8.9-inch Eee PC to launch early, without Intel's Atom?

It's just a rumor, though it's likely spot-on given DigiTimes' past success with its well placed ASUS source(s). Remember, they nailed the 9-inch touchscreen (rumor, announcement) as well as the 2nd generation ship date (rumor, announcement) among other notable successes. Apparently, ASUS is looking to get a jump on HP's new Mini-Note and that upcoming ultra-portable from Acer by launching its second generation 8.9-inch Eee PC early. As such, they'll have to forgo Intel's new Atom processor (shipping in June) and slap in an older-generation dual-core ULV instead. Sources claim that ASUS still plans to go Atom in "later versions of its Eee PCs." What's unclear is whether this would be an AsiaPac move only, or if ASUS' entire global rollout strategy has changed. We'll update you as soon as we know more.

[Matt @ Apr 8th 2008 5:21AM]

Broken linkage

[Wonderkid @ Apr 8th 2008 8:28AM]

The new HP machine is not as revolutionary as the EEE PC. HP machine is really a shrunk conventional laptop and lacks the style of Sony's tiny machines and the phenomenal value for money of the EEE PC. And where is the solid state drive - the key reason for the EEE PC's chuck it in the backpack reliability? And what is with the HP's glossy screen? (Annoying, I know, I have a MacBook.) I'm going to get either the current EEE PC or this new model if it's out soon. Way more innovative - and I'll stick to Linux. HP is for MS road warriors, sales people etc. Sure it will do fine too.

[earlycj5 @ Apr 8th 2008 2:37PM]

Did I miss something then?

Reading Notebook.com it says that the base HP comes with OpenSUSE and 4GB flash storage. So yeah, the shiny screen but otherwise?

[Matt @ Apr 8th 2008 5:37AM]

Hold up? Aren't these 'older dual-core' ULV's faster than the Atom?

It's a Win-Win!

[Blackster @ Apr 8th 2008 5:46AM]

well i wouldn't say win-win, because you trade the raw processor power for battery time!

[brickwood @ Apr 8th 2008 5:49AM]

http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/processors/c7-m_ulv/

VIA C7-M ULV Processor Range

Model Speed/FSB FSB TDP (Max)
775 1.5GHz 400MHz 7.5W
772 1.2GHz 400MHz 5W
770 1.0GHz 400MHz 5W
779 1.0GHz 400MHz 3.5W

doesnt seem like that much of a power drain.

[Blackster @ Apr 8th 2008 5:54AM]

@brickwood:
we're not talking about those crappy via-processors ;)

[brickwood @ Apr 8th 2008 5:59AM]

:| woops

[emailtabs @ Apr 8th 2008 6:59AM]

They can be slowed down considerably for mobile use. i have mine set to 1000 when plugged in, 720 when on the road and 500 when i need around four hours use.

google eeectl, or go to eeeuser.com,

[brickwood @ Apr 8th 2008 5:46AM]

Does AsiaPac mean Australia too? :D

Any thoughts on the pricing structure for the eee line after these come out?

[david @ Apr 8th 2008 6:27AM]

HP already lost by using VIA CPU, not Asus is thinking not to use Atom. Atom is one of things we have waited, do not dare to remove it.
MSI Wind PC and ECS G10IL still might be the winners. I am going to wait and see.

[somedude @ Apr 8th 2008 12:32PM]

its about time to market man. People want these mini laptops NOW as spring is starting, not in 3 months. Intel jerked arround too much and delayed the atom untill june. If anything i would blame intel for being slow, and praice asus for getting an 8.9" model now. Based on all the official releases i've been expecting them to release the 8.9" with a celeron processor, and then re-release with atom processors and all the extra color-options in june/july when they have enough atom's to ship.

Way to go Asus

[sockatume @ Apr 8th 2008 6:25AM]

I don't think the 8.9-inch Eee was ever going to launch with Atom. Like the in the context of their roadmap for the system in the coming year. The 900 series was always a VIA-based system.

[sockatume @ Apr 8th 2008 6:27AM]

Well, that was odd. What I thought I typed was "like the touchscreens, aesthetic redesign and WiMAX, Atom was only ever mentioned in the context of..."

[Nate @ Apr 8th 2008 10:36AM]

You're right that the 900 series was never going to launch with Atom, but you're wrong to assume that that means they will have Via processor.

Asus said from the start that the 900 will have the same Celeron processor as the current 701s. Not Via.

[sockatume @ Apr 8th 2008 11:48AM]

Whoops, my mistake, I thought they were on VIA CPUs already.

[broli @ Apr 8th 2008 7:22AM]

Nice, now we can bench it if the atom variant releases to spot a performance/battery life difference.

[DeKU @ Apr 8th 2008 7:21AM]

Not bad, the ULV core-duo processors would be a nice step up to the Eee PC.

Current (old) ULV core-duo chips are the Core Duo ULV U2400/U2500 chips which come in 1.06 GHz and 1.2 GHz with a nice 2 MB L2 cache.

Hell of a lot better than the single core 900 MHz (Celeron M ULV 353) underclocked chip with a 512 KB L2 cache.

Then again, who knows if thats true or if the core-duo chips will be underclocked too?

