Leaked Eee PC roadmap shows 23 models, redefines brand dilution

Engadget Chinese received the slide image above showing ASUS' Eee PC roadmap. Go ahead count 'em up, we'll wait... Right, 23 Eee PCs before they're done, some of which we've already seen. The "extreme slim and light" S101 and S91 models, however, are new and tantalizing Eee PC "Ultimate" series additions and should compete nicely with the Dell E Slim. Really though, 23 models ASUS? Guess we shouldn't be surprised, after all, this is the same company that offers more than 50 models (not just configurations) of laptops.

Read -- Engadget Chinese
Read -- ASUS Notebook list

[[p_c_m_d] @ Jul 29th 2008 5:32AM]

look at the target consumers for the 'ultimate' list. I want to meet the guy who's job description is "Travel Explorer"

[neofolklore @ Jul 29th 2008 7:58AM]

these are the same laptops that come with a built in webcam with a mic right? yeah i definitely want.

about time someone leaked the roadmap, their new laptop articles are so annoying and convoluted. and for the headline picture sake, you can only take a picture of a laptop so many ways, it doesn't make it look any more appealing at a 45 degree angle

[Pochi @ Jul 29th 2008 10:01AM]

I am more interested in the features list for the top of the pyramid.

"Exquisite."

I hope all of the exquisiteness doesn't add too much to the price.

[DT @ Jul 29th 2008 5:36AM]

Not sure if I want to go for "exquisite", or "fancy touch". Hmmm....

[[p_c_m_d] @ Jul 29th 2008 5:43AM]

if you the extra munies i say spoil yourself, otherwise a fancy touch is fine too. they both got classy plastered all over them with defining features like being 'exteme slim and light!' and 'mature'

[Darkroom @ Jul 29th 2008 5:42AM]

it's always nice to see companies that aren't embarrassed to list target demographics as "Elite" on their slide presentations.

[Russ @ Jul 29th 2008 5:44AM]

i remember the engadget podcast ragging on palm for not having enough models.. i guess there's such thing as too much!

[Dave @ Jul 29th 2008 9:09AM]

That ended with Motorola after the RAZR, RAZRv3, RAZR with iTunes, RAZR 2...

[kal326 @ Jul 29th 2008 9:31AM]

Yep like Eee PC models and prison rape, you certainly can have to much of both of those.

[ncmach1 @ Jul 29th 2008 6:08AM]

Wonder if all these are going to kill the battery when they are turned off?

Come on Dell E.

[chef @ Jul 29th 2008 6:12AM]

Precise
Mature
+Fancy Touch
-----------------------
Happy Ending?

[L @ Jul 29th 2008 6:25AM]

Looking forward to the slim ones...

[chickenator @ Jul 29th 2008 6:27AM]

yummy, food pyramid!
i want my ice cream on top!

[Jakob Henner @ Jul 29th 2008 6:44AM]

Hehe Engadget is not good enough for theee Ultimateee Eee pc ;)

[LondonConsultant @ Jul 29th 2008 6:57AM]

This isn't brand dilution! These new models are all Eee netbooks (not desktops, TVs, or something unrelated to the original Eee product) and they're building the Eee brand. When Sony regularly releases many additional models of Bravia TVs, it doesn't dilute the Bravia brand. I say give Asus a break and only attack it for Eee brand dilution when it tries to slap Eee on products that aren't Eee netbooks...

[TrackSol @ Jul 29th 2008 8:56AM]

Sony's different Bravias are just different sizes. Each "family" every year shares the same engine.

Toshiba only has 4 models
1. Satellite(Pro)
2. Tecra
3. Qosimo
4. Protege)

Dell has 3
1. XPS
2. Studio
3. Latitude

HP really only has 2 lines or "brands", but their Pavilion lines has 13 models
1. HP Pavilion
2. Compac Presario

Sony has 9 models

But really, 26?

[LondonConsultant @ Jul 29th 2008 9:48AM]

> Sony's different Bravias are just different sizes.

No, the spec differences aren't just screen size! Note that, in just one Bravia announcement this year, Sony released 17 new models in 6 different lines.

> Toshiba only has 4 models
> 1. Satellite(Pro)
> 2. Tecra
> 3. Qosimo
> 4. Protege)

No, Toshiba has 4 different notebook lines - and each line contains several models!

*bangs head against wall*

[TrackSol @ Jul 29th 2008 4:34PM]

I stand corrected. I agree about EEE Pc toasters and crap though. That DEFINITELY is brand dilution.

[haylo @ Jul 29th 2008 7:14AM]

That's the lamest piece of PowerPoint I've seen in ages. Couldn't even be bothered to tab the bullets or resize the images consitently. The layout is all over the place and all the text seems to be bold.

