Eee PC turns one year old, slides under the $300 barrier to celebrate

You wouldn't know it by the vast array of spin-offs and iterations, but the Eee PC has only just now turned one year old and, whether by coincidence or design, it's also now finally dropped under the ever-elusive $300 mark. That doesn't come in the form of that rumored new sub-$300 model, however, but rather an existing Eee PC 900A that's now available from Best Buy for $299.99. Not that we're complaining, as this particular model packs an 8.9-inch display compared to the 7-incher on the 701SDX spotted yesterday, along with a 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB or RAM, a 4GB SSD, and Linux pre-installed. Now, about that $200 Eee PC.

Read - jkOnTheRun, "Asus breaks sub-$300 price barrier with Eee PC 900A at Best Buy"
Read - Laptop, "Happy Birthday Eee PC!"

[iEye @ Oct 16th 2008 8:04PM]

4GB ssd no camera model?

keep sliding.

[KeegdnaB @ Oct 16th 2008 8:09PM]

Cheap and simple.....how 'bout more like this one

[Vinnie @ Oct 16th 2008 8:16PM]

Did anyone even use the camera anyways?

[iEye @ Oct 16th 2008 8:17PM]

Hey, I'm just looking out for the average consumer, people in the world are being more careful with disposable income at a time like this, well except in Dubai, I hear they get cheap labour to build those wonderful builings by using Slaves... beautiful city of death....

[Joe @ Oct 16th 2008 9:14PM]

The Dell Mini 9 is on sale today/tomorrow for ~$450 with a 1.3mp webcam, 16gb SSD, and XP (which I'd prefer).

Thoughts?

[patsy @ Oct 16th 2008 9:47PM]

@Joe: What do you mean "on sale"? It's been that price with that config since they started hawking it. Personally I like the look and size of it, but those shifted function keys could turn into a real bother. I'm so used to refreshing the browser with F5 that it would drive me nuts.

[IndiaTech @ Oct 16th 2008 11:25PM]

"Dubai, I hear they get cheap labour to build those wonderful builings by using Slaves... beautiful city of death...."

Joshua, I think it's about time you brought down your ban hammer on this troll.

[tha-don @ Oct 16th 2008 11:54PM]

my camera has been disabled since i bought my 3e back in february...

[James @ Oct 17th 2008 1:20AM]

@the don, im surprised that a mcain fan can even use a computer.

[iEye @ Oct 17th 2008 8:03AM]

http://gizmodo.com/5062693/the-misery-behind-dubais-architectural-splendor

[i.c. weiner @ Oct 17th 2008 4:12PM]

GIZMODO!? Get that awful word out of here!

[Jeff @ Oct 16th 2008 8:05PM]

playing unreal tournament on these things is awesome. great price, but dell mini 9 ftw

[therpham @ Oct 16th 2008 8:10PM]

Now, if I'm going to have to choose between 1GB or RAM, shouldn't you tell me what sort of gigabyte and how much RAM? I need to make an informed decision, man!

[redhorse_jdom @ Oct 16th 2008 9:48PM]

I think I'll take the RAM regardless. I doubt the system would run without it. So if it happens to be a 1GB flash drive, I'd rather have gone with the RAM.

[klew @ Oct 16th 2008 8:17PM]

I saw some Asus EeePCs at Target a month or so ago, at either $249 or $299, but they could be old units, since I don't remember the model number.

[gypsychick3 @ Oct 16th 2008 8:49PM]

Target is selling 900s. Just picked one up for $299 (Linux).

[digitallysick @ Oct 16th 2008 8:19PM]

299 is far to much for this model, $200.00 seems fair

[TomTom2007 @ Oct 16th 2008 9:24PM]

If they have the $200 model, then I'm totally in!

[Lowest Ranked @ Oct 16th 2008 8:20PM]

Happy Birthday, ya bastard.

[phail @ Oct 16th 2008 8:25PM]

there have been a number of 700 series models under 3 bills for a while now, as well as a few 9 inchers.

although the atom is definitely a plus.

