ASUS' 9-inch Eee PC 900 hits the FCC with full teardown, gets multi-finger gesture support
Eee fans, your second-wildest dream has just come to pass. ASUS' next version of the mini-laptop has hit the FCC, and we've got the pictures to prove it. Yes, as we speak (possibly, but maybe not) inspectors from the agency are poring over details of the 9-inch, second generation system -- referred to here as the Eee 900 -- desperately hoping that none of its radio waves do anything funky to anyone else's radio waves. There's no secret-sauce WiMAX or drastic changes we can see, though the manual does make mention of "multi-finger gesture input," which will apparently provide the ability to zoom in, zoom out, and do familiar two-finger scrolling on the newly resized trackpad. Check the pictures in the gallery for loads of looks at the new entry, including a view of its insides that'll make your eyes water.























but will it play doom?
Speaking of Doom, watch what happens to your post-rank.
your mom will play doom
who are you?
ILL FEEL PRETTY..OH SO PRETTY..I FEEL PRETTY AND WITTY AND...
Course it does!. the real question is, does it ...........?
More like: will it blend?
Hahaa...look at this lengthy list of low-ranked comments = P
I think I'll contribute by saying something...fanboyish =D
Macbook Air ripoff!1!1 :O
Wow... This is the biggest load of fail I've ever seen on Engadget.
to= acerguy
Needless to say, you are a douche...
Aww maan! So skipping past the Doom posts, they were so funny before but not now!
Very nice~ what's this bigger screen gonna cost again?
"$600-ish"
I wonder if the 7" model will get cheaper
I hope so! That would be great, I'd also love the ability to buy it online from them and have them "customize" it a bit for consumers. For example you could change the amount of RAM, memory and get them to do a custom color.
@Skullgrl: "I'd also love the ability to buy it online from them and have them "customize" it a bit for consumers."
You can in Australia: http://www.asusnotebook.com.au/buy-notebook.php
I'm surprised you can't elsewhere.
where'd the speakers go?
It had better come with a better graphics card, because my friend has the (older) one and it sucks in that regard.
You expected a GOOD GRAPHICS CARD in the Eee PC? Be reasonable.
not everything revolves around playing games.
Did he just say not everything revolves around games.....Oh wait, It doesn't, Time to open the curtains.
The light it burrrrns!
Speakers = Bottom = Stupid Placement. MY EEE 701 has speakers in my face and thus sound really loud. Can't keep it at max sometimes. Good luck here.
JAmerican
LOL! Imagine a bit fat graphics card shoehorned in there? It would need water cooling the poor lil thing! Oh and Chebwa is a damn hot emo boy :P
what happend to the touch screen we heard a day ago, did it shrink and become the new touchpad?? I was in a good mood but like this ....
I don't understand something, why would you want a touchscreen on a sub-notebook with such a design? It seems you will have to suspend your hand, across the keybroad, to use it. That's uncomfortable to do for a couple of minutes, and it doesn't look like the screen turns around like other tablet notebooks either. Just doesn't make sense.
@ Peter R. you're totally right about the design, I implied that they some sort of turning and bending for their display, like the other Tablet PCs. I always wanted to have a cheap and small one of this sort, one to carry around to like everywhere instead of a real paper notebook. that would be great
no more useless plastic bezel! /cheer
now how's the battery life?
Any word if these will feature Atom processors, or if this is an upgraded VIA model? I'm all over a 9" Eee with an Atom processor, assuming it beats out the competition..
(Cloudbook, Netbook, MSI's competitor, etc.)
The 1st generation Eee didn't use a VIA CPU, it has a Intel Celeron-M.
Hmm, well Atom looks kind of nice but only for battery life, it's probably going to be about as strong as the current Celeron in terms of performance due to its in-order nature. But in that type of laptop, battery life is probably better than performance.
I got your finger gesture right here!
i finger gestured uormom
Without a rotating screen what is the point of touch?
This just needs 8GB and cellular support. At $300 would be every wifes computer(at-least mine) at $400 it would be OK at $500 what ever.
It also need a battery life of 8 hours. Why not make a .2 inch thick battery the size of the bottom?
It's not a touchscreen, just gestures on the trackpad
oooooooooooooooK
screw the multi-finger gesture support, "resized track pad" was the most exciting part of that post. Finally, just because the laptop is tiny doesn't mean the touch pad should be too!
