We've got the skinny on ASUS's latest North American foray, with the
Eee PC 1008HA Seashell, UX50 and U80V "thin and light" all vying for your slice of the stimulus this summer. The quite familiar (by now) 1008HA will be retailing for $429, featuring 802.11n, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR, a new thin form factor and six hours of battery (thanks to the Super Hybrid Engine) to set it slightly apart from the netbook competition. The UX50 and U80V, on the traditional laptop angle, are a slightly odd couple, with the UX50 pairing a ULV Core 2 Solo processor with discrete GeForce G105M graphics, aiming for long battery life but in a standard 15.6-inch form factor, while the U80V does the "thin and light" thing with a high speed Core 2 Duo processor, ATI Mobility Radeon HD4570 graphics and a 14-inch screen. Both laptops include 4GB of RAM and 802.11n WiFi, with the long-lasting UX50 going for $1,199, while the powerful but slim U80V retails for $899. To be honest, we weren't stunned by the U80V's thinness or weight in hand, but it's really pretty good considering what's under the hood. We didn't get to see the UX50 in person, but it better get some pretty epic runtimes to justify that price. Meanwhile the 1008HA is looking just peachy -- there's an odd adapter for the display output that conveniently stashes underneath the chassis, but overall this is just a straightforward and fairly excellent aesthetic refinement of the netbook. Our favorite part, however, has nothing to do with the shell: ASUS finally righted the wrong that was the Eee PC's funky shift key placement, and we couldn't be happier.
posted May 14th 2009 9:00AM
YAY!
MICROSOFTFTW!!!
Very constructive...idiot
This>XSlim
Dirt>Air
Nice arrow keys, btw.
HOLY FUCK THAT LOOKS AWFUL TO USE!
@Phoenix, how so they keys are in the same spot just larger on the left and right. It doesn't help or hurt anything just fills the space.
The U80V sounds pretty good....
Will the U80V have an HDMI port?
Any release date for the 1008HA? Was going to go out and buy a 1000HE tomorrow but am wondering if this is worth the wait.
Definitely wait for the 1008HA, eg:
http://www.electronicsinfoline.com/News/New_Gadgets/Laptop/new-asus-eee-1008ha-compared-with-eee-1000he.html
Wow! Those are some good GPU...could always be better. I would love to install Window 7 on these lappy!
why do they have to use that cheap looking clossy plastic shit?
it kinda pisses me off, that they have to ruin every notebook with random glossyness on parts where fingerprints and reflexions are just annoying
Wow! I thought HP was bad, but aside from the keyboard this may just be the glossiest laptop I've seen. Well, there goes that purchase.
Who cares about the gloss? Just wipe it down after you use it.
Why can't you just take straight-on photos of the three items and label them so we have an idea of WHAT WE ARE LOOKING AT?
Whats with the Core 2 Solo?
HDMI will be included in U20A, U80V, U50Vg and UX50V. This is according to CNET: http://crave.cnet.co.uk/laptops/0,39029450,49302404,00.htm . So far, the U80V looks like the ticket, good build with light gizmos, powerful specs to dollar ratio (if $900 is actually price), and 6 hours of battery life... although 4 hours max is probably more realistic. My Asus eee 1000 HE can barely get 6 hours with everything shut off and that is much slower than U80V.