EeePc1218
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ASUS Eee PC 1218 said to be Ion-based, more laptops coming May 13th
We'd already gotten a good look at ASUS' forthcoming Eee PC 1218 courtesy of the Red Dot design awards, and DigiTimes is now reporting one of its key details: that it will indeed be Ion-based (we'd presume Ion 2, but that still remains unclear). What's more, the site has also offered some more confirmation of ASUS' Eee PC 1015 / 1215, and says that ASUS will also be launching some new laptops on May 13th, including some bamboo-covered models and some "multimedia-enhanced models." In other ASUS news, the site also has a few choice quotes from the always talkative ASUS CEO Jerry Shen, who repeated his assertion that netbooks will continue to outsell tablets, and further went on to get specific and say that ASUS expects to sell between seven and eight million Eee PCs in 2010, which would bring its global netbook market share to 20%. [Thanks, Sal]
ASUS Eee PC 1218 trades veil of secrecy for popular design award
Well, will you look at that. In its haste to proclaim itself winner of a 2010 Red Dot design award, ASUS has inadvertently or perhaps intentionally announced the brand-new netbook that received it -- the Eee PC 1218. She's a beaut, too, with a slim, one-piece aluminum shell that evokes the MacBook Air but still packs a substantial number of expansion ports. There aren't any hard specs quite yet, but the above shot shows it'll come with a webcam and chiclet keyboard, and in a second pic after the break we can make out three USB sockets, Ethernet, VGA, a pair of 3.5mm audio jacks and an HDMI port -- the last of which possibly suggests a dedicated GPU (here's hoping an Ion 2) for HD video playback. Oh, and lest we forget, ASUS says it's also got a soft-touch plastic underside, for all you coffee-swilling, netbook-slinging butterfingers out there. No word on pricing or availability.