What is the resolution of the new screen?
1024X800 I think was quoted
Last I read its the same as the 7" model.
how much does it weight??
What?, How?, Why?, Where?, When and Who? ... Check engadget first.
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/26/official-asus-8-9-inch-eee-pc-will-include-touchscreen-possibl/
I can has gallery? (It's not working)
wahoosifer
What's with the "Bluetooth" speech bubble in the gallery? Engadget joke or FCC documentation?
it's bluetooth alright: on the documentation
Did the microphone on anyone else's Eee pc 8g die?
Multi-finger gesture input?
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Go back to digg
Awesome, looking at the images of the Eee900 internals, it appears that Asus have been kind to leave a little space inside the case for the modding community.
Btw where are the speakers?
Speakers are on the bottom.
It's a little worrying that they've gone back to clunky power bricks. Hopefully the "Not for sale" label means that this isn't what will be shipped.
A multigesture touchpad sounds much more likely and useful than a touchscreen laptop (which probably would've sucked considering the price)
My HP laptop needs replacing (darkened screen, dead pixels, and broken hinge), but I needed something inexpensive. This seems like it could run Ps and my 3-D programs good enough.
That increased power requirement and power brick aren't very Eee. I'm beginning to think I'm glad I have the 4G 701 Eee.
Will the delivery of the Eee PC 900 be delayed by the previously reported LG battery factory fire?
This is what the macbook air should have been
... But then we'd have nothing to make fun of.
Apple making a sensible, low-priced, super low-end ultraportable? pssssh.
(That being said, I own a regular macbook and an eee, do find myself using the macbook less and less, and do wish Apple had made a lighter / smaller screen laptop that I could afford. The eee actually fits in coach-class airline seats even when the person in front of me has reclined all the way back , and doesn't require me elbowing the person next to me to type.)
Galaxy Black please.
ggg
ggg
ggg
ggg
oo oo ggg oo
gkkgkkgggggkkg
gkkgkkkkgggggg
gkkgkkkkkggggg
gggggggkkkkkkk
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No one has mentioned the fact that you can see the spot for the 1.8" hard drive, and that the bottom of the case has a removeable panel to access both the hard drive and the single SO-DIMM slot.
This jives with reports that the flash memory on the new model will not be soldered onto the M/B but will be an SSD and that spinning disk drives will be available as well.
The CPU in that FCC does not look like the pictures of silverthorne/diamondville I've seen, at least the cpu die looks to large to me. Diamonville is supposed to run on the 945 platform, and if the socket is pin compatible with core duo CPUs, you could possibly ditch the atom and put in a ULV core duo.
test
watch Asus get sued by apple, unless apple is licensing the tech to asus or apple does not have the patent on multi-touch touchpad
Apple has some patents pending for the specific gestures used on their multi-touch systems but not multi-touch itself AFAIK.
Mutli-touch itself is not something that can be patented, like the touchscreen or trackpad itself (AFAIK, I could be wrong)
Apple only have a patent on their specific gestures, although they did try to patent the term "multi-touch", i don't think they were successful
...And now im not so sure about buying that new m1330
Rory,
You're comparing an M1330 to an EEE PC?
I need a very portable computer, so up untill i heard about the new asus model the m1330 (while quite a bit higher on the food chain) was my weapon of choice. Now however, the new ee seems like it might suffice. Not saying they're in the same league, the ee is just finally up to my "worth buying" standards
Where's the 'Read' link? Can has source material?
test
Tell me that they're not reverting to a power "brick"?!! I'm definately going to get a 900, but I was totally looking forward to a cell-phone style power adapter.
DO NOT press or touch the display panel.
Do not place together with small items that may scratch or enter the Eee PC.
so no touch screen? so much for those confirmed stories.
Battery safety warning:
DO NOT throw the battery in fire.
DO NOT short circuit the contacts.
DO NOT disassemble the battery.
Do not taunt happy fun ball.
This is great. Will probably buy this one...
(BTW, Engadget, the Apple "anti-Vista" two banner ad is a bit much. I thought you all said that would never happen again? Well, I guess you ultra-super-fanboyism can't be bottled up inside.)
they dont decide the ads
I realize that. I'm just saying that, last time, they called it an experimental ad. Because they had to remove it, I would call it a failed experiment. There is absolutely no excuse for running the same ad (or a very similar one) again when the first one entered EPIC FAIL mode.