[iofthestorm @ Oct 16th 2008 9:53PM]

Yeah, didn't the original Surfs start at $299? Although this is decidely better than a Surf.

[kyle @ Oct 16th 2008 10:07PM]

7 inch is practically unusable though, this is actually something people might want.

[Jeffery @ Oct 21st 2008 5:48AM]

@kyle:
That's true - cheap and portable is nice, but my Nokia Internet Tablet (4" LCD) has the same resolution as the 700, and the thought of that on any form of laptop just makes me cringe. That said, that's enough to reasonably browse the web (admittedly, it's the absolute minimum required to browse the web as it's meant to be). I'm excited to see where the eeePC series is going, and also that they've continued to provide both Linux and XP as options. By the time I'm in the market for a netbook, there should be plenty of good choices.

[JohnTitor @ Oct 16th 2008 8:40PM]

I believe that last sentence is a fragment

[chefgon_ign @ Oct 16th 2008 8:53PM]

That is actually a really good compromise between price and features. Are you sure this is an Asus we're talking about?

[Joshua Walters @ Oct 16th 2008 9:02PM]

Finally nearing the price it should have been all along.

[ED @ Oct 16th 2008 9:08PM]

That's a very generous definition of 'under'. It's barely, marginally under $300 to the point that it practically IS $300.
Couldn't they have made it $298? Because that would indicate, "Yes, it really definitely is quite clearly under $300 by more than just an insignificant cent."
Alternatively, I could mind my own business since I don't need a new PC of any sort, nor do I pay for things in USD.

[thethirdmoose @ Oct 16th 2008 9:26PM]

How much are the original EEE's going for? I have absolutely no use for power, i just need to be able to bang out a few documents and browse the web on the go. If I want power, I'll SSH back to my desktop, and if I want music/movies, I'll use my Archos 605.

[Joanne @ Oct 16th 2008 9:28PM]

How about LENOVO's new S10?

[Mile @ Oct 16th 2008 9:29PM]

How much is the Blu Ray option?

[Fusion Fuzo @ Oct 16th 2008 10:28PM]

NICE, if only this had an 8gb ssd and xp, then im sold

[The Chenizzle @ Oct 16th 2008 10:31PM]

hey i live near plymouth meeting
and i was waitin for the eee pc 900 iteration to drop around 300...
plan to pick one up!

[Ian @ Oct 16th 2008 11:25PM]

Does anyone know if this is the soldered-on SSD or the swapable version?

[jalapeno @ Oct 17th 2008 11:42AM]

I have one, and it looks like you can swap out the SSD on this model.

[Picviewer @ Oct 17th 2008 12:12AM]

Wow that 1 cent really breaks it for me to buy it now that it's below 300. Are people just that stupid to be conditioned for price changes like this to think omg I gotta have it now?

[BigD145 @ Oct 17th 2008 1:48AM]

Sub $200. Still not there.

[tealfixie @ Oct 17th 2008 2:15AM]

Oh my god, its been a year already?

[CaramelZappa @ Oct 17th 2008 4:06AM]

The 701 was supposed to be $200. You're telling me it's been a whole year, and their low price point is still $100 over the original goal?

Maybe if Asus focused on streamlining production instead of pumping up specs. The point of the eee pc was a low power tiny unit for the internet, that was extremely cheap, they've moved from that all they way up to the N10 series netbooks at $800 a pop. I think it's a shame.



Though to be honest I might get an N10. I need to get a netbook for school and being able to play some TF2 inbetween classes is just too good to pass up.

[Bramante @ Oct 17th 2008 10:47AM]

Be careful because if you read in the Best Buy link what's included, you'll see that it's an Acer laptop not Asus lol

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9050206&type=product&id=1218012526050&&DCMP=KNC-TLC&ref=25&loc=PGR&srccode=cii_5784816&cpncode=24-729491-2