[iofthestorm @ Apr 8th 2008 8:57PM]

Yeah, personally I'd prefer a C2D to an Atom for the performance. I'm starting to waffle again, and I think now I'll just get a $600 regular laptop with enough horsepower for some basic gaming rather than an EeePC 900. Also, they always said they were launching with the same Celeron in the 701, they never said they would launch with Atom and in fact said that they would put Atom in after the initial launch since Atom is delayed. Also, performance-wise Atom is probably going to suck, although the battery life could make up for that.

[lui-g @ Apr 8th 2008 7:48AM]

In the UK, google shopping gives links to retailers that claim a 12GB XP or 20GB Linux for £305 inc VAT - available 'early May'

[Magenta @ Apr 8th 2008 9:01AM]

Hey, where is the DELL entry in the UMPC market?

Their silence / ignorance / lack of action in the fastest segment of the PC market is amazing...

What is going on?

[Hero @ Apr 8th 2008 9:18AM]

Good question. I'd take a Dell over Asus, Acer, Everex, HP, ... any day. I've had only good experiences with the handful of Dells I own.

[TIMMAH! @ Apr 8th 2008 6:02PM]

Where is Windows Mobile in the UMPC market? Seems like it'd be a natural extension from PDA to include a keyboard and a larger screen. (Key to this market segment seems to be price -- look at the failure of the Palm Folio for instance.)

[xeon @ Apr 8th 2008 9:15AM]

What processor will Acer's use? I've always been a fan of Asus but if they aren't going to delivery the goods, I'll check out other alternatives.

[journey4712 @ Apr 8th 2008 12:35PM]

Are you certain it would be cheaper? I'm not in the know, but under the impression that the 4G SSD in the current EEE PC is approximatly the same technology in those 1G USB thumb drives that most of us have a drawer full of, rather than the high speed stuff like the 64G SSD's have. If they are simply thumb-drives on crack then i imagine the flash memory is much cheaper than a spinning hard drive.

[phrank @ Apr 8th 2008 9:16AM]

I don't know about this one...But I'd REALLY like the Eee, and want one, bad, if they did one thing a little differently.

Have an old-school platter drive, with just like 40, or maybe even 80 gigs on it. And lower the price $50. Not that it's too expensive now, but the cheaper drive would let them do it, and make me want it even more. Solid state is cute and all, but I want a LITTLE more disk space than is affordable that way.

[Fletcher @ Apr 8th 2008 9:35AM]

All these pointless posts about a pointless pc are why i switched to gizmodo

[sinjinn @ Apr 8th 2008 9:36AM]

..but still find your self coming back here.

[Reader @ Apr 8th 2008 10:49AM]

By your sentence structure, I can tell you'll fit in quite well over there.

[sinjinn @ Apr 8th 2008 9:35AM]

i would wait for atom, 3 hour battery life is annoying.

[jason.wiese @ Apr 8th 2008 10:06AM]

They wouldn't use a core dup. they would use a core solo processor or celeron processor. Duo is too expensive.

[Hinhale @ Apr 8th 2008 9:56AM]

So, what would be a fair battery time guesstimate with the atom? I don't think I'll be able to hold out for much longer, and if it's less than 1h difference I'll take the plunge and get the ULV model. If not I'll have to research some means to put myself in hibernation till the official release date.

[Zach @ Apr 8th 2008 8:48PM]

supposedly atom is supposed to be sub 1w, but who the hell really knows. anyway the drain from the bigger screen and other new nonsense they put into it will be plenty, so i highly doubt we're going to notice a change until they start making everything more efficient as a whole, as apposed to dropped one thing by 3w only to raise another by 2 and another by .5 and another by.. you get the idea.

[jblock @ Apr 8th 2008 10:10AM]

As I am not a road warrior(yet), and am willing to brawl with anyone over that single wall plug at the local starbucks, 2.5 to 3 hours would suit me fine.

[Ninjakamster @ Apr 8th 2008 11:28AM]

Wait dual core processors? No, I swore that these would launch with the same 900mhz Celeron in the current EEEs. And they are still much better than the horrible Via processors, its true, don't flame me.

If they could get like the older Core Duo U2400 processors, that certainly would be nice.

Didn't I hear somewhere that the Atom processors aren't much better than the current 900mhz Celeron ones? I mean in performance, I think its mostly power consumption where the Atom shines.

[Zach @ Apr 8th 2008 8:49PM]

atom performance is roughly p3 equivalent unless i'm mistaken

[aalqadaffi @ Apr 8th 2008 12:48PM]

My birthday is April 17th. These need to be out by then.

[Podaman @ Apr 8th 2008 4:02PM]

me 2! *internet high five*

[TheseGuysRock @ Apr 8th 2008 8:24PM]

you guys rock

[Zach @ Apr 8th 2008 8:51PM]

my birthdays april 19th. and they won't be. they said around may which is really june. and if they really wanna push my buttons, july.

[didinskee! @ Apr 8th 2008 11:52PM]

darn it, mine's on the 15th! better find another excuse the wife will buy if this comes out later than april.

[dale_nx26 @ Apr 9th 2008 7:34PM]

I want my Palm Foleo! Seriously, why did that never get the chance to be successful but Asus and HP can???