This just makes my Mac mini a POS.
Let's give it a hearty single-finger gesture and send it on it's way. What fruity company did they steal the multi-touch trackpad idea from? Sorry, that's multi-finger gesture trackpad. My bad.
Yeah, cos NOTHING had multitouch before apple...
Yeah, cos NOTHING had multitouch before apple...
I'll just go straight to buying stock instead.
Sweet, I'm gonna get this for some sweet Crysis binge!
Sorry, but even with a 9" screen, the proposed $600 price takes the 900 well beyond the 'sweet spot' the original 4G created for the eeePC - and into territory that's being staked out by he much more spec'd out HP UMPC, recently announced.
The charm of the 4G is that a brand new computer user, a 'regular' user or a Linux geek can actually all find valid reasons for getting one - and at a price that is less than most PDA/smartphones and which practically made the device disposable.
Crank up the price and the rationale for getting one fades.
I just wanna add that in the bottom left corner of the poweradaptor (above the bar-code) it says: "For office use only", or "Only use with office-machine" word by word in Swedish. (Endast för kontorsmaskin)
Thought it might be interesting to someone.
And I agree, that if the Eee would be $200 as they said from the beginning, I would have bought one as soon as theyve hit the shelves (witch is in a month or two here in Sweden). Heck, Ill buy two.
According to eeeuser.com: "Shen also indicates that the Eee PC 900’s price may be $499 for US users. Not bad!"
They are referring to an article published on: http://blog.laptopmag.com/eee-pc-to-get-intels-diamondville-hard-drives-and-fashion-forward-style
Oh baby! That thing is sexy but geez 600$. I understand why I just wish it wasn't that much money. I would love an EEEpc, I have a hard time working with my 15.4" laptop. My teeny fingers and easily distracted-ness makes having a large screen hard to use.
can't wait
Nice.
This laptop will only get better.
I am a joint Mac/PC user but this little machine is a great intro to PCs for younger kids and people who need them.
does anyone know any sites that have this in stock, plz, im desperate!
Most likely the photos where submitted to the FCC by ASUS or someone they contracted to do so, as a part of the Part 15 certification process. There may be other interesting information at the FCC where these photos are found. using the FCC ID on a FRS radio I found the owners manual, schematic and photos of the interior at the FCC web pages. The FCC seems to be pretty loose about Part 15 certification, rely mostly on data provided by the manufacturer, not testing done by the FCC. Unless there is an interference problem the FCC pretty much stays in the background. Except for Riley Hollingsworth :) Though I understand he retired.
2 finger zooming...
... So... it's a fugly macbook that can't even run Mac OS?
At least it's cheap and small, eh?
Greg wrote: "... So... it's a fugly macbook that can't even run Mac OS?"
Uhh, does an Eee PC's inability to run Mac OS say more about its spec or the disgusting amounts of memory and processor that modern Mac OSs eat?
I'm a Mac-head of old, did my first programming back on a Mac Plus, when the OS was slim, elegant trap-dispatched ROM joy. 7MHz Macs used to leave 50MHz PCs eating their dust on common application loads because they were thoughtfully designed. This is no longer the case.
Asus is no Apple, but they've done a better job learning from the success of the early Mac teams than the modern Apple crew. OS and factory apps UnionFS'd from a Read-Only partition on a solid-state drive sounds a lot like putting QuickDraw and the rest of the Macness on the ROM with a trap table that you can over-patch with software updates. It's fast and there's a known working base state that a non-techie user would be hard-pressed to destroy.
And "fugly"? Man, for your comparison, I give you the 1986 Mac Plus: http://members.aol.com/kaizensepg/macs/macplus1986.jpg
Do those bevelled edges on the ASUS look familiar? I don't expect this is an accident, but a deliberate tip of the hat. Call it retro, even a rip-off, but not fugly. The Steves and their mates would have made an EEE PC in 1986 if they could have, and made it look just like this, not some poncey blade-thin piece of corporate chrome.
So, when I get my Linux-loaded 9-inch ASUS Eee PC brick, I'm going to hack up a WM that does a decent replica of the old B&W Mac Desktop circa 1988, with no colourised swooping cross-fading hourglassing unneccessary hollywood special effects and then spend the rest of my happy time with a computer that loads in 8 seconds flat and has 750 times more *free* RAM than my first machine had in total.
And best of all, no MacTennis! (for those who remember what it was like to run everything with one 512k disk drive and no HD)