.

[Mark Newman @ Nov 16th 2007 11:05AM]

I just bought one loaded with XP. After a few hours I must say I am delighted. It has everything and everything works! It's perfect for 'on the go' as it's so small and light. Even the mains cord looks more like a phone charger and not a small black brick! Yes - the 4 Gig hard drive is a concern - but I've got cards, sticks and USB drives to cover that! The manual comes with some hints on how to optomize it for Windows (re-setting swap file, etc) and it's all in clear 'normal person' type English!

A couple of small points... some of the Windows dialog windows are too big for the screen. This means you need to use the 'tab' button to guess where the 'Done" or "Exit" button is. Usually - flipping to 800 x 600 for a minute takes care of that. I also had problems playing DXBall... and finally when I installed Dreamweaver (guess what I do for a living!) the registration page wouldn't show up until I changed the resolution again!

But these minuses are easy to deal with and now I have the perfect travelling companion!