Shane McGlaun02 November 2009, 12:28 PM
ASUS is mum on hard details for its Eee Smartbook which will sell for a bargain price and use alternative OS and a smartphone CPU.
With the global economy still in the crapper, it's no surprise that consumers are still on the lookout for raging bargains and don't want to spend lots of money on their netbooks or notebooks. Netbooks like the
Acer Aspire AOD250-1613 sporting Android and Windows seem cheap enough to many of us, but for some still cost too much. To gobble up the money from the computer shopper looking for low-end gear Asus has reportedly set to launch new Eee Smartbook in Q1 2010.
The Smartbook will reportedly
sell for around $AUD198. The machine would reportedly forgo the more common Windows OS and go Android only, which may or may not work. With the popularity of Android, it would probably find some buyers for sure. The catch is that anyone needing productivity apps like Word may need to steer clear.
We're not yet sure about specs of the machine, but sources point to possible Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor inside. The rig will slot into the Eee netbook like and few other details are available. Some early reference designs promise 3G WWAN, GPS, and "all day" battery life that Asus feels is in the neighborhood of 11 hours.