ASUS offers UK Eee PC 900 owners £10 battery upgrade
By Darren Murph 
posted June 2nd 2008 9:54AM
posted June 2nd 2008 9:54AM
Unlike the sticky situation in Hong Kong (which was in fact resolved), ASUS was under no obligation to provide 5800mAh batteries to buyers in the UK. Officially, the outfit noted that it "offers different solutions in different markets," and although UKers have received 4400mAh batteries in their machines, they also get a lengthened two-year warranty. Nevertheless, the company is making the right moves once again by offering these very customers a couple of options; first, users can download a firmware update that will reportedly add around 30 minutes of life to their current cell. If that's not enough, owners can send in the 4400mAh pack along with £10 + VAT in exchange for a longer-lasting 5800mAh edition. Looks like a pretty fair deal from this side of the pond.[Thanks, JC]
Not bad (VAT is @ 17.5%, so thats £11.75, $26.07). At least they listen to customers, more than a lot of others do!
Erm . . . maybe I'm missing the point, but why have a downloadable firmware patch to increase battery life. Surely it would be better to have that installed in the first place at source or am I just being thick?
(It is Monday so bare with me). =)
The patch probably slows down the CPU and other components to use less power. I think most people would rather have more speed than longer battery life, which is probably why they don't include it in the factory model. But as its a Monday, and has been a shitty one at that, I am more than likely wrong.
That's a pretty nifty bios update,
apart from that is this really news?
.....yes?
ok well the whole £10 for better battery article was already up a few days ago, thats all i was saying
It appears ASUS has joined Sony in terms of organisations who think it's acceptable to treat British consumers like second rate customers and rip them off.
This [ASUS created] disaster can only be remedied by allowing cosumers to send ASUS the 4400mAh battery and for it to be swapped for the 5800mAh one - free of charge.
No. Asus promised a 4400mah battery. People bought the product, knowing that this battery was smaller than others. If they didn't think it was fair, they shouldn't buy it. Asus didn't screw anyone over, they have the right to make packages and set prices - if you don't like it, don't buy it. I think it's pretty generous to offer a reduced-price upgrade.
Odds that the firmware update just an underclock? I wonder how long an underclocked one lasts on 5800mAh pack.
Didn't anyone tell them a 10 pound battery is too heavy for a laptop?
ba. doom. ching.
Shutup... I've learnt how to use other currencies why can't you?
@Technex
someone missed the nuances of that pun...
He's still slagging off our currency. I like both dollars and pounds and use them both daily.
@Technex
You may like dollars and pounds, but you lack cents.
ah looks like my UK mates "can throw some shrimp on the Barbie!"
bonjour!
a pint of guiness for yee!
As I'm from the UK, I fail to see the relevance of Austrailian, French, and Irish comments, in relation to an article about batteries and firmware updates?
Shrimp on a barbie.
Are you having a laugh.
Big greasie burgers and sausages or franks
Disagree about the guiness.
And the australians will kill you for calling them british.
"Looks like a pretty fair deal from this side of the pond"
Well you aren't looking very hard then, you forget that over here we already pay so much more for the product in the first place, to then ask for a further £11.75 + postage for something which should have been there by default is a right kick in the teeth
You bought it knowing it had a 4400mah battery. What's the problem? If you wanted a bigger battery you should have waited or bought something else instead of bitching about your bad decision-making skills. You also got more warranty, so it's not like it's unfair. Asus made some trade-offs - don't like it, don't buy it.
I don't intend to buy it, I'm ranting against the principle.
I want it to be FREEEE.
but it isn't. where's my pixie dust?
What will be the price-drop?
Someone got news?
I don't understand why everybody is saying Asus failed here.
a) they never stated that the UK retail version was to be getting the larger battery initially
b) We got an extended warranty instead.
I think a 11.75 upgrade is pretty reasonable.
Rory Reid at CNET UK expresses my thoughts perfectly here:
http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49297180,00.htm
Problem is, the Eee manual in the UK is the same as everywhere else, so it says it would last "several hours" on battery. The battery it actually ships with scarcely hits 2 hours. That would mean that the product is not as described (
Stupid Engadget comment system. If you're not parsing HTML tags, that shouldn't mean you stop processing messages as soon as you see a less-than sign!
