Atom-based Eee PC 901 pops June 3rd with Bluetooth for $650

June's shaping up to be a pretty special month 'round here. In addition to whatever Apple's got up its sleeve and all the new gear set to announce at Computex, Asus will be launching its Atom-based Eee PC 901 just like we heard. June 3rd is the date for "a price below" $650. We assume that means $649.99. DigiTimes' reliable market channel sources claim the 8.9-inch 901 will also feature Bluetooth for the first time (you know, without a hack) while the rest of the tech specs remain the same. That's $250 more than the 10-inch, Atom-based, MSI Wind running Linux and launching on the same day. Oh ASUS, what have you done?

Update: To be fair, it could be that the $650 Eee PC 901 model runs XP and the Linux-based Eee PC 901 will sell for (a lot) less -- the XP-flavor of the MSI Wind costs between $500 and $549.

[Joe_Templeman @ May 16th 2008 6:36AM]

OUCH! $650 just for the atom upgrade.

They have gone waaaaay of track from their orignial $200 ultraportable


I was looking forward to the eee 901, but their forcing me to go with the MSI wind. *MUCH* better value...

[Johnny5 @ May 16th 2008 10:29AM]

If I told you, even a year ago, that you could get a ultraportable notebook for under $700 that has a 1.6Ghz/1 GB/20GB SSHD/9" screen and bluetooth, wireless, etc, you'd have been very excited. Maybe the deal isnt quite as sweet, but this computer is still a bargain.

[giantenemycrab @ May 16th 2008 1:00PM]

I think Asus has lost sight of what made the Eee so great. Price was a major factor. At $650, you might as well save a little more and get a real laptop.

[Gorgula @ May 16th 2008 1:43PM]

what ever happened to the $6-$8 atom processor that would change the world? http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/30/atom-processor-to-cost-intel-just-6-to-8/
Asus has lost it.

[Tom Oliveri @ May 17th 2008 2:22PM]

and isnt the VIA faster anyways??

lotta doh for a sticker

intel is poop

[maveric101 @ May 17th 2008 10:46PM]

honestly though, there isn't much point in the 901 or the wind. you can get a dell inspiron for $500 (battery's not as good but its faster and has higher res screen). these things are starting to overlap with the low-end laptop market.

[amanda @ Jun 4th 2008 7:08PM]

I have found so many mix reviews on the msi so i was looking forward to the asus eee, I can't find any pricing, I canno't even find where it is for sell at. I have been to their web sight and all across the web. I thought it was being released on the 3rd??????
Besides the price tag, what are the main difference between the two. I need a new notebook for school.

[commanderkeen @ May 16th 2008 6:38AM]

throw in the firewire too and i'm sold

[Intrepid @ May 16th 2008 7:09AM]

Lol. Not happening. Firewire isn't used by enough people... Why would you need it on a machine like this?

[CosterMonger @ May 16th 2008 10:24AM]

MacBook Air doesn't have firewire.
Kind of gives you an impression where thing are heading.
then again the MacBook Air doesn't have much of anything.

[Luthyr @ May 16th 2008 10:43AM]

I would love to have firewire on a very small laptop so that I can capture video directly to an external firewire hard drive when I am on location. This can be done since firewire supports daisy chaining of devices from one port.

I've found that firewire drives typically perform better than USB drives, even though USB has a higher theoretical transfer rate. Though there are hard drive camcorders, they tend to use more compression than tape-based camcorders and end up with lesser quality video. Special purpose "firewire direct to hard drive" devices are expensive and don't serve the multiple purposes that a computer does.

[CosterMonger @ May 16th 2008 11:08AM]

@Luthyr

I have found that ESATA drives out perform both, and I'd prefer an ESATA port over a firewire port anyday.

[vdogg89 @ May 16th 2008 5:54PM]

uhm firewire is used by tons of people. ever heard of video capturing?

[Bobby D @ May 17th 2008 11:36PM]

Video capture on an Eee? I could be wrong, but that is not at all what these machines are designed for. They are designed for a little casual web browsing and word processing. These are not 1.6ghz core 2 duo chips. They are designed for ultraportables and are not all that powerful (and I wouldn't be surprised if they charge $650 for the base atom and more for the 1.6ghz). Get a macbook pro and be done with it

[Jon @ May 16th 2008 6:40AM]

Could ASUS turn out to be the Apple of the ultra portable generation? Apple started off marketing Macs as affordable $999 computers for casual users in the days when you could easily pay $3000 for another type of computer, but as we all know these days Apple is known for having a premium on price riding on the back of its brand name.