On a more relevant note.... if you think Asus are diluted in the laptop area then check out their network stuff. The varients are mind boggling!

[Steffen Jobbs @ Jul 29th 2008 7:50AM]

Oh noes! Only 23 different models. Let's see....52 weeks in a year so Asus is going to fall woefully short of one Eee PC model a week. Waiting a whole week in between models is going to be unbearable. I'm still waiting for the model with a built-in coin holder and soft-drink dispenser.

Asus should sell millions of these wonders. There has to be a model to fit every type person in the U.S. None of that one-size fits all sort of crap.

[Corsair @ Jul 29th 2008 7:54AM]

oh no... not again...

So how many models of EEE Asus has announced till now? 1 million? 1 trillion? I mean JESUS.. this is ridiculus...

So dear Asus, how about a 5 model lineup... ? Why u must differentiate so much?


Hopeless... I am waiting for HP or DELL...

[Jakob Henner @ Jul 29th 2008 8:02AM]

It's funny you mention HP and Dell, who actually offers about 1 million configurations.

I agree it's ridiculus with Eee TV's, Eee Box'es, Eee food etc., but it's just awesome to be able to choose between alot of different specs and prices.

[Corsair @ Jul 29th 2008 8:16AM]

Lets see HP... how many configurations of Mininote do they have? It's actually 4 or 5.... and the best of them includes everything... They are not bombarding the market every other week with another crappy configuration.

Same as well for Dell... they did anounce their Mini series and its line up makes sense!

On the contrary, Asus has 900, 901, 900 with 16GB SSD, 901 with 30GB, 904 with big chassis and bezel, 1000h bla bla bla.... IT DOES NOT MAKES SENSE... it's simply insane...

[No1 @ Aug 2nd 2008 4:29PM]

Yes I can see that a 900 and a 900 with 16GB are a lot different than selecting ANY notebook and upping the drive from say 120gb to 160gb.

Please remember to multiply the number of EEE models by the colors they are offered in, and of course by the content on their drives as they are used by people.

[dcny @ Jul 29th 2008 8:18AM]

Asus was doing this to get into the consumer market plain and simple and now since there in time to gice the consumers everything.

How many different Pavilions do HP have, how many different Inspirons do Dell have.

EEE is going to be like to Asus like Pavilion to HP yall can't see that

[Nytrojen @ Jul 29th 2008 8:29AM]

It's examples like this that prove just how much Powerpoint has taken away from the world. It's all too easy to whip up a shit-tastic presentation slides with ugly fonts, colours and sugar-coated iStock photos. The only saving grace is that they didn't use Sans Serif.

Also - marketing is simply a degree in boloney, as evidenced by "Fancy Touch" and "Travel Explorer", seconded only by the wankiness of the idealogical dreams of fanciful industrial designers. "It's a beautiful concept, with strong ties to the roots of human emotions"... Actually, it's a ridiculous idea that is also hindered by the laws of physics, reality and sanity.

/rant over

[Jason @ Jul 29th 2008 1:15PM]

Hey man! I have a degree in marketing! Get it right for crying out loud; it's BA-loney! Sheesh.

[Adderz @ Jul 29th 2008 8:32AM]

They need to reduce it to 6 models, and have all the different configurations *behind the scenes* like Dell.

They need a 7" 8" and 10" models, each with either the Atom processor or C7 processor. Then all the other crap such as SSD or a HD etc can be hidden.

The way ASUS is doing it is not customer friendly, they have made it SO difficult to choose that customers are just going to give up.

[BloodyGerman @ Jul 29th 2008 8:41AM]

What is so bad about more comfigurations of eee PCs? We don't have to buy them. I welcome the many choices, and most of the different eeePC are just minor configurations with different size and type of mass storage.

Seems like Asus sees eeePC more like a new brand to sell of their laptops and consumer electronics. Maybe Asus branded laptops don't sell so well?

[Rory @ Aug 7th 2008 11:39PM]

"Asus sees eeePC"

Aaah! Too many 's's and 'e's!

[peestandingup @ Jul 29th 2008 8:50AM]

Asus is gonna crash & burn hard if they dont consolidate & focus. I mean, how big is the "Travel Explorer" market these days?? Gimmee a freakin' break.

[diode3diode @ Jul 29th 2008 4:27PM]

Compared to last year, it's growing again. There may be not much Americans traveling, but here in California I've seen more and more travelers from Australia, Europe and Asia taking advantage of the lower dollar to visit here.

[R @ Jul 29th 2008 8:55AM]

Obligatory Apple comment:

If this were Apple, you guys would be fapping furiously. Doesn't Apple have an equally large brand? Desktops, phones, laptops, mini-desktops, home media center stuff, personal media players, operating system, office suite, media editing suite. All of these are targeted at various consumer groups.

