Posted 03/26/09 at 06:01:03 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Asustek is trying to further cash in on the huge success of its Eee PC netbook range. It has some very ambitious plans and innovative products up its sleeve. One of those innovations happens to be voice-controlled Eee PCs.

The voice-controlled Eee PCs cropped up for the first time during CeBit 2009 in Germany. Asus Chairman Johnny Shih had expressed his keen desire to witness the end of the keyboard during his CeBit keynote address. Asus CEO Jerry Shen has now revealed that Eee PCs with voice-recognition functionality will be ready by the end of 2009.

"The first Eee PC or Eee Top products implementing voice-recognition and features will be ready by Q3/Q4 2009 – with our dedicated development team working with third parties in both Japan and the US and reporting directly to me. So this is something we will see very soon, later this year." Shen told Tech Radar.

Asus will have to come up with a truly remarkable voice-recognition technology to even pose a threat to our beloved keyboard.

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Posted 10/23/08 at 08:12:59 AM by Pulkit Chandna

ASUS CEO Jerry Shen discussed the Eee PC range at great length during an interview given to Laptop Magazine. He pegged all-time Eee PC sales – it has just completed its first year in the market -   at around 4 million units. Shen confirmed rumors that the first batch of touch panel Eee PCs will become available by early 2009, but withheld details of the touch-sensitive netbooks.

He disclosed that the 7-inch Eee PC has performed very well till now. Shen rejected the possibility of an Eee PC with a screen size in excess of 10 inches. He argued against the notion that its Eee PC range has pushed all its other notebooks to the background. Finally, Shen said that Eee PCs running Windows 7 will become available in mid-2009.

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Posted 08/25/08 at 04:54:15 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Intel Atom sales have defeated the company’s own expectations and put netbook manufacturers like Asus in a quandary. As Intel finds it difficult to meet the staggering demand for the diminutive Atom, Asus has decided that it is going to use the older Celeron M processors in its lower-end Eee PCs. An unnamed source told PC World that Asus Eee 901, 1000 and 1000H models are going to get top priority when it comes to Atom supplies.

This means that the Asus Eee PC 2G, 4G, 900, 900A, 904HD and 1000HD models are going to feature Celeron M processors. However, it needs to be mentioned that some of the above models already employ Celeron processors. By using the cheaper Celeron M processors Asus also intends to keep costs low. According to PC World, Intel expects to catch up with demand by Q3 2008.

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Posted 06/30/08 at 08:03:21 PM by Pulkit Chandna

The ultra-portable laptop market is abuzz with launches and manufacturers plan to target the mini-desktop market in the same vein. Although MSI Wind mini-laptop’s U.S launch has been delayed slightly, MSI is going ahead with plans to launch a business version of its Wind mini-desktop in Asia and Europe. However, the mini-desktop that is thrice as small as a normal PC will not be sold in the U.S.

The specs on the power-efficient desktop remain similar to the Wind laptop: a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom, up to 2 GB DRAM, 160 GB hard disk storage, and WiFi 802.11b/g to keep you connected. It comes with Microsoft Windows XP. Unlike the Wind mini-laptop it has an in-built DVD drive. But just like its portable cognate from the MSI stable, it is highly power-efficient and consumes 7 times less power than other desktops.

The top-end version is priced $299 and the base model has a $199 price tag.The commercial launch of the small desktop will not happen until August and only business users will be able to lay their hands on this slender desktop in July, as MSI expects them to be set its cash registers ringing.

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