ASUS' bigger, badder Eee PC 904 and 905 in the chute?

The price isn't the only thing swelling on ASUS' Eee PC. According to DigiTimes' proven ASUS sources, bigger Eee PC 904 and 905 models are cueing up for release. In a return to the Eee PC salad days of the big bezel, the new models will slot the same 8.9-inch display found in the 901 into a larger, Eee PC 1000-esque chassis with proportionally larger keyboard. Decisions about battery and storage have not yet been finalized although the new models would be priced similar to the 900 and 901 which they would ultimately replace.

[Chris @ Jun 30th 2008 4:24AM]

Utter stupid - Asus really need to look at the eee brand and make their mind up as to what this is going to be, is it going to be el cheapineee or just a list of products using last years tech with a rising price tag

[Tom @ Jun 30th 2008 4:49AM]

Totally agree. I have completely lost faith in Asus' vision for this product line. The 8.9 in he 7" formfactor is about perfect.

[Flashpoint @ Jun 30th 2008 7:37AM]

People on Engadget are funny.

When the EeePc came out with Linux, you had peopleliking the device but hating the operating system. Then you had the Macboys claiming how great Linux and Unix were despite it barely works with most peripherals.

Then they put out the Eee they should have had in the first place - Windows XP OS using the same configuration for $400 and people complained on Engadget about the hardware not being powerful enough.

Now they are upgrading the hardware and you complain it needs to stay cheap?

[Wwhat @ Jun 30th 2008 9:19AM]

The thing is that they now go from a cheap but doable sub-notebook (or large PMP if you will) to making it a lousy underperforming full priced full notebook it seems.

[fischju @ Jun 30th 2008 11:41AM]

Indeed - Best Buy has a sale this week on a 15.4" laptop for $400, and it beats the hell out of these uselessly large 'subnotebooks'

[ronka @ Jun 30th 2008 4:26AM]

I though the point of Eee is a compact stripped down, small size laptop with cheap price tag, but it looks like Asus Eee serie will hits 1000$ in the future

[Chris @ Jun 30th 2008 4:40AM]

Utter stupid - Asus really need to look at the eee brand and make
their mind up as to what this is going to be, is it going to be el
cheapineee or just a list of products using last years tech with a
rising price tag

[MastrCake @ Jun 30th 2008 5:03AM]

Contrary to what many Engadgeteers may believe, putting breaks between lines DOES NOT make you look smarter, especially when you say the exact same thing as you did two comments above.

The double comment thing may have been accidental... oh wait. There was a 16 minute break between the comments.

FAIL

[Wwhat @ Jun 30th 2008 9:22AM]

Perhaps he waited patiently with the page in a separate tab for engadget to register his post while he browsed elsewhere, and it never seem to do so he re-submitted.

[thebobness @ Jun 30th 2008 4:40AM]

damn it MSI get your butt in gear!

[Robert @ Jun 30th 2008 7:52AM]

amazon has the wind listed!

[Bob @ Jun 30th 2008 8:35AM]

Sweet! If you buy it and then drop it and break it, you can tell everyone you "broke wind."

[jet @ Jun 30th 2008 5:02AM]

Are they serious?

[drumstyk1 @ Jun 30th 2008 5:23AM]

"The price isn't the only thing swelling"

haha, so true when you're dealing with a site full of nerds!

[Richard Lai @ Jun 30th 2008 6:56AM]

My beer belly... :(

[Richard @ Jun 30th 2008 5:58AM]

I have played with the EEE PC 900/901/701 and one pet peeve I have is the keyboards pathetically sized shift key, The HP mininote has a far better keyboard layout without having to up the size.

[denilson @ Jun 30th 2008 8:13AM]

The reason why the mininote keyboard is bigger is because the case itself is wider than the 900/901/701s to fit a bigger keyboard in

[Leoedin @ Jun 30th 2008 6:22AM]

While I certainly don't particularly like apple, and I wouldn't even get close to considering myself a fanboy (I don't own any apple products for one), I have to say that the Apple one-laptop per screen size concept works remarkably well.

