Asus just revealed a new laptop for less than 199E ($260) weighing less than a kilogram, sporting a rapid processor, no fan, an 11.6"screen and a full sized keyboard. Expected battery time around 12 hours.
If the keyboard really is full-sized and the battery time realistic this is a great travelmate running all Windows programs out there
Oh, the hard disk is replaced by either 32 or 64GB of memory, but there is a slot for SD-cards. You also get 500GB in the cloud for 2 years.
Another interesting feature is up to 14 days standby with real-time updates in sleep mode which seems targeted directly at the perceived Chrome book advantage #Tech
Wonder how well it will run Ubuntu. 😉
Pretty well I guess +Craig Maloney Interesting point as I guess these machines are sponsored by Microsoft. Possible protected by an EFI bios?
Possible
protectedcrippled by an EFI bios?FTFY
At that price, it must be running Windows RT, right? Could it actually be running full Windows?
Full Windows 8.1 +Paul Basehore
+Max Huijgen Wow!
+Max Huijgen it's "Windows 8.1 with Bing" to be precise. Which means the OEMs are not allowed to change the default search engine to anything but Bing. See http://www.pcworld.com/article/2158665/microsoft-announces-windows-8-1-with-bing-for-low-cost-pcs-and-tablets.html
Yeah +Jan Wildeboer I noted, but who cares?
+Max Huijgen Pedantic me 😉
Nah +Jan Wildeboer not pedantic as it explains why Microsoft accepts much lower (or no?) licence costs
However as long as end users can change the setting or install a different browser (and they can) it won't affect sales nor create new problems with the anti trust authorities.
At some point in the tech industry, it became ok to charge for a laptop that no longer had 1TB or 2TB of onboard storage but instead charge about the same, provide 32GB or 64GB of onboard storage and then offer 500GB in "the cloud" for a "reasonable" rental fee.
Which is really screwed up since I've paid $100 4 years ago for an external 1TB hard drive and that same amount of storage comes out to (on average) $10 for a Terabyte in the cloud per month.
So uh… I've had my external drive for $100 (one time) for 4 years now. Works fine.
Same Terabyte in the cloud would cost… $480.00 and up over the course of the same time.
In the case of Microsoft giving 500GB for "free" over two years, that's just to give you plenty of time to load it up with important things and create emotional attachment so it's dead simple to hold it for ransom later on.
As a matter of principle, there is nothing I put on cloud drive that I do not have backed up on an external drive in my own possession.
+Will Burns , amen. Compared to those cloud storage prices, my FreeNAS box (2TB, RAID 1) has paid for itself several times over since I deployed it three years ago.
+Max Huijgen what is the model number and is it available now?
Name/model/link?
Asus EeeBook X205 +Richard Durham +Brian Salter The announcement was this afternoon, I guess google news can find you links by now.
And none of those specs matter at all. The only thing that matters here is what OS is it running, because if it is running Windows RT it will be crap by default. The OS is practically unusable.
Does it have a built in webcam? Necessary for using Skype, which is the standard Microsoft messaging, voice and video conferencing app.
This source says yes +Hayo Jongbloed http://wmpoweruser.com/asus-announces-eeebook-x205-a-windows-8-1-laptop-that-will-cost-just-199/
Tbh more interested in Toshiba's full hd chromebook than any Windows machine going forward
Wonder how long it takes to open Chrome after 2 months…
Running a Celeron with win8.1. Won't be working with too many tabs open or too many apps open … it will bog down.
As I experience Windows from the workplace, will this mean the shutdown/startup will still be interrupted by update process, completing?
+Will Burns does seem like most of these cloud offers (like 100gb for free for 2 years of Google storage with my htc) are there to get you using it and then get you paying. There's a lot to be said for a small 1 terabyte disc to support offline, local storage for multiple devices and go with the free smaller cloud options, perhaps using a few of these 🙂
+Andrew M-POstings it depends on how you look at the situation. Effectively, "cloud computing" and storage is little more than a creatively rebranded version of renting time on a computer from the 1970s and we're now being sold modern versions of dumb terminals and offered rental of storage. In many ways, the industry has managed to convince us all that paying more for less and reverting to 1970s computing is a good idea.
Ah yes, the power of marketing.
+Will Burns very true. Though I do like having local storage as well. The one I have can also act as a media hub to play music, or any other media – without hogging my bandwidth and working even when my broadband is down (like for the past 24hrs! Luckily I do have phone tethering to get me by for a bit)
+Will Burns With Chromebooks the low storage makes more sense since it's not catered to power users. But yeah windows laptops shouldn't at all be like that.