I hope they know what they're doing, because it certainly wasn't plain sailing for Apple to this point. They almost died in the 90s as a result of jacking their prices with too little product differentiation.

[Joshua Ochs @ May 16th 2008 9:46AM]

That has to be the most fanciful and inaccurate thing I've read this week. The Mac retailed for $2495 when it was released, which was a major drop from the $9,995 the Lisa went for. Apple didn't release a $999 Mac until six years later with the Classic - and that was the 1MB floppy-only configuration, which might as well have been an SE from 1987.

Asus has been adding features (and therefore price) because that's what people are buying. You're always free to buy a competitor, or buy an older/cheaper Eee.

As for the MSI Wind, I don't quite get it. As far as I can tell it's quite a bit larger, doesn't use SSD - what is there to differentiate it from budget laptops? The Eee is at least tiny and light as all hell, with no moving parts.

And finally for those that *are* interested, pick your Eee up at Costco - they have a no-questions-asked 90-day return policy - they'll even refund shipping. So you can buy one now and wait to see how things shake out next month, take a look at Atom benchmarks, etc.

[CosterMonger @ May 16th 2008 11:13AM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Inc.
don't drink the Kool-Aid John.

[B.C. @ May 22nd 2008 8:33AM]

Why beat up on apple about their prices? They make products and people buy them. I don't get why people get worked up over this.

[SneAKz @ May 16th 2008 6:41AM]

I give up. How did we go from $199 announced last summer to $650 now. B e real ASUS.

[Neoprimal @ May 16th 2008 8:46AM]

Well demand reared it's big ugly head. They've realized that people are going for small and expensive, so they're testing the waters with small, a bit faster and expensive.

I've always said the little sh&ts were too expensive for what you get anyway....especially when you can get a $400 15" albeit with a celly proc. that can do more (as in store more and at least burn dvds and cds, maybe even webcam equippred) from retailers.

But size and weight and the low power consumption IS pretty appealing. It felt as if it could be something that always travels with me - like a cell phone and my wallet, unlike my 17" laptop that's awesome for travel or being out, but not as a daily companion.

At $650 I'll def. be swaying toward the Wind, if ever I decide to buy one of these things anyway.

[Teazo @ May 16th 2008 6:45AM]

I stopped paying attention to the EEE as a viable totebook when it hit the $500 mark, heck $400 was a tad too much for what you get on the old 7 incher. I just got a nokia e61i smartphone for $250, does the job pretty well for the ultra portable computing I crave.

[Rynth @ May 16th 2008 7:54AM]

I have one of those as a company phone, I must say , its like holding a housebrick to your ear.

I've also received comments on it like "Oh, I like your nokia patio slab"

etc..

[nDee @ May 17th 2008 4:40AM]

Neither would BB look much better.
For E61i that doesn't look like your slippers try E51, virtually the same but no qwerty

[Homeboy @ May 16th 2008 6:44AM]

650 dollars, is that what you want from us Asus?

Fail.

[dale_nx26 @ May 16th 2008 6:46AM]

Asus is has now joined the darkside: corporate greed. Hopefully, MSI won't become so and maintain the relative low price point of the Wind. Shame on Asus.

[Rollins @ May 16th 2008 11:54AM]

At least they still offer the 7 inch models.

[Kris @ Jun 11th 2008 12:25PM]

You have no clue the quality of the components or how much it costs it make but because you don’t like the price it is automatically corporate greed. That is pretty pathetic.

One of the major reasons the MSI Wind is able to be sold for less is because it uses a standard drive, not a solid state drive. Personally I want a solid state drive but I think the wind looks like a solid machine.

[Tiger-of-sky @ May 16th 2008 6:50AM]

650$?!?!?

better the msi wind...

[Macindows @ May 16th 2008 7:59AM]

Great, Asus you just made my decision to buy the MSI Wind! Thank you!

[blackfeathers @ May 16th 2008 6:53AM]

i agree there doesn't seem to be any reason for the increase in price if the incremental addition does not add anything more that what your typical modding has done already.

we need to know more about the specs and a solid review. and again, if there's nothing substantially more to add that your typical mod can't do, then the price blows.

[more-umpc @ May 16th 2008 7:03AM]

This thing looks cheap should have stuck with the other design. I'll take the MSI wind for $399

[Blackster @ May 16th 2008 6:56AM]

why fair?
that lowend xp licence costs 25$ ;)

the msi wind still looks better from the datasheets sofar

[fish @ May 16th 2008 7:01AM]

An atom and bluetooth doesn't add up to $150, even if it turns out to have a touchscreen it's still too much. No thanks Asus.