Asus should simplify. Offer 3 laptops, the 701, the 901 and the 1001 (or whatever). Sure, periodically update the specs, but keep the price about constant. People don't like to buy things when there is about 12 different models available.

They should offer each model with a number of different storage and RAM amounts, but it should always be consistent.

[w00t @ Jun 30th 2008 7:35AM]

I have to agree... so many product ranges are just so watered down and confusing, with models having silly names or even just model numbers to go by.

I think ASUS is risking overdoing it with the EEE line, too many models with too high a price tag takes away from the simplicity and affordability that made it so successful.

I'm personally really looking forward to the Acer Aspire One, ticks all the boxes in the 'netbook' category :)

It's cheap, small, good looking, no oversized bezel, 9" or so screen, choice of SSD or HDD, enough USBs and 2 SD ports. Oh, and no silly undersized keys that'd make a Dvorak layout impossible. :)

[Auras @ Jun 30th 2008 8:18AM]

"I have to say that the Apple one-laptop per screen size concept works remarkably well. "
You mean like the MacBook Pro with 15" and 17" screens?

[Umair @ Jun 30th 2008 12:15PM]

Notice he said one laptop per screen size, not on screen size per laptop.

[enovy @ Aug 4th 2008 8:30PM]

Speak for yourself. I happen to like having lots of choices. The more, the better.

[Ricardo @ Jun 30th 2008 7:01AM]

So, they are making it bigger but with a small screen? How stupid is that? The whole point of the Eee is being small.

[Flashpoint @ Jun 30th 2008 7:40AM]

You can say that again !

[Ian @ Jun 30th 2008 8:18AM]

All Asus is doing is offering a growing range of Eeepcs and the consumer will decide what's the sweet spot. I highly expect the size of the 901 and it's screen 8.9 inch scren to be that sweet spot. But there is nothing wrong with offering larger machines with more cpability, if they also sell. Different people want a machine for different purposes.
For me the 901 looks best, I do not need the full functionality of a larger laptop, I want the small form factor, decent price and excellent battery life and a machine that communicates well and handles basic tasks, while on the road.

[nVening @ Jun 30th 2008 8:33AM]

This is also probably targeted at the 8.9" wind which will be using the chassis of the 10", however the wind is targeted at developing nations iirc so maybe the same will be the case for this new eee?

[Lifehacker @ Jun 30th 2008 9:20AM]

Like Tom, I've lost faith in Asus' vision. The 901 (when it finally arrives) is what I want and have wanted for some time. If they add a touch screen, that is. It's basically a replacement for the perfect Psion Netbook (remember them?). Adding bigger badder versions is just pushing into cheapo laptop territory, which ground is already covered.

But remember guys, Asus is a motherboard company (they don't hire people to be clever or original or know marketing.) The fact that they came up with one good idea is to be praised, but that doesn't suddenly turn them into marketing geniuses. They don't have "vision" because that's not what their company does.

If they have a Marketing department at all, it's probably one or two rejects from competing companies which also had no clue how to market.

Remember, it's not how well the bear dances. Be impressed the bear can dance at all. I am.

[Wwhat @ Jun 30th 2008 9:28AM]

Motherboard company? isn't their main game monitors now?

[LondonConsultant @ Jun 30th 2008 9:28AM]

"Asustek is also considering whether to drop prices for the 900 and 901 to completely clear its inventory"

The 901 will be released in the UK this week, but a statement like that from Asus would obviously put me off buying one! Asus is losing the plot...