+Will Burns I initially bought a personal computer way back in the eighties to be independent of the main frame.
And now I'm expected to surrender to the cloud, making me a dumb terminal again. No way!
+Max Huijgen +Jan Wildeboer in that link about OEM's not changing the default to Bing, t also says "…end users will be able to change that in the browser's settings…". It's not exactly hard to change the default search engine! And I've been using Bing for a change and it's not that bad and makes a nice change. The results seem pretty good. The only thing I'd like is the ability to specify the time period of the search (probably there somewhere). And for anyone who doesn't like their search terms tracked there are things like 'duckduckgo' (not to mention quite a few other search engines that you can google:))
Asus <– lol
Windows <– lol
Why? Why is someone going to buy it? Because it has X-Box integration? Does it do something?
Not to say it's all bad. Cloud computing and storage has benefits and if it suits your particular needs, then by all means. I just like to put things into perspective and draw the analogies to get people thinking in the bigger picture.
It runs a few billion programs +Bob Calder other that that it would be just a Minix machine.
The Windows argument is like the cable TV argument. Yes there are 500 channels. The average person watches 7 to 9 networks regularly. With a 60 mile reach, digital signal reaches most homes with bandwidth far exceeding this requirement. Why do we all have cable? Because we're stupid.
That argument is only valid if everyone picks the same 7-9 networks.
My opinion on cloud storage https://plus.google.com/u/2/112352920206354603958/posts/6VdxFBWDf76
You can have local storage as primary with an option to cloud backup. It does stop that "oh I lost everything when my hdd exploded" situation that used to happen occasionally because nobody backs up that often/properly. Recovery tools only get you so far. Multi-device access and sync is also very convenient.
So, the eeePC is back?
With 11'' the keyboard is either real size or at least 95%
+Max Huijgen the capacity is 24 usually so it covers the majority. I find Windows corporate FUD particularly tiresome. Like the "costs too much to retrain our employees" one. The first time, I thought it was a real objection, then when I heard it repeated verbatim, I realized they were just parroting.
Good
Hopefully it won't have the Google boot control freakery so it will be trivial to run an alternate OS, or boot from a USB drive. Or revert to Win7. And it will be trivial to access a NAS which is currently impossible with a chromebook. And it will run Winamp and Firefox, Yay!
The only things I found annoying about netbooks were the cut down processor, slow/low memory, crippled windows. The 11" full resolution form factor worked fine for me for an occasional and very portable computer. But I want a full function machine, not an overgrown tablet/smartphone.
I quite admire what Google are doing with Chrome-OS, but I'm infuriated by the limitations. And I really shouldn't have to run chrubuntu or crouton and mess around with developer mode just to access a NAS and run an alternate media player.
I wonder why Windows thinks it has to complete against Chrome OS. Everyone knows windows still holds the upper hand, they make it look so competitive, it sucks.
We know it but if they last back too much Google fanboys will pile on them.
My old eeePC 900 with a home cut down WinXP is almost unusable now. At £199 inc VAT, this looks like a worthy successor. The devil will be in the details. Like how easy it will be to upgrade to 4Gb RAM. extra cost of the 64Gb option. Presence of Bluetooth. Real world perf of the Atom processor. etc, etc.
+David Cooltions well, looking at it from that angle, you're actually right.
Social scientist refer to the problem as one of "capital". Anybody has only so much to spend, whether it's money or social influence. Everything spent reduces your ability to do something productive even if it's covering your ass. I always look at Microsot from the standpoint of corporate strategy. They had a perfectly good rollout of a fine little notebook in company stores. It didn't live up to their expectations, so they cut expenses and it's dying. This is what consumers are going to remember when the ads for the new product come out. Google is doing the same thing in their service arena. Build something, let it fly a while, and if it doesn't look right, kill it. The decision to kill a project leaves people pissed off. The question is, how many people and how pissed off.
thinking about purchasing this thing today. Any thoughts? Unforseen downsides ?
you think im better of buying this, or a chromebook. Im kind of worried about the 2GB ram. For only the tabs of chromeOS that is borderline scary. But for it to be running all of windows 8.1 and THEN some browser tabs seems too much
+Kendy Louwaars
It's funny. Chrome uses heaps of RAM where if you use Windows with firefox or IE11, you get more tabs than chromeOS.
+David Cooltions I bought it. I learned that chrome kind of takes more ram than it needs to for some processes. Been using IE for now but the thing is really slow out of the box regardless.