Just to show a variety of people read this site I thought I'd respond and give my own seemingly very different two cents.
1) Regular notebook prices may be that low in the States but they certainly are not in Australia or here in Japan - the very base models start at at least US$800 equiv (current xch anyway) - much higher than netbooks.
2) Asus is trying to find themselves another audience for their machines - it's smart business. As others have pointed out netbooks are pretty much all the same and Asus is distinguishing itself by offering something different while still staying within the product's initial function - portable computing. They are not meant to be high rez entertainment machines - other things perform that function far better. Netbooks are selling well because they are cheap computers not because they have an internet connection (as ALL computers do) or even because they are small (the increasing size is proof of that.) People don't want to pay for the latest whiz bang specs if they aren't going to use them. Sure, if you're backpacking around the world then they'd be a godsend but if you're going to put it on a table somewhere why on earth would anyone WANT to surf on a screen less than 14" (hell 21") unless they absolutely had to.
3) Who would want an optical drive? People like me who use a desktop (rather than a notebook AS a desktop, I'll never understand that one) and like the idea of a notebook small enough to be actually portable but large enough to touch type on (10-12") which will allow me to get up from the desk and AWAY from the internet and just work on documents. I don't need full specs, a netbook is enough for word-processing (the writing part, not the layout part, obviously) and to have some music playing BUT I need an optical drive to install apps, music etc... For anything else (including editing after the work is actually down with no distractions) I can use my desktop.
I nearly bought the Kohjinsha, despite its ridiculous size, the day this news came out - I'm glad I waited, I'll be snapping this one up.
Now that we've thrown 'em off the trail, use the form below to get in touch with the people at Engadget. Please fill in all of the required fields because they're required.
Just to show a variety of people read this site I thought I'd respond and give my own seemingly very different two cents.
1) Regular notebook prices may be that low in the States but they certainly are not in Australia or here in Japan - the very base models start at at least US$800 equiv (current xch anyway) - much higher than netbooks.
2) Asus is trying to find themselves another audience for their machines - it's smart business. As others have pointed out netbooks are pretty much all the same and Asus is distinguishing itself by offering something different while still staying within the product's initial function - portable computing. They are not meant to be high rez entertainment machines - other things perform that function far better. Netbooks are selling well because they are cheap computers not because they have an internet connection (as ALL computers do) or even because they are small (the increasing size is proof of that.) People don't want to pay for the latest whiz bang specs if they aren't going to use them. Sure, if you're backpacking around the world then they'd be a godsend but if you're going to put it on a table somewhere why on earth would anyone WANT to surf on a screen less than 14" (hell 21") unless they absolutely had to.
3) Who would want an optical drive? People like me who use a desktop (rather than a notebook AS a desktop, I'll never understand that one) and like the idea of a notebook small enough to be actually portable but large enough to touch type on (10-12") which will allow me to get up from the desk and AWAY from the internet and just work on documents. I don't need full specs, a netbook is enough for word-processing (the writing part, not the layout part, obviously) and to have some music playing BUT I need an optical drive to install apps, music etc... For anything else (including editing after the work is actually down with no distractions) I can use my desktop.
I nearly bought the Kohjinsha, despite its ridiculous size, the day this news came out - I'm glad I waited, I'll be snapping this one up.