News Bits: New Eee PC with Linux Gets Expensive, HP Mini-Note Gets XP, MSI Wind Gets Pricing

Hitachi introduces 320GB 7200RPM hard drive

Hitachi today introduced its new TravelStar 7K320 hard drive with 320GB of capacity and a 7200RPM rotational speed. Hitachi says the drive is 12 percent faster and consumes 22 percent less power than its precedessor, the 200GB 7200RPM 7K200.
The 7K320 will retail for $220.

Full Story (TheRegister.co.uk)

Linux Eee PC 900 more expensive than Windows version

Image credit: APCMag

ASUS announced at the Eee PC 900 lauch event in Sydney, Australia, that the Windows version will retail for less than the Linux version. The Windows version will retail for $599 price tag and the Linux version $649. In order to compensate for the license cost, the Windows version will only have 12GB of storage compared to the Linux version's 20GB.

Full Story (APCMag.com)

MSI Wind gets a $610 price tag

Image credit: UMPCPortal

The MSI Wind has finally received a price tag: $610. It will come with the following featuers:

• 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor (assumed)
• 10.2-inch LED-backlit display
• Windows XP Home Edition
• 80GB 2.5-inch hard drive
• 1GB RAM
• WiFi/Bluetooth
• 1.3 megapixel webcam

Full Story (UMPCPortal.com)

Dell to replace incorrect Vostro keyboards in Europe

Dell shipped a number of new Vostro notebooks to customers in Europe last week with the wrong keyboard layout. Today, the company issued an apology and says it will replace all of the keyboards.

Full Story (Direct2Dell.com)
Via (ChannelRegister.co.uk)

XP versions of HP 2133 Mini-Note priced

Later this month HP will introduce Windows XP versions of its 2133 Mini-Note for $729 and $829. The $729 version buys a 1.2GHz VIA processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 120GB hard drive. Another $100 nets a faster 1.6GHz processor, 2GB of RAM, and 160GB of hard drive space.

Full Story (HP2133Guide.com)
Via (Engadget.com)

 

For the EeePC, is that 12GB/20GB of SSD storage or 4GB SSD + *GB SDHC?

 

The pricing on the HP2133 is creeping higher and higher. The design and materials fantastic, but a VIA processor??? Even a Celeron would be an improvement (heck, an AMD Sempron would probably be a step up). Before I'd shell out $829 for the HP2133, I'd spend about the same on the tx2000-series 12.1" tablet.

 

The prices for those UMPC's are just rediculous.

 

if they offer intel proc in HP,i ll buy it at once...why they dont do that?

 

You get a 4GB SSD soldiered on and then either an 8GB or 16GB mini pcie SSD card.

 

This is stupid, the Linux eee should be cheaper than the Windows one.

Windows license increases cost, but less flash disk space
Linux license no cost, more flash disk space

So typically costs should be balanced. What the hell is wrong with Asus?

 

Wasn't the Ecc PC 900 supposed to retail for 549? Now the XP version is going for 599, and the Linux for even more?

The MSI is costing over $600? It's nice, has bluetooth, but its expensive.

Looks like all the waiting and excitement has so far turned out to be a dud. bleh. $600 is waaaay to close to the price of a real laptop. I'll return to lugging around my more powerful laptop and those companies can keep their units.

 

Man, MS really wants to get rid of those XP licenses.

 

I think they'd rather make no profit or almost none on XP than having people experiencing Linux and sticking with it.

 

Jeez... why can't a freaking company come out with an ultraportable under $500??? More than $500 I think is just too expensive...
For that amount you might as well just spend more and get a decent 12.1 in. laptop instead...

 

At those prices sales of these UMPCs will definitely flop. Manufacturers will just blame it on a lack of consumer interest rather than the ridiculous prices.

 

Asus is beginning to price itself out of relevance. They need to keep it below $500 to even be a consideration.

 

Will the MSI Wind be released in America? I don't think MSI has a real presence here, at least with their notebooks anyways. Probably won't find them in the large computer retailers.

It looks quite nice, but I worry about the Atom processor, which a lot of people are impressed about. I hear its performance is acceptable, but dissapointing compared to the Celeron ULV's used in the EEE for example.

What is the deal with the EEE's price creeping higher and higher as with all the other competitors? Sure some are also packing in extra features but still...

 

The MID (Mobile Internet Device) is targeted at consumers; UMPCs are targeted at businesses; they are not very comparable products. It will be interesting to see whether or not the MIDs affect UMPC sales anyway though.

The MSI Wind is being sold as an export only at this time from the UK, there is no word on a US release.

Apparently ASUS found that consumers are willing to pay a bit more for these Mobile Internet Devices so they jacked the price. Some of the price increase was necessary because of the larger panel size and increased memory.

A 1.6GHz Atom is like a 1.0GHz Pentium M according to a few benchmarks, so it does really well for its TDP (0.6 to 2.4W) and cost ($30 - $45). I'd take the Atom over a Celeron ULV any day.

I'm personally waiting to see what comes of the ECS G10IL:
http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/NewsRoom/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=1133&MenuID=13&LanID=0

 

I'll have to disagree. