Asus says Netbooks can be upscale with the S121

by
Asus S121 (Credit: Asus)

Asus is still chasing the "upscale Netbook" market with its latest shiny little box, the S121. Rather than being part of the well-known Eee PC line, the S121 is being called an "Ultra Slim Mobile Notebook," and uses Intel's Atom-based Menlow platform--essentially an updated version of the Atom CPU currently used in most Netbooks.

To fancy it up, Asus is including a 128GB solid-state hard drive, Swarovski crystals in the display hinge, and a leather palm rest. The whole thing is a bit less than one inch thick and weighs a modest 2.6 pounds, making for a nice step-up alternative to the standard plastic Netbook.

It will also include (as have a few other recent Asus systems) a Linux-based quick-launch environment for easy access to the Web and documents without booting up the full OS. Final price and availability details of the Asus S121 should be forthcoming.