News Bits: Asus Eee in BestBuy this Month, NEC Versa gets 14.5 hours Battery, SCAN notebooks

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SCAN offers high-performance barebone notebooks

Image courtesy HEXUS

If you like building your own desktops, why not build your own notebook? SCAN, a UK-based company, is now retailing barebone notebook computers. It is up to the end user to install the CPU, memory, optical drive, hard drive, and operating system. The models start at £587 including VAT.

Read More (HEXUS.net)
Product Link (SCAN.co.uk)


NEC VersaPro laptop gets 14.5 hours of battery life

Image courtesy AkihabaraNews

The NEC VersaPro UltraLite Type VC laptop can get up to 14.5 hours of battery life on a single charge. It features an Intel Ultra Low Voltage Core 2 Duo U7500 (1.06GHz) CPU, 1GB of RAM, a 40GB hard disk, and a choice of Vista or XP Professional. Everything resides in a tiny chassis weighing only 2.11 pounds (958 grams).

Read More (AkihabaraNews.com)

Asus Eee PC to be sold in Best Buy and NewEgg this October

Asus is saying they'll give the final word on pricing for the 7&quot; screen Eee PC will come on October 16th. Initially Asus had said they'd be able to sell the device for $199, but that price point has since been revised up. Jonathan Tsang, president for sales and marketing at Asustek Computer, said that the Eee PC will be available in Taiwan on October 16th and the U.S. by the end of the month. He also added Best Buy and NewEgg will be carrying the device.

Asus had initially said the launch would be in August, so we'll see if the promised launch this month actually happens.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

Compal sees increased notebook shipments in September

Compal 's notebook shipments increased 56% on-year in September, topping out at 2.1 million units. Total notebook shipments for Q3 have reached 6.1 million units. Compal has already shipped over 16 million units this year, a 70% increase on-year. Q4 shipments this year are expected to reach 6 million units. Compal will probably ship 30 million units next year thanks to strong ordes from HP, Dell, Acer, and Toshiba.

Read More (DigiTimes.com)

 

anyone know the expected price for the Eee? less than 300 i hope, just because that will greatly improve notebook sales being as cheap or cheaper than desktops (because most poeple look at price and not specs)

 

Is the 14.5 hours of battery life just a claim or has it been proven? Nonetheless, very impressive.

 

well they could be wrong by 6 hours and i would still be quite happy

but thankfully, i really doubt they'd be off by that much

and it looks like the battery doesn't extend out at all either - though we can't really see the back but still

 

I'm waiting for the one that can do 30 years... XD

 

EEE will be at Best Buy and Newegg. Colour me interested.

I'm not pleased with the price increase or the postponement of release though.

 

The Eee looks awesome. *thinking pose* Hmm.

 

Interesting to see barebone notebooks available to allow more customization and cheaper diy sustems.

Not really into ultraportable but 14.5 hr of battery life is cool. I don't really see the point of getting a asus Eee because all you could do with it is surf the web and word processing, and its screen is too small to be comfortably used.

 

Cool... I might by the EEE PC on the 16th then.

 

I think that on the 16th they will announce the pricing of the EEE, not actually release it onto the market....

 

The Oct. 16th date refers to when the EEE will be available for purchase in Taiwan. By this time, we should learn more about the specs, possible upgrades, and pricing.

The North America release won't be until the end of the month (hopefully). But in any case, it's about time Asus =D.

 

Asus is getting horrid at hitting release dates. Cases in point: EEE, F8S, V2S (is that one out yet?), R1E, S/Z37S/E, etc.

 

XG Station anyone?

 

The V2S has already been available for awhile on Newegg. Apparently, you can overclock the CPU through the BIOS according to the one review on the site, which is somewhat redeeming considering Asus's record with horrid battery life.

But you still bring up a valid point Vivek.

As for the XG Station, I've given up hope on that ever seeing the light of day in its current form.

 

Other than the skull imprints, I like the SCAN's design. It looks pretty thin.