ASUS Eee PC 1015, 1016 and 1018 to finally ship in August (Updated: some shipping now)
By Joanna Stern 
posted July 6th 2010 9:34AM
posted July 6th 2010 9:34AM
Well, it's about time! We've been following ASUS's next generation Eee PC 1015, 1016 and 1018 since their CeBIT debut in early March, and all three are finally primed and prepped to arrive by the end of July / beginning of August. ASUS claims, the aluminum-clad 1016 and 1018 will be hitting the US market in three to four weeks, while the 1015 will trail a few weeks behind. According to Excaliberpc.com -- where the first two are already up for pre-order -- the 1018P will ring up at $429.99 and boasts a 1.66GHz Intel Atom N455 processor, 1GB of RAM, a 250GB hard drive and three USB 3.0 ports. The 1016P, which is pictured above, has the same processor, but comes in at a higher $499.99 most likely due to its 2GB of memory and 320GB of storage. The 1015 isn't up for order anywhere, though it did just cross the good ol' FCC, so it shouldn't be long before its final specs and pricing are revealed. We're actually a bit giddy to finally see these higher end Eees arriving, and the pre-order links are below for those reckless adventurers that may share the same excitement.
Updated: Well, well, well. It appears that the 1018p and 1015p are already on Best Buy's website and are shipping right NOW for substantially less than we thought!
Updated: Well, well, well. It appears that the 1018p and 1015p are already on Best Buy's website and are shipping right NOW for substantially less than we thought!
Finally! I remember these as hands on, and then just never heard from them again...
@tvick47 wtf... So the 1016p is a more powerful product than the 1018p?
Look at all those fingerprints. D:
@FAP FAP FAP STFU Pedobear!
They are admittedly pretty sexy.
@AckbarsFist Just hope that they have a 1366*768 res.
Can't stand that worthless 1024*600 crap.
i saw the 1018 at a worse buy store yesterday and i gotta say it looks very classy in black aluminum! the laptop was flat all around without none of that weird battery butt bulging in the back. good job asus! too bad it didnt have hdmi though
whoa USB 3.0? Hot dang
Thee 1018 has already been on Best Buy for a week or two, has it not?
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Eee+PC+Netbook+/+Intel%26%23174;+Atom%26%23153;+Processor+/+10.1%22+Display+/+1GB+Memory+/+250GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black+Aluminum/9966726.p?id=1218202948227&skuId=9966726&st=asus%201018&cp=1&lp=1
There are some inconsistencies with Best Buy's information though, such as "USB 2.0" and battery life that don't seem to match up to the specs for the 1018. Maybe Best Buy is confused.
@sithlorderic
You're correct. Best Buy has had these for about 2 weeks already. I was surprised it took the tech blogosphere this long to pick up on it. However, the Best Buy version seems to be the 1018PB which doesn't have an N455 processor but an N450 processor. And also doesn't have the USB 3.0
Oh and I checked it up in store. It really doesn't have USB 3.0 or an N455, it isn't that the website has wrong information. The actual devices don't have USB 3.0 and don't have an N455, I checked in person.
@Eraser
Thanks for the update, I was wondering about that. Not bad for the price, but I'll probably wait a little longer for the DDR3 capable units.
So where's the 1017?
Like stated above. Best buy carries the 1018 and It's by far the sexiest netbook I have ever seen. Also the lightest I have seen at 2.4 pounds.
Joanna, any news on the 1015n? I'd even take the 1215n if they'd release it already.
While aluminum might be temporarily fascinating and all, I'm more interested in actual performance. In that case the Acer 521 is the only choice--presumably the most powerful 10" netbook currently available and much cheaper than these.
Hrmm.. anyone know how that processor stacks up to an i3? I also figured we all have kissed 1GB of ram good-bye, especially for $430. Unless this thing runs Android, 1GB of ram was good only for Windows 98. $500 to get 2GB of RAM also sounds pretty steep to me.
@Bhima Are you kidding? I ran XP on 256mb and then 512mb forever, fantastic. And even more so when I finally upgraded to 1gb, unbelievable. For light tasks, typically what a netbook is used for, web browsing and email won't need that much more.
@tvick47
Your statement would be true, but $430-$500 is not just for "light tasks". If someone is looking for a netbook that just does outlook, excel, word and the internet, they could just spend $300 bucks on the typical netbook. When you are pushing the $500 bracket, your device better blur the line between netbook and laptop.
@Bhima you must have some really rich parents to be able to afford a machine with 1GB in the 98 era. My old Athlon XP machine only had 512MB and it was running XP quite well.
My 1005PE runs 7 Ultimate with Aero just fine.
@ToniCipriani
Or I'm older than you think and do a lot of graphics work with my machines. Yeah it was spendy to put 1GB of ram into my Win 98SE box, but it actually really needed it to do serious graphics work without pulling my hair out waiting to swap in and out of applications. Sorry, haven't had parental support for my tech habit since the Commodore 64.
