Ian Grayson31 January 2008, 4:31 AM
Buoyed by the success of its diminutive $499 notebook, Taiwanese computer giant Asustek is planning to launch an entire range of cheap Eee products.
 Asustek's Eee PC |
With cute little Eee PCs flying off shop shelves around the country, maker Asustek has announced it is going to offer a range of other devices under the same brand.
First out of the blocks will be a low-cost desktop computer dubbed the E-DT. It will be built around an Intel Celeron processor and will ship without a monitor to (hopefully) keep the price somewhere between $US200 and $300 dollars. No Australian pricing is yet available and units are expected to appear in April.
The company is also planning to release the E-Monitor, an all-in-one device similar in concept to Dell's XPS One and Apple's iMac. Details are still sketchy however it is believed the Linux-based E-Monitor will also contain a digital TV tuner card. With either a 19-inch or 21-inch screen it should retail for around $US500.
The third new product in the range will be a 42-inch LCD HD television which incorporates a Linux-based PC. Slated for a September launch, this device is likely to cost only slightly more than non-PC enabled models already on the market.
Few details are yet available on the TV, including what resolution it will offer, how many tuners it will contain and what type of processor will be used to power the PC component.
The strategy of expanding its Eee range will see Asustek move even further toward its vision of being a mainstream consumer electronics company - a far cry from its early position as a motherboard and component supplier.
However the strategy will not come without challenges as Asustek is not widely known outside the computer sector. Selling a sub-$500 notebook is a very different proposition to that of getting people to shell out for a large-screen television set.
The company will also find itself competing more directly with giants of the consumer electronics world such as Sony, Toshiba and LG.