(image borrowed from Asus.com)
I have been an Asus fan for long as I can remember. While I was working for a Lopez-owned firm some 6 years ago, I remember having been issued an Asus laptop for product presentations while traveling to different parts of Visayas and Mindanao. I even checked the Asus laptop in along with regular baggage (without the “fragile” sticker) hoping that the darn thing will break so that I can get my hands on the company’s latest HP Compaq notebooks. I failed miserably following the fact that this particular Asus laptop was in good service condition, until it got stolen 3 years later, which was a few months before I left the company. No, I didn’t steal it. However, a few years later when I was in the market for buying my personal laptop, guess which brand I got? Definitely not the HP Compaq because I never got my hands on one.
Forgive me for the dearth of images, my camera broke down during the launch event. I assure you that the image you see at the top is pretty much the very same EEE Top pc that is going to hit the local market, and for sure, it will be a big hit indeed. I personally own 2 Asus computers, one is the A9RP, which runs on Celeron, quite the dinosaur but still works like a charm, and an EEE pc 701, 4GB, my first netbook and my wife is loving it! Due to my personal experience with Asus I am shamelessly telling you, dear reader, that it is the pc to get. My personal reasons for my brand loyalty to Asus is because it is reasonably priced, decently speced and unbelievably durable.
I was thinking of getting the Asus EEE box, which also runs on the Intel Atom processor and saves a lot space. However, when I saw the EEE top, I gradually changed my mind. Though there is no need for a mouse because you can tap the screen as you go, a mouse is still provided with the basic package. Judging from it’s looks, it’s a Mac knockoff. I don’t think techies will argue with me on that. However, the price, performance and power are uniquely Asus. At P32,800.00 (US$698.00) it’s a little pricey for a pc for just the kids and the seniors. No optical drive but it can be had as an option. Because it runs on an Intel Atom processor, don’t expect it to run Vista smoothly. However it is designed to run on Windows XP and it does purr and hum on XP giving you more mileage than expected. Some techies say that it’s bland or that it doesn’t have enough processor muscle to work as a home pc, but rather for kids who surf and chat and seniors who are basic users. Come to think of it, how much else do we, ordinary people, use computers for? We surf and chat and are mostly basic users. Not all of us really need the woes of Windows Vista or the super computing power of Core 2 Duo processors with through-the-roof specs. Photoshop is nice but do we all need it? Gamers might find it sputtering on higher gear, but this is just not the pc for them. The EEE Top is for you and me, ordinary users who surf a lot and work on MS Office for school projects, homework and email.
By the way, for those who might miss the user-friendliness of the Linux-based EEE netbooks, Asus engineers have inserted proprietary software that allows you easily access your most frequently used programs as a set of large icons on the screen.
Check out the specs of the new EEE Top below and maybe, just maybe, you’ll like what you’ll see.
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LCD
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15.6″ 16:9 Wide Panel
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OS
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Touch Screen
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CPU + Chipset
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Intel Atom N270 + 945 GSE
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Memory
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DDR II 1GB
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HDD
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160G SATAII 5400rpm
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Graphics
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On board graphics
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Build-in Camera
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1.3M pixel Web camera
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Mic
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Array Mic
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LAN
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10/100/1000 Mbps
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Wireless
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802.11 n
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Audio
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4W Hifi speaker x 2 + SRS Premium Sound System
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Side IO port
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USB 2.0 x 2, card reader (SD/MMC/Memory Stick)
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IO port
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3 audio ports for 5.1channel :
a. Microphone port in ß> Center/Bass
b. Line in ß> Sur R/L
c. Line out ß> Front
- Gigabit LAN x 1,
- USB 2.0 x 4,
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Power Supply
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19Vdc, 3.42A, 65W power adaptor
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Battery
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N/A
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Net Weight
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4.3KG
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