In the video below, you can see the Android OS—originally designed for mobile phones—boot up relatively quickly and take full advantage of the laptop’s built-in HSDPA. Yes, you heard that right, a laptop:

Featured at the recently concluded Computex, it’s obvious that Google needs to change at least one thing: you don’t tell a laptop owner to turn of his or her “phone”. Interesting though how the apparently unvarnished version of the OS automatically adapts to a laptop’s larger-than-mobile resolution. According to the video’s uploader, Asus was publicizing their own Android-based laptop, but reportedly chose not to showcase a demo unit.

Compal, the company behind the laptop, is known as the outsourced manufacturer for big brands like Dell and HP. It specializes in the production of notebooks and computer displays.

Wow, Asus was really active last year! According to the Wall Street Journal, Asus released a new Eee model every six weeks. A little too much you might say? Asus chairman and founder, Jonney Shih agrees with you:

“We might have offered too many models because of our competitive engineering culture,” Mr. Shih said, adding that the company won’t repeat this mistake. This year, Asustek plans to release three new versions.

Aside from competitiveness, another reason cited for this rapid pace of release makes sense: Asus realized that customers weren’t really going for the original Eee’s relatively miniscule keyboard and lack of hard drive.

In any case, the WSJ story relates a classic tale. A small company strikes gold with a big innovation, then struggles to keep up as competitors with more clout start establishing themselves within the same market (Can anyone say “Internet Explorer”?). But Asus won’t go down fighting, and if Jonney Shih and co. continue displaying the inventiveness that led to the Eee, I don’t think Asus’ future in the market they created looks bad.

The man behind Liliputing put an Asus Eee Top ET1602 through its paces, especially detailing what was possible through the touch-sensitive display, and coming up with the following conclusion.

The Eee Top is an interesting machine. It looks like an iMac, but runs like a netbook — with a touchscreen display. I think it’s plenty powerful enough for day to day use if you spend most of your time on a computer using web browsers, editing office documents, making Skype calls, and other light weight tasks. If you need a machine that can play video games, handle high definition video, or even full screen web video playback, the Eee Top might not be for you.

I do agree with another point of Liliputing: why spend $500 on a desktop with somewhat limited specs—even if it boasts a touch screen—when there are more powerful desktop-display combos available at a lower price?

For those who are still interested buyers though, you can buy the Eee Top ET1602 from Amazon. Available in black and white variants.

(image courtesy of Asus)

“I got the game running (sic) on my small 10″ 1.6Ghz Intel Atom based laptop with GMA Intel 945 Chipset.”

Thus began the interesting—but unverified—account of Steam user “The Neighbor”, who describes the results of his tweaks as instructed by a Steam forum thread (which apparently details how to run games on the dreaded integrated Intel GPU).

More of an experiment rather than a desperate penny-pincher trying to get the popular multiplayer shooter running on his basic netbook, the tweaks hardly produce an optimum gaming experience. Neighbor warns that framerates drop to as low as 10 per in outdoor environments, and that the “Discolorations with the characters is bad that you sometimes can’t tell the enemy. (sic)”

Still, chalk one up for Filipino ingenuity! It’s not the kind of original thinking that Takipsilim-haters would love to see, but any Filipino who steps up always makes me teary-eyed.

(reprinted with permission from Technograph)

That’s right folks! An enterprising member of the eeeuser forums has found a way to give the Asus Eee PC 901 HSDPA.

The instructions, stripped down for the layman, involve opening up the netbook, installing a HSPA or EVDO miniPCI-E card, and setting it up properly in the OS. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, can we expect an add-on kit from Asus? (And how does this mod affect the Eee’s battery life?) While you’re waiting though, feel free to check out the complete how-to here.

A pretty simple—if somewhat overused—premise. Why not hack an Asus Eee PC 1000H so that it can run on supposedly the best OS around, Mac OS X?

Easier done than said. The staff of The Cult of Mac is probably going apeshit over their newest toy, an Asus Eee PC 1000H that runs on Mac OS X. Interesting how those dock icons practically fill-up the entire low-resolution screen. And what about performance?

“Performance is on par with my MacBook,” says Gilbertson. “Benchmark-wise, I think it comes in around the equivalent of a G5.”

Ha Apple! Expect mass defections as people decide to go for the cheap Asus alternative. Oh wait, maybe that’s why you prohibit people from installing your dear OS on non Apple machinery, right?

1. Click on the link below:
   More Savings on Some of the Hottest Laptops at Newegg.com
   
2. Look for the “ASUS M50Vm-X1″. Click on it.
3. To verify, click on “Specifications” and see if the “Memory Size” is “4GB DDR2″ and that “Video Memory” is “Dedicated 1024MB”
4. Click Add to Cart
5. $1199.99 + $16 3-day Shipping = $1,215.99

That’s all you have to do! Though take note, as a 15.4″ laptop, the Asus M50Vm-X1 isn’t as portable as say, the Dell Inspiron Mini 9.

That’s because Asus is coming with, get this, fragrant laptops!

Ok, this is totally weirding me out. What is it with smelly gadgets? I like the USB Fragrance Oil Burner but to have your laptop have a fragrance is just totally (again) weirding me out.

I mean seriously, what if the fragrance runs out? I’m sure it’s going to leave some weird residue smelling scent, hahaha.

Well my dear, this probably means laptops are becoming ubiquitous as pens. Remember when we were kids and scented ballpoint pens were all the rage? This is the next-generation version baby!

Now go read the Gadgenista’s post on this development (for the specs and more pertinent details)—before you agitate her further!

** NO PICS UNTIL SOME ISSUES ARE SORTED OUT**

The guys at Engadget get to play the new 8.9 errr 9.0 inch (who cares? its bigger) Asus Eee PC at CeBIT 2008 in Hannover. Lucky them. There is some similar traits between the 7 inch version and this 9 inch wonder ( is it called Eee PC 900? ) Its gonna be having a quoted 2.5 to 3 hours of battery life, hit shelves mid 2008 with a 8GB and €399 price for the 12GB model. Nice compact model with higher capacities.

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