Year of the Tablet PC? ASUS Eee Tablet announced

[Osiris]

Well it seems Tablet PCs may be coming into the light after years of being a niche' market Microsoft has been unable to expand upon.

2009 with the advent of Windows 7's touch features and the push at the higher end with the Surface computing, which we are seeing pop-up more and more (in movies too no less), the newly announced Tablet PC range by ASUS consisting of 8.9 and 10" varieties may be whats needed to bump these onto the consumer masses.

If ASUS can trickle a portion of the netbook love they have created onto the Tablet market then surely its going to be a good for the platform.

So far details known, 8.9" / 10", <1Kg, Convertible tablet...built in tv tuner and gps. Those last two points have me concerned with price, which is something the Eee range has been good at keeping low - hopefully they can keep that competitive price point and deliver, although I suspect with the branding and marketing a comparatively good price (to the rest of the tablet pc market) would still have an impact. Windows XP home listed on paper, although word around CES is Windows 7 will be on them too for many obvious reasons...

Video and pics here: http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/06/eee-pc-...e-tablet-lives/

Edited January 7, 2009 by Osiris

[Linkinfamous]

I love my tablet, but I don't think I'd go any smaller than 12.1".

[portauthority]

Dell Latitude XT is the best tablet ever

[spenser.d]

I was thinking of getting a tablet after I graduate this spring. I was looking at the HP TouchSmart, but I haven't really shopped around so I don't know what else is out there and how they compare, but that'll wait until a few months from now I think.

-Spenser

[Pc_Madness]

I've been wanting a tablet for a while now...I have a 7" UMPC... too small, I don't think 9" is going to be much better

[Osiris]

I've been wanting a tablet for a while now...I have a 7" UMPC... too small, I don't think 9" is going to be much better

Might be worthy trying...I had the 7" kohjinsha SH8 tablet/umpc, then moved to a Fujitsu P1610 its only 8.9" but was quite a different device for surprisingly little more sounding space. Each to their own though. The good thing about this is I have a good feeling ASUS will maintain their competitive prices with this tablet. And if the Win7 licensing has been revampled and touch devices really are MS next big push than Win7 should also be very affordable on this devide.

Things like the HP 2710 or the Lenovo and Dells are nice tablets but too far beyond the reach of most organisations and people, especially for what they are. Thats not to say they are overpriced but you need something to get the basic consumers on board thats when more developers and manufactuers and distributors start looking at things and prices come down. Its like Microsofts Surface multi-touch technology. Whilst due to its current price its only in high end places/movies they have done a good job already supporting developers and designers to produce some very cool, futuristic and multi-touch functional apps designed to get consumers onboard as the tech dessiminates.

[Damian]

So far details known, 8.9" / 10", <1Kg, Convertible tablet...built in tv tuner and gps. Those last two points have me concerned with price, which is something the Eee range has been good at keeping low

Those are options for the T91.

I was waiting for something like this. my EeePC 701 is starting to annoy me. screen is too small.

Great for OSX 10.5/6 & Windows 7 dualboot!

Whats the battery life on this thing?

[capr]

great news... i LOVE my tablet and can't go to class without it... as a math major i have notes and random proofs EVERYWHERE this thing makes my life soo much easier when i am trying to look something up or write down something quick and not lose it in 10 minutes.... i currently have a t4220 and it's great. would totally buy this thing if it really is that light and thin...

i am a little disappointed with apple. I really wanted to see something from them specially since htey have done more with multi touch than MS at this stage... but who knows what windows 7 will bring us. i am very excited for it's launch and tablet PC opportunities.

[primexx]

Dell Latitude XT is the best tablet ever

underpowered and overpriced. the only thing good about it is its digitizers

hopefully now that win7 has multi-touch more companies will make active-passive combos. that and introduce more models, choices are really limited right now.

---

as an observation, the hinge part looks the same as their R1 tablets, I wonder if they used some of its tech in the Eee

edit: on second look, the screen frame has some resemblance too

[Angel Blue01]

Yum, especially if this thing runs Linux!

[Osiris]

underpowered and overpriced. the only thing good about it is its digitizers

hopefully now that win7 has multi-touch more companies will make active-passive combos. that and introduce more models, choices are really limited right now.

as an observation, the hinge part looks the same as their R1 tablets, I wonder if they used some of its tech in the Eee

edit: on second look, the screen frame has some resemblance too

See I think you will get the choice now that both the touch technology, multi-touch, and hopefully a competitively priced tablet are entering the market. That being said if anything I think ASUS might have been eyeing off the LG C1/P100. Looks very similar. That was in itself a great 10" tablet, and dedicated videocard was great. Wish I hadnt have sold it as they are as hard as leprechauns to find now. Anyway it had similar dimensions to this thing and was only 1.3kg when it was released about 1.5 years ago so im sure they can easily get these down to sub <1kg.

Anyone not wanting to wait, and wanting a thin, light tablet, and very professional looking - check out the HP 2710ps, come down in price heaps and second hand ones are cheap as. That was a solid tablet too although needed more hardware buttons and a better digitiser silo.

[kl33per]

I love my Tablet, it's a HP Pavilion tx2522au. I'd certainly be happy if Tablet's gained some market share, and if it comes via way of net books, I guess that's fine.

The thing that annoys me the most is applications that don't use standard Windows controls, and therefore are not automatically Tablet aware. I assume all Apple software has this problem, as they use there own Widget library, and certainly Zune and Firefox do, as they both use there own libraries. An explosion in Tablet sales would (I hope) encourage software developers to add Touch/Pen support to their applications/control libraries.