As I was saying, the English manual says that the Eee gets "several hours" on battery, while the UK battery can scarcely get to a plural two hours. By any reasonable interpretation, that means the machine isn't as described and could potentially have left retailers liable under the Sale of Goods Act. So the firmware update was absolutely necessary from a legal point of view, and not just a generous addition. If they revise the manuals, THEN they're no longer under any obligation to do anything about it.
a) If that's so, then I have to say fair enough. I don't see way products have to be 100% same the world over. It would be damn nice though!
b) Well John, you might want to know your law! Under the EU directive 99/44/EC all EU buyers automatically have a two year warranties on such things as electronics, since 2001 anyways. So it's not like ASUS were nice enough to do that, they're just following EU law!!!
They could really have handled this better. In the press release Asus claim that the smaller battery is the "the default standard battery pack for ASUS Eee PC 900 worldwide". This is what we in the scientific profession call a "lie".
Let's not forget you are already paying more for the damn thing in the UK anyway, then you get a **** battery, then they insult you with this offer which involves giving them more money. If it was anything to do with the warranty then the whole of europe would have the smaller battery.
Not that I care since I was never going to get one anyway.
Yes, and we ASUS Eee users know how well their patches and upgrades have gone so far....
That is, "If it ain't broke..." or risk a bricking or, at best, imaginary improvements whist eating up user memory.
I dunno about this whole 'return the original and get the battery that should have been included in the first place' thing. Granted, you're possibly getting a retail discount by returning the pack you've already paid for and paying £10 (or, as maty noted, VAT @ 17.5%, so thats £11.75, $26.07), but it doesn't play out well for ASUS.
They've been playing pretty fast and loose with the Eee from the beginning (the void warranty sticker on the original 4G's RAM door, model variations that seem to rely on the particular run at the factory, the warranty length itself) and this latest 'regional variations' excuse seems to be another attempt to distance themselves from responsibility and bad decisions.
Thankfully, I have an original release 4G 701 with a 5800mAh battery and 2 year warranty - and both came with the original price for the Eee. Granted, it was $200 more than they said it was going to be, but it arrived with the specs I was expecting.
What about 701 owners?
I bought a new 701 in the UK and got shafted with a 4400 mah battery. I registered my complaint with Asus but I doubt it has done any good. They (Asus) also talked about purchasers checking battery specifications before purchase, but it wasn't even listed on the box (much less the sales leaflet), and I paid a much higher price for it at PC World!
My battery doesn't last much more than an hour :-(.
So... the patch adds 30 minutes to the battery life? Wow, that's great - if everybody else was getting 2.5 hours before, we can now match them!
Except they've downloaded the miracle patch too and now get 3 hours out of their bigger batteries, which they didn't have to pay extra for, so we're right back where we started, shafted by ASUS and with an inferior product for no adequate reason. Whoopee.
Of course, we could always pay over £10 for the privilege of not being able to take our ultra-portable laptops away from any plug sockets for a couple of weeks instead.
just to put things straight to the world and america, the product was launched in the uk after many reviews that had used the larger battery,and as such we expected this to be the one we would recieve no where was a smaller one mentioned for the 900,in the handbook (i have a new 900, it states several hours use, i get at best a little over 1 hour using it to watch a film ,and abot 1hour 30 using it on the net with a dongle,this item is supposed to be a portable and as such falls very short of all the required legal descriptions in the uk,simply put its not suitable for the purpose it was sold and also its not as described, every one however who has one loves the machine and are reluctant to loose it its great , its simply a battery life issue,asus need to rectify this asap, the offer of ten pounds to change that you all seem to go on about hasnt been forthcomeing, so thats a nonstarter ,and the update simply turns down your cpuect ,so thats a wast of time ,again the machine isnt functioning as it should or is described , asus need to sort it out , i have been contacted as a complainant, on a user site by watchdog who seem to be very interested and will if asus dont move quick,publiclally shame them, so asus get your act together
I have today contacted ASUS following an e mail from ASUS support saying the UK process would start today 23rd. They say they have yet to agree the process with ASUS HQ. This issue needs to be sorted quickly or eee will be overtaken by DELL/Medion/MSI etc who will know where ASUS have failed. I managed 2.5 hours out of a new battery and after a week its down to 1.5 hours!
It states several hours.....your lucky to get one hour.....is that misleading or a con................or a sales ploy