The 42-inch Eee PC TeeVee? Yes, and more

Just as we feared, Asus is getting ready to dilute their Eee branding until it's RAZRed down to a hint of its former panache. The new family of low-cost, Eee products will include the E-DT (desktop), E-TV, and E-Monitor. The $200 - $300 E-DT will initially sport a Celeron processor when it ships without a monitor sometime in April or May. The E-Monitor then, is more than that name would have you believe. It's a 19- to 21-inch all-in-one PC with built-in TV tuner and a remarkable $499 price tag. It'll be based on Intel's Shelton platform when the AIO launches in September. The 42-inch E-TV will also launch in September and feature a Linux PC integrated into the LCD. It's expected to list for a $200 premium over the low-cost 42-inch sets it will compete with. Just don't get too hung up on those prices, kid. The Eee PC was only supposed to cost $200 when it was announced.

Now for the bad news. ASUS will not be offering a touch-panel in their next generation Eee PC after all -- their market research shows limited demand. Not avid Engadget readers, are we ASUS?

[Ryan @ Jan 30th 2008 1:30AM]

I'm confused.. what will the E -TV sell for??

[emailtabs @ Jan 30th 2008 4:32AM]

Hmmm media centre built into your telly. tuner, games, internet, games etc.
hopefully it'll be like this ... "heres your system now just slot in hard drives here and here and your good to go."

[RichardBronosky @ Jan 30th 2008 9:31AM]

Asus EEE TV? The problem is DRM. I used to be a MythTV developer before HD. I tried to do the HD thing, but I just got tired of fighting the cable company. I had to decide "Do I want the freedom to do what I want with my TV or do I want to be a father to my newborn daughter?"

As soon as it becomes feasible to get all my media over the net, I'll come back. I think all efforts to market Media Centers will fail until the media companies stop treating their customers like criminals. It's easier to get HD off of bittorrent than it is to record it. My wife just doesn't like waiting a week me to find the time to download it.

When will the media companies notice this "Preacher's Kid" pattern they are in?

[OneLove @ Jan 30th 2008 10:20AM]

$399

[helloUser @ Jan 30th 2008 1:31AM]

Why do I sense so much distaste for the EEE pc in this article?

[AGG @ Jan 30th 2008 3:11AM]

Because this does everything most people need in a ultra-mobile notebook for £200 that the MacBook Air does for £1200.

[Mike @ Jan 30th 2008 8:55AM]

Got to agree with AGG.

As much as I like Apple. I have said before and I will say again. They are missing the boat here. The computer of old is splitting into separate devices and becoming a commodity. These $300-$400 dollar machines can do all of the computing that 80% of the market needs to do. Yet Apple still wants to charge $600 for a Mac Mini with too much processor and too little hard drive.

They also need to start really listening to what people want in an HTPC. The AppleTV still doesn't have PVR functionality. Steve, you may have more money then some small nations but the majority of us do not want to pay $2 for a show we can record off the air for free.

So as much as I love my MacBook I am seriously thinking of looking other places for my HTPC.

[mushyho @ Jan 30th 2008 1:39AM]

let me be first to say...

NOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo....i was looking forward to the touchscreen...i held off my purchase of the EEE because i heard they might come out with touchscreen EEE.........i guess..i should just get an EEE and mod it...?

[webon @ Jan 30th 2008 4:13AM]

second
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[bob @ Jan 31st 2008 8:00AM]

i actually sold an eeepc because itneeded a touch screen. navigation by trackpad ia a pain .

[shoeshine @ Jan 30th 2008 7:42AM]

It's a pretty easy hack to do.

[x20mar @ Jan 30th 2008 1:39AM]

I see there after some E-$$

[Bc @ Jan 30th 2008 1:50AM]

Sooo...this is just the new e-machines?

[mushyho @ Jan 30th 2008 1:52AM]

no chance of an Eee-Tablet? =D

[giantenemycrab @ Jan 30th 2008 1:55AM]

and the party's over.

[dvdivx @ Jan 30th 2008 2:08AM]

I don't want a touch screen either. Just add a 1.8" drive or Compact Flash as the HDD, dump the ghetto speakers and put in a 9" screen with 1024x600 resolution and that's it. Keep the windows tax off of it and offer it for $500 or so. Add working XP drivers for people who want it or for corporations.

[Julian Bond @ Jan 30th 2008 4:18AM]

eeePC II
- Keep the speakers, they're probably crap but they are actually useful
- 9" screen with 1024 width. 800 just isn't quite enough
- Add a 1.8" drive slot. Ideally a 2 platter drive if there's room. Offer two models with 30Gb or SSD then we can easily upgrade them with 80Gb or even 160Gb.
- Use a 1.3MP or even a 2.0MP camera. They're cheap now and 0.3Mp is a joke.
- And that's it. Don't change anything else. We can wait for processor upgrades in the eeePC III

[The_Steven @ Jan 30th 2008 2:12AM]

Wasn't there a hack to add a touch screen?
Well then if they won't add it, maybe I will (to mine)!

[John @ Jan 30th 2008 3:29AM]

They should focus on getting enough Eees out before even thinking about anything else.

I never used the touchscreen on my Lifebook, I never really even understood what it was there for. Just put in a bigger screen without enlarging the footprint, and I'm happy.

[v @ Jan 30th 2008 3:51AM]

Am I the only one that wants an Eee with a real keyboard for typing?

[elle @ Jan 30th 2008 5:36AM]

Yes. It's called a 12" laptop.