Really? 1024 X 600 is all you've got? - Uh guys, in case you didn't notice the iPhone's 3.5 inch screen has a resolution of 960 x 640. And the EVO has an HDMI out! Your product is already obsolete.
@SolonLysander
While I hate the 1024x600 resolution, the reason why cell phones resolutions are growing so fast is because you hold the device so close to your face. My laptop is almost never more than 3 feet from my face, but my cell phone can be a foot or less typically. At that range, the pixel density is a lot more important.
@SolonLysander
Wow; that's like saying your GPS wristwatch has an even higher-res display. Interesting but not at all relevant.
@Beckler Well higher density, not necessarily higher res. But yeah for netbooks and most computers for that matter it's not that big of a deal.
@Beckler It's completely relevant. I want to see a lot of lines of text on my screen and never never never have to do any horizontal scrolling. My Thinkpad R61 is set at 1680 by 1050 and I wish it went higher. The Toshiba Satellite laptop I bought in 1996 with an 11.1 inch screen had 800 x 600 resolution. I don't think HD 720 or WXGA resolution is to much to ask for 2010. If you don't want it then turn down the resolution.
It'll look great but you'll look like a tool for wearing gloves all of the time while using it (so you don't get 500000000 fingerprints on it)
When will we see the first Pixel Qi EeePC? I realize that the price of a Pixel Qi display is steep, but it should be at least an option.
@stoffer I can already imagine all the commenters on Engadget complaining how they wouldn't pay $1000 for a netbook....
@sibyy If I would be selling the device I wouldn't market it as a netbook. I would market is a netbook and an e-book reader. In principle, you get two devices, while you have to carry the weight of only a one. Plus, it would really be a premium e-book reader with a big display (for an e-book reader) and ability to toggle to color display. To make using it better I would make the netbook dualboot Linux optimized for short boot up time (anyway, Kindle is running Linux).
I'm confused, Best Buy already has some sort of variant of the 1018P available, albeit for much cheaper price. No fingerprint reader and USB 3.0...but I don't see the need for USB 3, at least right now.
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Asus+-+Eee+PC+Netbook+/+Intel%26%23174%3B+Atom%26%23153%3B+Processor+/+10.1%22+Display+/+1GB+Memory+/+250GB+Hard+Drive+-+Black+Aluminum/9966726.p?id=1218202948227&skuId=9966726&st=1018P&cp=1&lp=1
It's about time... unfortunately, I was all about the 1018 until I saw the super-sexy 1218. Asus really needs to work on its reveal-to-release time...
I could not wait any longer for these as I picked up a Ul30vt for 650. At that price im was happy
Hey engadget, did you know that gizmowiz.com totally plagarized this article? Is that a sister site or something?
i picked up one of these the other day at best buy, wondering why i didnt read about the release of this on any of the major tech sites. actually, theres not much info that you can get about the actual netbook model itself "1018PB" (note the B suffix, I suspect this is a best buy exclusive model?)
it carries a $350 price tag, lacks USB3, fingerprint reader, and 3G connectivity (as far as i'm concerned, there is a SIM card slot, but it appears there is no hardware there to accept it, just a cutout on the chassis) basically, the hardware you get from this is the same as you would expect from any other netbook, it just looks like it got mashed into a macbook wanna be casing.
disappointing to see that bestbuy specs didnt match the cebit specs. I wanted to N475 cpu, usb 3.0 and biometric reader and the 2gb of ram..
1024X600? no thanks. That is in the realm of the ipads crappy rez.
Waiting for 1215 and Optimus.
Does anyone know if these would be Hackntosh candidates?
None of the Asus 10.1 inch screen netbooks advertised on Best Buy's site have the new Bluetooth 3.0, USB 3.0 nor HDMI out. I am waiting for Asus Eee PC 1215N Multimedia Netbook. See --- http://www.loopygadgets.com/asus-eee-pc-1215n-multimedia-netbook-with-bluetooth-3-0-and-usb-3-0/ ---
This new netbook also offers a 12 inch monitor & a bigger keyboard & might be a better option for me than a 10 inch iPad or Android tablet. I read where the 1215N may be available in September or October. -
JohnH_in_OKC.
@JohnHinOKC
Here's a more technical link to the Asus Eee PC 1215N ---
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=443411262183
--- JohnH_in_OKC
@JohnHinOKC 1215 is supposed to have a summer release.
@BigD145
When will the 1218 be released? Will it have biometric sensors like fingerprint reader or face recognition?
@JohnHinOKC
Currently the 1218 is vaporware. It has not been acknowledged by Asus other than showing up on a design website as having received the Red Dot Design award for 2010. In order to qualify for that award, the 1218 was supposed to have been on the market by July 1st of this year, but obviously that didn't happen. The hardware is similar to the 1215, so I'd say it wouldn't come to the market until AT LEAST the end of the year when the 1215 comes out, but more likely it'll be next year some time (if it ever comes out at all). No word on biometrics or face recognition.