ASUS veers back onto familiar trail with Eee PC 900HA

It's with palm planted firmly on forehead that we announce ASUS' Eee PC 900HA. For a brief moment in time, we actually thought that the outfit was finally realizing that the moniker needed a break, and considering just how fantastic the N10 performed without three vowels preceding it, can you really blame us? Nevertheless, the company seems to have strayed back into familiar territory with the 900HA, which is essentially a 900A with a hefty 160GB hard drive. Other specs include a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, Windows XP Home, a 4-cell battery, 802.11b/g WiFi and an 8.9-inch 1,024 x 600 display. Expect it to ship just in time for the 900XXLHA's introduction for $349.99.

[Via jkkmobile]

[konshuss @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:09AM]

350 bucks? finally a price that justifies these things existing.

[kojo87 @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:18AM]

for $350 this might just replace my 701. i spent $50 more for a smaller screen, 700MHz slower proc, half the RAM and 1/40 if the HDD capacity. i am displeased with myself

[Adderz @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:10AM]

*Yawn* Does any technologically minded person still actually buy Eee PC's?

I think by now we all know Asus has totally lost it.

I dont see how releasing so many models benefits the company, retailers are NOT going to stock every one.

[Ian @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:22AM]

Is trhis a way for not reducing the 901 range's price, so undercut it with a 900 mioniker and a HD and drop in a reduced batter just to annoy buyers?

[holycow @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:22AM]

All these models are confusing!

[sarcasme @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:23AM]

What next? the Eee PC 900HAHA ?

[LondonConsultant @ Oct 2nd 2008 12:24PM]

That must be the one with RAID 0 twin drives and a dual-core Atom.

[sockatume @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:23AM]

4-cell? Fission mailed!

[OneLove @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:36AM]

ASUS! why dont you just let the customers custom build their own EEE PC from all those parts? At this rate would it make a difference?

[Neoprimal @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:16PM]

Because they wouldn't make money that way. Packaging and selling it piece by piece would ultimately cost more than just selling 1 bajillion flavors directly to the public. As we've seen...people will buy just about anything - so all the different models will eventually sell. If they however sell a 'based' unit and then sell the parts, they risk losing those customers that are more interested in 'just having one' to other companies like acer, dell, hp, msi, etc.

Personally, I like this model. I was content with buying an Acer One (was just waiting to see what the dual core outfits would cost) but I may end up getting an Asus after all.

[konshuss @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:37AM]

at the very least prices appear to be coming down. even if a complete piece of trash is competitively priced (and marketed so it doesn't immediately appear like a piece of crap), the industry as a whole is forced to adapt. way to go asus!

[Tim B. @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:37AM]

I don't know... Despite the large number of current models (and this model's rather humorous suffix), I think this model is a good step for some people who were on the fence with the initial Eee's... You'd be more likely to see this particular model stocked at actual storefront locations, I'd say... I know my local Fry's didn't even start carrying ANY netbooks until the HP and Acer models came along, and their reason was specifically that they didn't think there would be enough market w/ the super-small SSD for your average user.

Hmmmmm.... Pre-bundle this with linux, and drop the price another $50, and I'm sooold!

[TimjDav86 @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:38AM]

You know...it would make more sense if you could just custom build the eee pc with all these options, instead of making a million different models.

[diode3diode @ Oct 2nd 2008 12:06PM]

But then how can you hog all those juicy atoms if you only have one model! Well, two considering there are 2 kind of screens.

[kj @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:43AM]

the best netbook deal that I've seen so far is the acer aspire 1 with 1.6 atam, 80 gig hd, 1 gig ram, and 6 cell battery at $419 CDN

the dell mini 9 comes in a little lower but only has a 4 cell battery.

[crazyfishmolester @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:52AM]

wow 400 aspire oe 120 gb hdd all same specs is what i was going for now i want this!!!!
now for some tuna...

[Chin-Poh @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:55AM]

But doesn't the $400 model of Aspire One's come with a 6 cell battery?

[Uchiha Sasuke @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:45AM]

Yes the $399.99 (more specific) version of the Aspire comes with 160GB HDD, 6 Cell, and 1 GB of memory expandable to a maximum 1.5 gb. I just got a black one from Macmall and so far its alright. Runs photoshop but cannot handle RAW image because of the limited resolution.

