Folks – forget the Palm Foleo. Just forget about it. Instead, focus in on ASUSTeK (better known as ASUS). Heck.. Palm, take a good look at what ASUS is doing ok?

Anyhow, ASUS dropped a small bomb at Computex 2007 this week. They announced a new portable notebook called the Eee PC (model 701). So what’s the bomb? The price! The Eee PC is slated to be priced at a whopping $199. That’s right. $199. Um how much was the Foleo again? $599? $499 after the mail-in rebate? Forget about it. 

OK.. you might saying.. but what about the specs? Well here they are:

  • 7 inch display
  • Intel mobile CPU (although no one is clear yet which processor actually is inside)
  • Linux or Windows XP compatible
  • 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
  • 56K modem
  • WiFi (802.11b/g)
  • 4/8/16GB flash
  • 300K pixel video camera
  • HD Audio
  • Integrated speakers
  • Integrated microphone
  • 3 hour battery life
  • Measures 22.5 x 16.5 x 2.1 cm and weighs only 0.89kg

OK.. so it’s missing Bluetooth – but honestly now – who cares? Bring along a USB cable and sync your smartphone directly with a fully functional notebook system. What’s particularly interesting is the use of SSD storage here.

Heck – check out this early preview that PC World had on the Eee PC. According to PC World, the notebook doesn’t run hot at all. The downside – the notebook runs for only three hours on battery. That’s a bit low if you ask me – especially if you have cross country trips. It looks like out of the box, you’ll get the Linux OS (Xandros to be specific). However, if you have a copy of Windows, you should be good there too. It appears the base cost of $199 is with 4GB of flash with prices going up accordingly as you add more storage space.

No word on when we can expect these notebooks to hit the market but you can be sure I’ll be in line to at least check it out if not get one myself.

[Check it out]

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