[YoYoYo @ May 16th 2008 7:10AM]

Especially without one positive benchmark in the Atom's favor. I'll stick with what's known/not cancel my PC900 preorder.

[Hellios @ May 16th 2008 7:04AM]

Why am I not surprised the price is increased even further. But then again, this was bound to happen, seeing how the Atom is in such demand.

[d00b @ May 16th 2008 7:09AM]

Re: Asus trying to be Apple - The problem with this is that Apple's ace is both its software's ease-of-use and its hardware's perceived quality. Asus has neither. Its main claim in this market is as a first-mover, but in tech, that advantage is a fleeting one.

The Eee doesn't have good build quality. Both the MSI Wind & the HP Mini-Note surpass it in looks as well as functionality, not to mention any additional entrants (Dell, Apple, et al). I think Asus' marketing manager deserves to be fired for grossly misreading the market, and laying an egg on the pricing.

[peestandingup @ May 17th 2008 1:04AM]

"Apple's ace is both its software's ease-of-use and its hardware's perceived quality."

Perceived?? Apple pretty much tops customer satisfaction & reliability reports every year. Lenovo & HP are the two others.

[false @ May 17th 2008 10:09PM]

Man, I couldn't agree anymore; Amen to that

[Solarix @ May 16th 2008 7:10AM]

I just received my EeePC 900 on tuesday, and I am really glad I did not wait for Atom at that price point

[Abbie Gonzalez @ May 16th 2008 7:41AM]

Oh my! Asus is trying to make a profit. Shame on them!
We should boycott them.
I am tired of companies like Apple trying to cover their development cost and make a profit. After all, if I had their resources, I could build a better one for the same price as this rip off.

[Cal @ May 16th 2008 8:01AM]

It's not that people are angry with them for wanting profit, they're angry because they misled us into thinking we would be seeing Eees at a given pricepoint, and now the prices are skyrocketing...

[Andrew @ May 16th 2008 9:03AM]

Asus should apologize for breaking budget on R&D and delivering a better product, then charging more! What GREED!

Personally I LOVE my EEE 701 (with hacked BT, 2GB ram, internal 16GB thumbdrive, etc), and I was looking at the 901, but now with this news, I think I'll grab one of these with the atom. Hopefully it has a touchscreen too. I'll admit, I'm an AMD fanboi to the bone, but I must say that the underclocked celery stick processor in my 701 still does what I need. Crap, I just broke fanboi rules by not immediately dismissing any competing product as overpriced weak junk...

Still, here's to hoping for touchscreen and a lower price point.

The ironic part is I find myself hating crapple for the very same reasons I am starting to like Asus... Oh well...

[Abbie Gonzalez @ May 16th 2008 11:43PM]

umm... I was being sarcastic. :D

[Raheem @ May 16th 2008 7:31AM]

This is absolutely ridiculous.

[KyleK @ May 16th 2008 7:36AM]

Damn you, Asus! Why do you make these more and more expensive?!
I'm in conflict now: The MSI Wind is cheaper and has better value, BUT it has a normal HDD, whereas the Eee comes with SSD. Decisions, decisions...

[coffee @ May 16th 2008 10:47AM]

If you can really get by with 4gb-8gb, go with the EEE. If you need some decent storage, get the Wind.

I'll take the storage and the 6oz added weight of the spinning drive. When the prices come down on SSD drives, I can always swap it out.

[bot @ May 16th 2008 12:21PM]

After hearing the price on that Atom EEE I am having the same dilemna. I'm really done with HDDs in laptops and worrying about bad sectors all the time. But also the EEE is lighter than the Wind. Gah, MSI was so close but EEE still has the upperhand in my book. I'll wait for the reviews to come out to see if it's actually worth the price difference.

[KyleK @ May 16th 2008 12:41PM]

The Eee 900 and 901 come with 12 or 20GB SSDs, which would be enough for my needs. I'd also prefer a non-mechanical, silent and not as power-consuming storage that SSD provides.

Regarding design, the ECS G10IL is my absolute favorite. Unfortunately there's no news whatsoever about it.

[Ameen @ May 16th 2008 7:36AM]

MSI Wind is gonna hit a home run thanks to the Eee PC stupid pricing.. Heck! full sized laptops cost around $650.. Asus must be kidding us with this pricing stucture!

[Cal @ May 16th 2008 7:59AM]

Oh yay, so at least £400 here I guess...