asus

I co-hosted the Buzz Out Loud podcast with Molly Wood today. Topic (suprise): Gphone. What else? Also covered: Why the Asus eee PC rocks and why the Foleo was killed too early.

Our continental brethren at Crave UK have heard from a source at Asus that Apple's plans to build a tablet computer are definitely under way. Yes, the rumor has been around for years, but Asus is one of Apple's contract manufacturers, and we all know that it's all about the touch screen these days down in Cupertino.

According to the source, the tablet will supposedly be based on an entirely new blueprint, though no specs or other details are known. And it's always possible that a prototype is being made without any definite plans for production. … Read more

The mini-laptop from Taiwanese computermaker Asus made its official U.S. debut Thursday.

In an outdoor courtyard of the Stanford Shopping Center in Palo Alto, Calif., the computer's intended audience--schoolkids--were in ample attendance. Like most animated Disney films today, the Eee PC is on the surface intended for children, but has plenty to keep the attention of adults too.

The Eee PC is similar in idea to the XO from the One Laptop Per Child initiative and Intel's Classmate PC. But unlike the former two, the primary audience for the Eee is not children in developing nations. Instead, … Read more

Tiny, cheap laptops continued to dominate headlines this week. Due to unexplained problems, manufacturing for the One Laptop Per Child project's XO laptop was pushed back to mid-November; that will make it harder for Peru and Uruguay, who've placed two of the biggest orders, to get the systems in hand before the end of the school term. Despite the device's troubles, Microsoft Corporate Vice President Will Poole says the company is spending a "nontrivial" amount of money getting Windows to work on an OLPC. And the OLPC Foundation looked into cows as a source of power … Read more

We were recently lamenting the vaporware status of many of the small, low-cost laptops tech types have been buzzing about this year. Apparently, this whole blogging this really works, 'cause less than a month later, two of our MIA systems are sitting right here in the CNET Lab.

First up is the Asus Eee PC. The company's 2-pound, 7-inch, Linux-based laptop built up a lot of buzz for promising a reasonably functional machine for about $200. In reality, it ended up costing $399 (for the middle-of-three model we got), but it's still a creative take on the ultraportable … Read more

The low-cost Eee PC may have been officially announced only last week, but Asus has kept the buzz going by confirming that it will offer Windows preloaded on the Eee PC by the end of the year. "With the addition of Microsoft Windows," reads the press release, "the Eee PC can now also accommodate educational and corporate requirements." It's a smart move on the part of Asus; provided the laptop's price remains below $500, a Windows-based Eee PC will have tremendous appeal to schools and parents who want to give every child his or … Read more

It's official: Asus has announced that the Eee PC (which we've been tracking since August) will be making its way to North America within the next few weeks. The 2-pound, 7-inch, Linux-based laptop will be available in three configurations priced from $299 to $399.

Though the company has yet to offer details on North American specs, it seems reasonable to believe that we'll be seeing the three top models listed on Asus' global site. The highest-end Eee PC 8G includes an 8GB solid-state drive, 1GB of RAM, a built-in Webcam, and a promised 3.5-hour battery life. … Read more