Japanese DIYer shows ASUS how not to make an Eee Tablet PC

ASUS hinted at some alternative Eee form factors in the Spring of last year, but it's a Japanese modder that's showing the company exactly how it shouldn't approach an Eee-branded tablet PC. It's a touch tough to understand exactly what's going on, but here's what is (partially) clear: the hack job took around ten hours to complete, and the outer edges are inexplicably covered in aluminum foil. It's encased in some sort of transparent housing -- which we suppose is pretty nifty for showing off the internals -- and the retrofitted touchpanel provides the tasty tablet functionality. Apparently this guy spent around ¥11,000 ($128) over and above the cost of the Eee PC in order to construct the final result pictured above -- the question is: was it really worth it?

[Via Fashion Funky, thanks Bob]

[JimReaper @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:29PM]

No, shoving a 360 in a PS3 case, now that's worth it!

[angelwolf71885 @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:43PM]

you can polish a terd but at the end of the day its still a turd

[whatsisface @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:47PM]

Nope, it's a terd.

[lyris2003 @ Jan 3rd 2009 3:35PM]

No way, the thing has enough reliability issues when its in its own shell!

[glenskey @ Jan 3rd 2009 5:27PM]

isnt it spelt turd?

[huth.sebastian @ Jan 4th 2009 6:29AM]

nerd.

[testdaflow @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:32PM]

The foil is to repel those pesky aliens from invading.

[Blaine Oliver @ Jan 3rd 2009 1:20PM]

This guy could've not upgraded the eee then he wouldve saved the $128, and the cost of a new pair of eyes.

[Troels C @ Jan 3rd 2009 10:10PM]

Not to mention preventing the government from controlling it!

[Valicore @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:37PM]

Oh yeah, that's hot.

[Flashpoint @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:38PM]

The whole tablet PC thing is practicaly in limbo - if not, just plain dead.

I bought a Lenovo X60 2 years ago. Even though it has tablet functionality, I found it much easier to simply use it as a laptop since it had a 7 hour battery and a keyboard large enough for my big hands to type on.

I used it to draw, very seldomly, when i was in Physics lab. Drawing on it was ok, but writing notes was sloppy - it was easier to type.

Thus far, the closest we've gotten to a real, innovative tablet pc, is the ipod touch/iphone. If Apple made the thing bigger and added a stylus, its OS as well as its portability would definitely set new trends in Tablet computing.

[Phoenix @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:57PM]

I was agreeing with you right up until the last paragraph... then you ruined it.

[BigD145 @ Jan 3rd 2009 1:54PM]

I know many artists and graphic designers that love their tablets.

[Akshay @ Jan 3rd 2009 2:45PM]

I agree with Pheonix. Your first two statements make sense but your third doesn't. Honestly though, how is the iPhone/iPod Touch closest thing to an innovative tablet. You can't draw with it or write notes due to absence of the stylus and therefore lack of note making capabilities which compared to WinMo(I'm talking VS Notepad). All you can do is finger around with it(No, no, not that) and it really is too restricted for even being categorized tablet.
The best bang for the buck tablets are the new Compaq/Hp tablets. Look them up.

[Akshay @ Jan 3rd 2009 2:47PM]

Sorry, I was in a hurry while writing my previous reply, therefore the grammatical mistakes.

[Jonathan-DBOSS @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:39PM]

At least it's recyclable.

[owlhuntr @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:40PM]

he's resourceful, but that just won't cut it. he could've just made the screen turn 180 degrees and then fold down.... much easier

[Rog @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:46PM]

Mount it in your desk or table.

Drool...

[Neal and Bob @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:47PM]

This is clearly a BlackBerry knock-off.

[Trevor @ Jan 4th 2009 4:54AM]

BlackBerry clearly got all of their ideas from Apple, so this is pretty much an Apple knockoff, right?

/sarcasm

[strider_mt2k @ Jan 3rd 2009 12:54PM]

It's more than YOU did.

[OneLove @ Jan 3rd 2009 1:30PM]

The touch panel "has failed to destroy it modified" ...lol

[thethirdmoose @ Jan 3rd 2009 1:37PM]

I think you could make a tablet work well if you put tracing paper on it and turned the brightness up to 11. Then you would have a rough surface to use.