[Johan @ Oct 2nd 2008 10:54AM]

Yes, customization that is indeed a good way of bringing down the price of netbooks... And the porpose of netbooks are (according to me) a cheap computer that you can read mails on, write some documents etc. etc... Not to encode HD movies, play Crysis on or do other demanding tasks, that you can do on other computers...

[BigTeebo @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:11AM]

$349? I have the 700 4G model, and wouldn' t mind upgrading to this. I'm hitting the hard drive limits of mine and am too stupid to figure out how to get rid of the recover partition. I almost contemplated the Acer version due to the price & similar specs to this. Sold!(if I had funds available). I hope the display doesn't go wonky like mine intermittently did(screen turned all white, I'm convinced I somehow shook the display connector a bit loose). Now gimme the Xandros option, for I actually enjoy using that Linux distro.

[crycry @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:21AM]

Jokes aside, this is the one I've been waiting for. I liked the EEEPC best out of all the choices (small size, large multi-touch touchpad) but the size of the SSD wasn't cutting it. The 4 cell battery is the only downside.

[Superevil @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:27AM]

Just like a sore dick, you can't beat that price.

[telepheedian @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:28AM]

This seems similar to the 1000h, but in a 9-inch form factor, and less battery. Personally, I don't see anything wrong with offering options like these, they just need to clean up the options on the flash-based models, maybe have some direct ordering with options available, they mostly just need to rig up their distribution model.

[ssrat_ @ Oct 2nd 2008 11:42AM]

I have NO idea why they are offering a 4cell (unless they figure everyone is onto how bad the 3 is so they give you a free "upgrade")

As many options as they are selling right now the BEST thing for them to do is cut out the middle man and have their own online store where you can actually mix/match from all the different components they have.

I'll take the 10" 1.3, 160G XP HD keyboard #5 6cell 2G ram = $560 + tax, let's go with the 80G and Linux.. $450= SOLD

[diode3diode @ Oct 2nd 2008 12:18PM]

Wow, did they went back to the 700 body cause that thing is a beaut! Reason why I stayed out of the 1000-series thing is that it looks gimmicky and a little on the ugly.

Darn! Upon closer inspection it also seems like it has that flexing keyboard thing that the 700 had on the side of the space bar.

$350 cool. I'll be waiting in line at Bestbuy, or Newegg, whichever comes first!

[Andir3.0 @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:25PM]

At what point in the post do you decide to rewrite what you put originally after finding out the answer? I'm not poking fun, but there's definitely a break in the post from where you didn't know something to when you did. Any sensible person would have edited what they typed before to reflect upon their newly acquired knowledge and/or not even have posted at all now that their question was answered.

[diode3diode @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:57PM]

Derrr what's your gripe troll!
Your boyfriend break up with you or som'thin' you gotta pick on poor ol' me for my posting etiquette. And what's this about a break in posting? I'm pointing out that oh so wonderful shifting of the keyboard 'space bar' that all eee's have that makes them unique. I have always like the eee's but if I have to be grouped with people like you, I may as well think things over because you sir Troll are a very angry man.

[Jash Sayani @ Oct 2nd 2008 12:24PM]

What about the 901 with HSUPA....?

Waiting for a 1000H with HSUPA !!!

[Craig Tucker @ Oct 2nd 2008 12:25PM]

Netbook with S-Video? I know I'm in the minority here, but it would be nice to have a way to do composite output on a netbook. Most HD-TVs can already take the VGA (which is why I dont fret over lack of HDMI), but for standard def it would be nice if there was a convenient hookup.

[Ian @ Oct 2nd 2008 6:37PM]

I can't keep up with all these models. So the difference between the 901 and 900HAHA is.....??

[Rico-San @ Oct 3rd 2008 12:16AM]

Hmm, this is nice, but I think I'd rather go with an Acer Aspire One with the 6-cell battery for $50 more. Plus, the keyboard is a little bigger, which I prefer. My sister has an EeePC 901, and it's hard as hell to type on it.

[Doug @ Oct 6th 2008 11:06AM]

Too bad it looks like this has the inside of the 701/900 models, but the glossy finish. Still, this is what I was waiting for. I'll go this route as the Acer Aspire One has notorious Wireless issues that weren't fixed by the BIOS updates.

I see a new model at Target now too, that has the old skool 4GB Flash and Linux Distro for $299?

http://www.target.com/ASUS-Mini-Notebook-Computer-Linux/dp/B001E1J1R2/sr=1-18/qid=1223305512/ref=sr_1_18/602-5910705-7575050?ie=UTF8&index=target&rh=k%3Aeee&page=1