ASUS Eee PC ships this month: $199, but not for you

Jonathan Tsang, ASUS president of Sales and Marketing, announced a, uh, announcement this morning. On October 16th, they'll announce the prices for their anticipated low-cost, ultra-portable laptop, the Eee PC. He did, however, offer some meat with that small potato: Best Buy and Newegg will carry unspecified configurations by the end of this month with prices not to be below $199. The $199 model? Sorry, it's only available for contract purchases.

[Juaquin @ Oct 12th 2007 1:55AM]

In other words, Best Buy is going to bundle it with a $10 mouse, slap some ugly sticker on it, and sell it for $299 (at least).

[william @ Oct 12th 2007 2:00AM]

i would like a contract to purchase one. but no this reallly does suck i dont think they know how much money they are losing out on.

[cmonkey @ Oct 12th 2007 2:33AM]

... They do know, which is why they aren't releasing it. I imagine the profit margin on the $199 model is so slim that they would lose money if they tried selling it through retail (remember, Best Buy would be paying Asus less than $199 if they were to offer it to consumers for $199).

Anyway, I imagine the lowest end model will be going for $250-$300, which is insanely low for an ultraportable.

[Montusama @ Oct 12th 2007 2:16AM]

I thought my comment went thru.... >_>
so since I have no idea what I typed

just in time for my bday from newegg ^_^

[Andrew H. @ Oct 12th 2007 2:29AM]

my heart was pounding so hard when i read the title... and then i was devastated when i got to the words "but not for you"

[qwert @ Oct 12th 2007 3:09AM]

iWant

300 would still be a good price, as long as the battery offers enough juice, and there is some kind of syncing solution with my bigger pcs and macs.

[caramelzappa @ Oct 12th 2007 3:34AM]

If there's a $250 model or less I'll pick it up, nice for watching movies/taking notes/playing doom and maybe some system shock 2

[Valgas @ Oct 12th 2007 3:35AM]

I have a feeling by the time we're going to be able to get our paws on these, all of those who were patiently waiting for this would have already purchased a low end subnotebook or taken the dive for a umpc.

[Cagrino @ Oct 12th 2007 5:22AM]

My sentiments, exactly.

[Kevin @ Oct 12th 2007 8:22AM]

yeah. but i'll still take the 350$ (depending on specs). i doubt any subnotebooks/umpcs will be less than 500$

[YCH @ Oct 12th 2007 7:01AM]

Asus' slogan: Asus Quality, Like a Rock.

Sounds familiar?
Asus thought eeePC will be a killer product. Only in their dreams.

Asus eeePC:
4 GB H.D / 512 MB RAM : USD399(Retail).
2 GB H.D / 256 MB RAM : USD299(retail).
2 GB H.D / 256 MB RAM : USD199(Contract/Government)

In Taiwan:
HP CeleronM(1.46GHz), 14" 80G H.D./1G RAM: USD581.
Elite CeleronM(1.8GHz), 14" 80G H.D./512M RAM: USD520.
Via UMPC XP Home LED backlight LCD, 30G HDD/768M RAM: USD735
....many many low end notebooks/UMPC's which are all better than eeePC.

What's the point of buying eeePC now? Why not just buy an HP or Elite and buy an SSD or wait for a cheaper and bigger SSD to come.

[David @ Oct 12th 2007 7:55AM]

HP CeleronM(1.46GHz), 14" > 5lb.
Elite CeleronM(1.8GHz), 14" > 5lb.
Via UMPC XP Home LED backlight LCD > USD 700 (in TAIWAN)

Eee< USD400
Eee< 2lb.

..........

[Spartacus @ Oct 12th 2007 7:50AM]

Would it be possible... to use this as a remote desktop for a media center PC, and in turn use the media center PC to control a home entertainment system? I'm seeing this wired into the table next to my couch. See I've tried media center remotes, and while some are decent universals they don't give me the option to use the mouse. I do have a gyration remote, which is nice (although starting to die 6 months later), but certainly doesn't have the options of some higher end harmony remotes. Some of which are more expensive than this will be. Since media center sits on my TV as extended desktop the things I want on my main screen, which I can't read from the couch, I have to run to the screen and keyboard for.

[Ziggit @ Oct 12th 2007 9:02AM]

YAY, I preordered one a while ago, and have been waiting anxiously waiting ever since.