[nick gonzalez @ Jan 30th 2008 6:31AM]

Thats dumb ... a eee pc with a touch screen is only thing out of that list that I would have wanted. Where do they do these market research ?

[jim de james @ Jan 30th 2008 6:53AM]

asus i forgive you, just release a bigger screen version before the end of april!

[TZK @ Jan 30th 2008 7:20AM]

The only reason they are low cost, if because they are low performance. Expect more shit as the branding continues.

[Brian @ Jan 30th 2008 7:50AM]

Why do I get the feeling I could soon be using my EEEpc while watching my EEEtv, and sitting in my EEEchair, drinking from my EEEcup?

[Tim Brown @ Jan 30th 2008 9:40AM]

Makes you wonder how long before we see the who lot bundled under an EEEz brand?

[superfresh @ Jan 30th 2008 8:15AM]

Why the hate?

So ASUS is going to have an 'eee' class of affordably-priced items that spans their product lines. What do you care Engadget? How is that diluting the brand? They had bigger plans for the 'eee' moniker than you originally knew about. There's no reason to put a negative spin on it. Some of us are very happy with this news.

BTW, think of all the things Apple products should do if they were "avid readers" of Engadget. 3G comes to mind.

[tits @ Jan 30th 2008 8:30AM]

Touchscreen was a bad idea with that form factor... its not a tablet!

yep, 9inchs screen, better rez and voila! you got a winner! a lot of people I know are waiting a bigger screen update before buying it...

[Jayayess1190 @ Jan 30th 2008 3:33PM]

Don't forget the 45nm menlow processor and no fan!

[tits @ Jan 30th 2008 8:32AM]

here the eee spec against the Macbook Air!

http://www.fkkstudio.com/eeevsair.html

[Dave B @ Jan 30th 2008 11:34AM]

I'll take the width and height over thinness of the Air any day. The EEE has just about everything you need at the right price, too bad Apple dropped the ball. All they had to do was make a system this big with all the technology they put into the iPhone and iPod Touch. Alas. I still like my Macbook, but my old Powerbook 12" was a much better size, albeit still heavy.

[OneLove @ Jan 30th 2008 10:23AM]

their market research shows that they couldn't sell a touchscreen laptop on the cheap.

[anonymous @ Jan 30th 2008 10:24AM]

In this case, the market research can't be taken as baseline because since there is none available, not many have an interest or know what it is. Not many things other than remote controls and cellphones are touch screen so people are not familiar with their operation and see much benefit to using them. Once alot of everyday things have touch screens, the demand will be available for market researchers to base their reports upon.

[aoeu00 @ Jan 30th 2008 10:32AM]

42" Eee? From the picture, it would have about a 9" bezel? :P

[bachviet @ Jan 30th 2008 11:45AM]

Expect to add at least $150-$200 on that announced pricing whenever these EEE-products released.

[Superevil @ Jan 30th 2008 12:34PM]

I guess I found what my government check is going to. If they actually do come out with an iMac clone for under 600$ then they've got themselves a deal (as long as it comes with a disc drive). I could just see it being the perfect Ubuntu desktop that I've always wanted.

[Georgy McFly @ Jan 30th 2008 12:42PM]

3 fingered aliens with hands that resemble those of humans! /scared

[Alex @ Jan 30th 2008 1:06PM]

bummer about the touch screen. So I was thinking about getting an EEE, should I wait for the one with the larger 9" screen? How much more is the new one going to cost over the 4G, any ideas?

[ZeroCorpse @ Jan 30th 2008 5:48PM]

I'm getting so sick of the Apple bashing. This article doesn't even mention Apple, or any Mac product, but STILL people are coming into the thread to bitch about Apple and tell us how much they dislike them.

WE GET IT.

Why don't you guys go to an Apple-haters blog or something if you're so obsessed with telling everybody how much you dislike Apple? It's really wearing thin, here.

[fraew @ Jan 30th 2008 7:15PM]

Why would you want to change to a 1.8" drive? the no moving parts element is one of the big plusses on the unit; the screen size/resolution fix and processor upgrade are the only realy concerns; though if the price allows, 8gb storage would be nice...

[iofthestorm @ Feb 1st 2008 1:13AM]

Meh, I was holding out on an eeePC for the touchscreen version, but I think they might still change their mind, and there's a hack to do it anyway. I think I'll still wait to see if they make a bigger screen, even 9" would be awesome since the actual thing right now already has an 11" diagonal, there's plenty of space to put in a bigger screen while keeping the same form factor. I'd be willing to get a 9" or 10" eeePC for $500 with the 4GB SSD and 1GB RAM and then add a touchscreen myself, make it happen Asus!

[chromeronin @ Feb 4th 2008 5:59AM]

Once on the wired network, the linux based eee has all the power I need. From the terminal enter: ssh -X [ipaddress of my quad core linux desktop] [application name], and I can run nearly any app from my desktop PC just like it was local by tunneling X11 over a Secure Shell. VLC installed to stream movies from my network, and I'm done.
I'd definately go for touchscreen on the current size, or larger screen. But hey, you can jack in an external monitor.
I was looking at the smallest Sony VAIO until I saw the eee. Bye bye Sony

[Jason @ Feb 11th 2008 2:09PM]

The E-Monitor sounds like an iMac with extra TV tuner added in. At $499 I'd be very interested in an iMac-like PC. As for the E-TV, not sure if that'll work out with the intended buyers. When people shop for a 42 inch LCD set, they're usually looking for a TV for their home theater system, NOT a computer. To charge extra $200 for a feature they probably won't need for the living room? Hmm...