[Shadyman @ Jan 3rd 2009 8:09PM]

You just tried to make an "it goes to 11" joke, didn't you?

[seangthomas @ Jan 3rd 2009 1:37PM]

sooo....he made it an unfoldable laptop?

[M. @ Jan 3rd 2009 1:53PM]

Worth it?
- Probably not in this form factor.

But the real question is:
Can it run crysis?

[Shadyman @ Jan 3rd 2009 8:10PM]

No, it can't.

[laul @ Jan 3rd 2009 3:13PM]

Perhaps a giant wanted a blackberry?

[offroadering @ Jan 3rd 2009 3:28PM]

maybe you mount it flush on a counter top/table? looks like there's a flange around the unit to mount it? Still a pretty lame idea, and the monitor is off center from the key board.

[Erv @ Jan 3rd 2009 3:52PM]

did he use that special non stick foil?

[Chas @ Jan 3rd 2009 4:17PM]

It's aluminum tape, aka. scrim tape, used for sealing HVAC duct. Its strong stuff, lasts for years if squeegeed down properly. so I hardly think that its "inexplicable". He had some, or got some, and used it to tape it together. Granted it looks like crap, but things that get taped together do. As does strider_mt2k, I also think that at least he tried, and he may do better on the next go around. Everybody has to learn, *he's trying*, who else has the balls to do this to their Eee? None of you critics. STHU.

[Wwhat @ Jan 3rd 2009 4:52PM]

Uhm yeah right..

[Rum @ Jan 3rd 2009 6:34PM]

The foil started life as blade tape to repair helo blades , strong and lasting stuff .
A good choice for the job .

I'd like to live near this guy just to visit and see what he was up to .

I'd even donate resorces towards his efforts .

Good show mate !


P.S. my e-mail address of @yahoo.com.au is a valid address !!

[Johan S @ Jan 3rd 2009 5:12PM]

Well, was it worth it to him? We dunno.

[Thorny @ Jan 3rd 2009 7:25PM]

I looked into doing something kinda like this to an Acer Aspire One. I was trying to build my own bigger/better/faster net-tablet device to replace my Nokia N800. Also considered mounting a beagleboard with an touchscreen in a hacked up picture frame (failed due to lack of LVDS interface on beagleboard..)

In the end, I stumbled upon and bought an Gigabyte M912M. Highly recommend it for anyone wanting to go the Atom based convertible tablet route. It's also got bluetooth, pci express 34 slot, sd reader, standard 2.5in laptop sata built-in. Only changes I had to make were expanding the memory to 2gb and replacing the Atheros based mini-pcie wifi card for an Intel based one.

[Benson @ Jan 3rd 2009 11:53PM]

You're probably no longer looking for an Eee mod, but FYI:

There's a sorta-kit out there called the Aeeeris, for ripping the keyboard out of an Eee 700/701/702, (and I think a 900 version is coming soon, but not sure) and converting it to a pure tablet. Since it's very much a hack-your-own (you get just the hard part, a custom-molded top panel), it might not be too hard to hack up a slide-out keyboard, at the cost of some thickness.

I've looked at it, but not real interested. I think I prefer the clamshell over slide-out, and my N800 is not far behind my 701 in performance, so I've no interest in converting it to tablet-only.

What's the battery life like on that M912M, anyway?

[Thorny @ Jan 4th 2009 6:20PM]

in response to Benson..

M912M battery life is pretty good.. 4-cell 4500mAh.. Last over 3hrs as long as bluetooth and wifi are shut off. On my last plane flight, I watched two 1-hour, HD episodes of Teriminator: The Sarah Conner Chronicles and still had 42% battery left. I could probably gain some more if I swap the 160gb drive out for an SSD. But I'm definitely happy with it.

[Greg @ Jan 4th 2009 1:16PM]

Is it worth it? Well probably not for me, but for him I bet it was. Sorry Engadget we all can't be Johnathan Ive. In all seriousness, there isn't a netbook tablet out there and this guy saw that and spent some time and created his own. That's what hacking is all about, regardless of whether the outcome was pretty or not. Geez you guys should know that, or if you don't read some of hackaday.com for a while.