Asus Set To Release Desktop Eee PC Variant 171
the_leander writes "The Register has pictures of the desktop version of Asus's Eee PC, reportedly called the 'Ebox.' It will be released early next month after it has been unveiled publicly at Computex in Taipei on June 3. It'll come equipped with the same Xandros Linux distribution as the Eee, though it's likely that Windows XP will be available also. But given the probable choice for CPU, Atom, ithe Ebox is unlikely to allow for the use of Vista, unless you're something of a masochist. It's expected to retail for $200-$300."
actually (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, for the announced configurations, the Eee 900 with Linux will have 20G flash (instead of 12G) and be slightly more expensive as a result. A fair tradeoff.
For the HP 2133, the Linux versions are consistently cheaper than the equivalent Windows versions.
So, direct your anger elsewhere. These mini laptops have been good for Linux.
Re:I even hate myself for this... (Score:5, Informative)
Seriously though, I'd put in a link to the inquirer as well (they had larger pictures of this device), which was removed and had forgotten to add the price. This was my first ever submission to Slashdot so I had actually run a spell check. What I submitted was error free.
Thank you editors. I really did need the pedant hoards blasting me for this...
Re:Redundant department of redundancy... (Score:5, Informative)
The very fact that long-time PC manufacturers are designing systems that "are not designed to run Vista" a year and a half after it has been released is about as significant news as you could possibly get, with regards to the PC market in any case.
The only reason when you might have considered it less relevant, would have been if the systems where not selling well at all. So, have you bothered to check Amazons Bestsellers in Computers & PC Hardware [amazon.com] list lately? (Amazon being by far the largest online reseller that sells Apple, Asus EEE PC as well as Vista laptops?). The list updates hourly, but currently the first Vista laptop is at spot number 4. The Asus EEE PC used to be at 1 for over a week, and I guess the only reason why it currently isn't, is because they are out of stock everywhere. So it's currently in second place, flanked by Macbooks at place 1 and 3. So basically Microsofts margins are getting squeezed here from two directions at once: Apple at the high end, EEE PC's at the low end.
Re:actually (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Why's it so... flash? (Score:3, Informative)
Why would you think that? Silly stands and LEDs cost pennies, not $50 per unit. It costs money for someone to produce the design, but that's a fixed cost, not per unit, and since they just cloned a Wii (and their previous design cloned the Acer Veriton, which was itself a bloated Mac Mini), that's not such a huge expense either.
And even if they could shave $50 off the price, why would they want to? You only have to undercut the competition by 5% or 10% to corner the market. You don't reduce your price by one cent more than you're forced to, although plenty of "free == profit" intartubes charlatans may disagree.