[Tim @ Jul 29th 2008 9:23AM]

but they only have macbook, macbook pro, and the air for laptops, with two sizes of the pro. I would actually be really happy to see more laptops; the graphics on my macbook suck but i dont need every feature of the pro. the issue with asus is naming everything eee. If they made an Asus small pc, thatd be fine. Apple doesnt slap the name air on their ipods, routers, etc. just because the air is the new sexy. minus the envy 133, of course.

[Ingersoll @ Jul 29th 2008 11:09AM]

No, Apple's brand is annoyingly meager. One consumer laptop, one pro laptop, one ultralight showtop.

On the desktop side, one Mini, one laptop in a box (imac) one hideously expensive pro machine, and no affordable consumer tower. I don't think Apple's entire product line is as big as Asus Eee laptop lineup.

[diode3diode @ Jul 29th 2008 4:39PM]

@R
Apple have their own store in order to showcase all their product.
Asus Eee doesn't. So they have to share shelf-space with other laptops. Having 23 (white or black) EeePc's on a BestBuy or CircuitCity store is just crazy, what would all the other laptops say!?! (o_0)

[zedz @ Jul 29th 2008 8:58AM]

What is wrong with this? A lot of these have already been released, and it shows in the future they are not releasing as many. Besides they are all just the same levels of 7" 9" 10" and ultimate with different configurations, just because they call each configuration a model doesn't mean your brain should explode.

Also travel explorer is not a job and fit my description last year perfectly, where I took a gap year and traveled.

Plus give them a break, English is not their first language.

[Dennis @ Jul 29th 2008 8:58AM]

basically their plan is to expand the eee brand and then eventually phase out the other asus lines.... then rename asus to eee without anyone realising

[bertross @ Jul 29th 2008 8:58AM]

"Back in my day, we only had one Eee PC... Those were good times...good times"

[andres @ Jul 29th 2008 10:43AM]

back in my day, we only had the EE PC, you kids with your extra e's

[WickedEast @ Jul 29th 2008 11:31AM]

And I thought Asus' laptops line-up was already confusing...

[傻瓜 @ Jul 29th 2008 1:26PM]

What I think is that Asus is just what to confuse the customer, try pushing out a new model each week to distract customer from other brands.
But I believe this method won't work, as customers know what they are doing (just try to put things together, but not doing the innovation), no one will come back. At least I am the one who has omitted all EeePC new models since the announcement of 1000 model.

[Anthony Lee @ Jul 29th 2008 1:27PM]

What I think is that Asus is just what to confuse the customer, try pushing out a new model each week to distract customer from other brands.
But I believe this method won't work, as customers know what they are doing (just try to put things together, but not doing the innovation), no one will come back. At least I am the one who has omitted all EeePC new models since the announcement of 1000 model.

[Ethan @ Jul 29th 2008 2:02PM]

Why don't they just rename themselves Eee.

[upgeog @ Jul 31st 2008 11:52AM]

No this is engadget hype stupidity, not ASUS' fault. I do not think they are aggressively marketing different models, they are just simply giving various configurations, and Engadget "writers" think it would be fun to wet their pantyliners for every configuration.

If Engadget had a blog post for every Dell configuration, Engadget will flip over.

[Casey @ Aug 31st 2008 5:56PM]

No, what they are pointing out is that Asus creates a different model number for each new configuration of the Eee. If you buy an Inspiron 530 and configure it to have a 500gb hard drive, Dell doesn't rename that version of the computer to the Inspirion 535 or something like that; you're still buying an Inspiron 530, just one with a few different components than the base model. Asus is complicating this by renaming their laptop based on if it has less ram or something like that. They could make the process of buying one of these a lot simpler if they had base configurations named 700. 900, 1000, Ultimate and let consumers change the parts without having to check out a completely different model of laptop.

[upgeog @ Jul 31st 2008 11:55AM]

No this is engadget hype stupidity, not ASUS' fault. I do not think they are aggressively marketing different models, they are just simply giving various configurations, and Engadget "writers" think it would be fun to wet their pantyliners for every configuration.

If Engadget had a blog post for every Dell configuration, Engadget will flip over.

[Jim @ Oct 8th 2008 11:31PM]

Yeah, why is Endgadget flipping. I'm looking at the Dell Mini 9 and it has no option for 2 Gb, no 6 cell battery, no HDD option. People want different configuration available, the model # is relevant only to anal retentive people who need to categorize everything.

If Asus has the laptop I want with the specs I want (that is Mac OS 'capable' out of the box + 6hours battery+1-2gb ram and 80 gb HDD or an SSD with more than 16Gb) then I couldn't care less if it's called 904HA or 'BS91 Travel observer' even if there was any misspelling. You guys buy too many Ipod. Life is not for the faint of heart. Flowers come in all sorts of colors, do you mind?