The annual Computex trade show is well underway in Taipei, and local manufacturer ASUS have been showing off their newest creations. While many device makers have been moving away from Netbooks, the diminutive laptops that took the world by storm a few years ago in favour of smart devices and tablets, ASUS are sticking to their guns. ASUS, who created the Netbook market with the Eee PC 701 back in 2007 – coincidentally also at Computex – has been showing off the Eee PC X101, a slim device that will reportedly ship for a rather impressive $200.
The device, boasting a Netbook-standard 10.1″ screen, small chiclet keyboard and new Intel Atom N435 processor, measures in at just 17.6mm thick compared to the latest MacBook Air’s 17mm. It will be available with either Windows 7 or MeeGo.
Netbooks have been losing market share in the past year to tablets, which boast similar price tags and often better performance. Recent research by Nielsen found that a high percentage of tablet purchasers say they now use their netbooks less, and 5% say they have ditched them entirely. Netbook manufacturers are expecting shipments to be down by around 18% on last year as consumers move to ARM-powered smart devices.
ASUS certainly aren’t resting on their laurels in that area, having released a plethora of Android-powered mobile devices of varying form-factors. The Eee Pad Transformer tablet, released around a month ago and currently suffering chronic hardware shortages, sports a detachable keyboard that doubles as a secondary battery. The Eee Pad Slider has a smartphone-esque slide-out keyboard, and the just-announced PadFone is a 10″ tablet with a 4.3″ smartphone brain hidden within its casing, which can be removed for use as a regular handset.
So, while ASUS is certainly exploring new device types, it seems keen to rescue the Netbook market. The X101, at under half the price of an entry-level iPad, might just be priced aggressively enough to do that.