[shamrock593 @ Oct 12th 2007 10:05AM]

Lies lies lies! *cries*

[Nick Waringa @ Oct 12th 2007 10:06AM]

This will bomb... look at the way laptops have dropped in price in the previous years. Couple that with UMPC's tanking it, and the ever expanding popularity of tablets. There is just too much competition. They should have kept that price down for the consumers, it was the main selling point.

[bachviet @ Oct 12th 2007 10:24AM]

This sucks if nothing is available at $250 or less at retail in the US. I plan to buy one (at $250 or less with at least 2GB + removable RAM) even though I just picked up a Nokia N800 at buy.com.

[Radar @ Oct 12th 2007 2:14PM]

I bought an N800 6 months ago and it has been great for my needs. I like that it's a fraction of the size and weight of my iBook. Everything I did on the iBook (except for watching movies) I now do on the N800 and haven't touched the iBook in months.

On the other hand, I hate the on-screen keyboard and some missing apps. The Eee PC with its keyboard and its OS might improve this, though at the cost of something that doesn't fit in the palm of my hand. We'll see when it comes out!

[JS @ Oct 12th 2007 10:35AM]

There's a wiki entry here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASUS_Eee_PC

Be sure to check out the criticism section in the entry.

I'm a mac guy but would love to have something this small for Midi sequencing or as a OBDII diagnostic tool.

[Alan Strangis @ Oct 12th 2007 10:35AM]

Depending on price/config options, it may still be a worthwhile purchase.

[Kiteless @ Oct 12th 2007 11:35AM]

Sweet. Newegg for the win!

[H. Larry Smith @ Oct 12th 2007 1:14PM]

Even at $300, this could be a steal. It provides ideal email access and general computing for many of us who arent gamers, and dont want the extra weight, bells and whistles.

ASUS alludes to a commercial inquiry or order for a million units already, and project yearly sales at over 4 million. If they make 50 bucks per unit, that is $200 million in cash flow..

[Lego @ Oct 12th 2007 5:28PM]

This Eee thing will surely force competitors to lower prices on the ultraportables or come up with similar models. As for me, I've given up waiting for this one and got myself a used IBM X40 on the ebay, which is about $100 more than the top of the line Eee model. It's 1 pound more weight than Eee, but way more productivity power.

[Gene @ Oct 13th 2007 1:47AM]

I have a quad core gaming desktop at my dorm so I am looking for a cheap small laptop that can surf the web, occasionally do some excel and word, and watch some xvid movies/tv when I am not at my dorm which from what I have read its more than capable of doing. The EEE PC is not meant to be a fully fledged laptop that will replace your current 2x-6x more expensive laptop. I think the EEE PC is great for what I am going to use it for. I am really glad to see that Newegg and BestBuy are going to be distributors.

[Velocity @ Oct 17th 2007 11:29AM]

That is just what I wanted to get it for, Gene. A notebook to take to class, sync it with my gaming pc in my dorm at night, take it back to class in the morning. I am disappointed in the price jump, but I can probably deal with it.

[Andrew Spence @ Oct 27th 2007 9:04PM]

Asus has come out with the usual corporate crap. First, the product is hyped at a major computer fair (Comdex, I believe), where sweet-tongued senior executives spun fairytale prices and features to beguile credulous journalists. Then after a year of foot-dragging, the firm finally releases the gadget at greatly bloated prices and much leaner specifications. All in all, this is a wonderful object lesson in how to turn a promising product into a miserable flop. Business school students take note.

[JBrown @ Oct 31st 2007 12:26AM]

HEY everyone, I've been hanging out at eeeuser.com following this little beauty.

A couple users uploaded pictures of the interface on the Eee and I built a little Online Test Drive for the Eee.

Check it out at: http://www.honeypothack.com/eee/internet.htm

-Josh

[Fugazi @ Nov 13th 2007 11:29PM]

I don't see what the big deal is, if the low-end model is going to sell for $299, why not spend a hundred more and get a "real" laptop with 10-20 times the storage, double the memory and wi-fi, I don't think the eee is any bargain, I wish Asus the best, but I think this is going to be a flop.

[cheese @ Jan 3rd 2008 1:07AM]

the eeepc has wifi.