ASUS readying touchscreen Eee PC and laptops for 2009 Windows 7 launch?

With HP's touchscreen laptop looming on the horizon, out come the leaks of an ASUS touchscreen lappie scheduled for launch in the first half of 2009. Touchscreen Eee PCs too (finally, right?) if DigiTimes' sources at panel makers are correct (which they tend to be with regard to ASUS). According to the Taiwanese industry rag, ASUS will likely use either a 12.1-inch or 11.6-inch touchscreen panel developed by AU Optronics (AUO) or Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO). What's odd here is the claim by sources that the touch-panel notebooks "are expected to take advantage of Windows 7" and presumably the new Microsoft OS's multi-touch capabilities. Strange, since Windows 7 isn't officially expected until sometime in early 2010 -- a date looking more and more like a publicly padded goal to avoid the bashing Microsoft received for its Vista delays. The whispers certainly add a bit more credence to rumors of a 2009 release as expressed by Bill Gates himself, or more specifically June 3rd, 2009 as allegedly marked in the internal Microsoft calendar.

[Aronzak @ Oct 16th 2008 5:24AM]

Multi touch would be interesting but it is over rated. Would they finally make a decent Linux version available? I think not.

[rita hainsworth @ Oct 16th 2008 5:43AM]

My ass is multi touch.Big deal.

[CJ @ Oct 16th 2008 7:31AM]

You mean it gets bigger if you pull it?

[silverblackvoid @ Oct 16th 2008 12:11PM]

going by ur name and avatar i suppose it is.

[vigilante.killer @ Oct 16th 2008 6:07AM]

Who seriously thinks an eee pc of any description will have enough power to even load windows 7, let alone run it effectively?

Sure they might be planning that, but at most it will be forced to run XP Tablet Edition...

[konshuss @ Oct 16th 2008 9:24AM]

no need to be so toucheee

[ilh @ Oct 16th 2008 11:26AM]

eees can handle Vista fine...so why not?

[Ian @ Oct 16th 2008 6:14AM]

They're not going to be able to run Win 7 on a netbook using an Atom, are they? Even if it was dual-core and had a dedicated video card, or something like the Nvidia 9400M, it would struggle.

Besides, I don't want a screen that I can touch, especially a netbook. I'd break such a toy in 2 weeks.


Just get the fundamentals right, like fix the right Shift button, and cram a dual-core Atom in there in 8-12 months.

[Knives_Out @ Oct 16th 2008 8:15AM]

If Windows 7 runs on an EEE, it will say a lot about the OS. I'd be very impressed with W7 if it ran smoothly on netbooks.

[jakem @ Oct 16th 2008 8:52AM]

I agree. Microsoft have said that a lot of work is going into improving the performance of Windows but they've also said that Windows 7 will have the same system requirements as Vista. At the moment, netbooks don't really come close to matching those requirements. Hopefully a faster Windows 7 will converge with improved netbook hardware some time next year.

[kaamio @ Oct 16th 2008 11:17AM]

I'm sure your version of Windows 7 runs on a cloud somewhere in Ireland and you only run it virtually with the Irish in the hamster cage powering it. Hence no need for any true specs.

[Daniel Jones @ Oct 16th 2008 8:53AM]

Yes... But can it play Crysis?

[BigD145 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:09PM]

Simpsons did it!!

...and they did it cheaper. I'm betting the touchscreen has a 50% markup on the cost of the digitizer.

[Pretol @ Oct 16th 2008 1:12PM]

I like touching screens, regardless of whether they're touchscreen or not

[jb00gz @ Nov 12th 2008 11:49PM]

Im waiting until I can get an eee with a 8.9" touch screen capable of holding 4gb ddr2 and a 160gb hd bluetooth and a slightly faster processor. 11 and 12" sounds cool but I thought the reason behind it was to be small?
so in theory im waiting for the eee to mature.