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Asustek Delays Shipments of Low-Cost Eee Notebooks to Improve Software Features.

Category: Mobile

by Anton Shilov

[ 09/26/2007 | 11:08 PM ]

Asustek Computer will not release its already well-known Eee sub-notebooks this month, as previously planned, as the computer maker decided to improve functionality of the pre-installed software. Still, the world’s largest mainboard manufacturer intends to commercially launch the product no later than in November.

After the Eee PC was tested outside the company, Asustek reportedly received complaints regarding the lack of rich software bundle that Asus laptops are known for. As a result, the company decided to delay the shipments and to install more Linux-based software on its low-cost sub-notebooks, reports DigiTimes web-site. The decision will indisputably make the device much more attractive to end-users.

But despite of the setback, the company still plans to start shipments of its Eee PCs this year and ahead of One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) non-profit organization, who promises to be in position to ship its XO laptops in November. Therefore, Asus Eee laptops may become available in October or November.

Asus Eee PC 701, one of the first base configurations of the Eee PC, is based on Intel mobile chipset and microprocessor, supposedly Intel 910 chipset and Intel Celeron M ULV 353 (900MHz). The notebook is equipped with 512MB of PC2-3200 (DDR2 400MHz) memory and 2-16GB of flash memory instead of the hard drive. The Eee PC will feature 7” screen and 800x480 resolution, three USB ports, audio jacks, 10/100Mbps port and wireless WiFi (802.11b/g) interface, as well as a 56K modem. The device will also be equipped with a card-reader and a 0.3Mpixel web-cam.

The first Asustek Eee PCs are projected to cost between $199 and $369, depending on hardware configuration as well as the region the devices are sold in. However, there is currently no information regarding exact price and configurations.