Asus EeePC - 8 and 9 inch this year + Eee 801 pic

Asus, creator of the interesting EeePC - an ultraportable, ultra-affordable notebook computer aimed at students, has announced that it will be manufacturing these little wonders in 8, and 8.9 inch forms - so basically 8 and 9 inch screens.

At the same time, Asus also announced that the EeePC 701 could be configured to work in the US with Sprint Nextel's XOHM WiMAX service (standard wireless speed internet anywhere). Don't expect that for down under until Telstra introduces WiMAX on the Next G network, which we don't think will be soon.

Asus, however, didn't have the EeePC 801 or the Eee 901 on display - however, a Taiwanese blog called Pixnet has managed to get its hands on an 8" 801 model, compared next to a 7" 701.

They certainly look similar - same size and footprint, only the 801 uses more of the colossal space on the lid for a bigger screen. I certainly feel that the 801 looks 'cleaner' as gone is the black speaker grille around the screen - it's now white.

Whether these pictures represent the final product, we'll find out in Q2 2008 (April-June), when Asus is slated to officially release the new Eees.

[via Pixnet Blog (Taiwan), translated page]

Acer introduces 'Panoramic' Aspire notebook

With CES usually comes lots of semi-impressive laptops, but this year there's only been a few standouts. This particular Aspire isn't exactly impressive, but it still deserves a bit of coverage.

Also, although it has that oh-so-special 'Panoramic' label, there's no extra screen space over any other widescreen 17" laptop, but this Acer does offer quite a few nice features and shows some reasonable specifications, at a more-than-reasonable price.

It packs an Intel Core 2 Duo T5450 processor, 250GB hard drive, 2GB RAM, 256mb of dedicated NVIDIA GeForce 8400M graphics, and 802.11g WiFi + Gigabit Ethernet, as well as Acer's now pretty standard Gemstone design and Vista Home Premium.

They say it's high definition, but we're not exactly sure what they mean, as it's not quoted as having a 1920x1200 screen. We'll have to clarify. It does come with Dolby Home Theatre sound, though, so it should be half-decent with movies.

We're a bit surprised that we haven't seen draft 802.11n WiFi in this model, but you get what you pay for. It's shipped now in the US at US$1049, currently about A$1,200 which is an absolute bargain for what this packs.

[via BusinessWire]

Could this be the Palm Drucker, aka new Treo 750?

Bill Gates just now delivered his 12th and final keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show - and a device, looking very much like a bulked-up Palm Treo 500 or perhaps a Centro, was flashed behind him with an array of other Windows Mobile devices.

This could certainly be the 'Drucker' we heard all about yesterday - see Smartmobile's post.

Stay tuned for more information when it comes.

[via Engadget]

Huge HP Media PC + display announcement

HP only minutes ago outed an almost overwhelming amount of media centre PCs: expect more details soon - here's the products: (in-depth looks available by clicking the model links)

Computers / Servers:

• Pavilion a6330f - 2.8GHz Athlon 64 X2
• SL4282N & SL4782N HDTVS - Media Centre platform, 1080p, 802.11n WiFi
• Pavilion Elite m9150f - HD DVD, 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad, 3GB RAM, 720GB HD, LightScribe, 802.11g
• Pavilion m8330f - 2.2GHz AMD Phenom quad-core CPU, 3GB RAM, 640GB HD, LightScribe
• MediaSmart Receiver - TV media manager. Extender for Media Centre powered, DivX, XVID, 802.11n
• Pavilion Slimline s3330f - Blu-Ray/HD DVD! 2.8GHz Athlon dual-core, 2GB RAM, 500GB HD, 1x disc bay with LightScribe, 802.11g.
• Media Vault (Pro) mv2100 & mv5100 Servers - Linux powered, not Home Server. One or two 500gb or 750gb hard drives depending on model. 2x USB, Gigabit Ethernet.

Displays:

• 22" w2207h - 1680x1050, widescreen, 5-millisecond response, VESA support, HDMI, VGA, one-touch brightness / contrast setting change
• 24" w2408h - 1920x1200, widescreen, ambient light sensor, 4x USB, otherwise same as w2207h.

Again, more info, and a more detailed rundown on each product will be posted shortly.

Australian price estimates will also be thrown in as pricing is currently only available in US$.

+ Expect to see more of these during CES.

[via Engadget, Ubergadget]