[Nix @ Jun 30th 2008 9:38AM]

What Asus need to do is this:

- 8.9" screen with a 1280x768 resolution with an anti-glare coating (but not reflection mad like the mini-note.
- Thin Bezel
- Touch Screen Optional
- Via Nano 1.8ghz CPU which will outperform the Atom
- 2GB Ram(3GB if they can)
- 40GB SSD/120GB SATA
- No Modem
- 10/100Lan
- 2-3 USB
- 1 Express Card
- Wifi
- 5Hour Battery Life
- VGA Out
- 1.3 - 2 Megapixel Webcam w/Mic
- Speakers above the keyboard not on the screen
- Windows XP/Linux (not vista)

10" is the maximum Asus should be doing, but if you ask me, they shouldnt go any bigger than a 8.9"

[Tom @ Jun 30th 2008 10:18AM]

Have you any idea how much a 40GB SSD costs? And an expresscard port? Where do you propose to fit that....

Sure sounds nice, but honestly, you're dreaming.

I have an Eee 701... never use it. Maybe I'd use the 901 more, maybe not. I actually sell these things at work. Everyone wants the black 901, with Linux as it has the bigger SSD in our market, and they grab an OEM XP Pro to run on it. Ends up the same price as the XP model with the 8GB SSD.

Asus are treating the Eee like Motorola exploited the V3.

[CosterMonger @ Jun 30th 2008 11:41AM]

@Tom

40GB SSDs will be chump change in a year

[ilh @ Jun 30th 2008 11:15AM]

I really don't get why people are complaining about Asus going in a different direction, losing focus, yada yada. Ever heard of different strokes for different folks?

Need the smallest or your needs aren't high, go 70x
Need a bit more, go 900/901
Need a bit more and a bigger keyboard, go 904/5
Need even more, go 1000x

That's it, essentially 4 categories for their line up, big wow. The higher enders might creep into the lower cost full laptop space on price but then you don't get the kind of portability the eees provide and they're a lot cheaper than subnotebooks.

How else can I put it:

Laptops - cheapish but big.
Subnotbook - expensive but small.
eees - cheapish and small but less powerful even with all these new models that hasn't changed.

[Lethardicus @ Jun 30th 2008 11:17AM]

@tom hey r u a retailer? where can i currently get a 901 linux?

[Arseny @ Jun 30th 2008 11:36AM]

I own an old Fujitsu with 10" touchscreen. The 7 inch Asus' keyboard is just too small for me as I can barely use the Fujitsu.

For some the 7" is perfect, for others 8.9 will be.

[futurepastnow @ Jun 30th 2008 1:34PM]

That makes sense, just to save manufacturing costs by moving them all to the same casing.

[karthur @ Jun 30th 2008 5:30PM]

It needs built-in HSDPA

[karthur @ Jun 30th 2008 5:35PM]

Also, they shouldn't be making these 10"+ netbooks at all. 8.9" in the 901 chassis is the sweet-spot. They've all lost the plot and they're all going to fail (wind, etc). There is no use for these 10"+ models. Why would someone buy one of these instead of a 12 or 13" HP or Dell? The Eee PC is supposed to be an ultra-portable netbook, and it should stay that way. Asus should be building around the 901 form-factor...make it thinner, make it lighter, but don't make it the same size as a normal laptop. Who do they have making these decisions anyway?

[redline135.forum @ Aug 1st 2008 11:23AM]

Have you seen the price of the 12 or 13" Dells(XPS)? Your looking at a $1000 minimum. Where the Eee 1000 is about $600 (Im guessing here). Now the Dell is more powerful but if what you need is a larger screen and a usable keyboard at a better price point then the Eee 1000 is a decent choice. As another poster said different choices for different people. I can't spend a grand on a laptop.. I need a good mobile machine that has a usable keyboard and a well enough screen. The Eee 1000 or the MIS Wind will cover that. I'm willing to even go for the Eee 904/905 Its a smaller screen but a larger keyboard. Now I do have an Eee 701 and I've used it so much the keys are starting to shine.. But I miss type a lot on that keyboard hence why I want to upgrade.

[James Young @ Aug 9th 2008 9:53AM]

the dell will pwn the eee pc 901. $300-400 for the same thing asus sells for $600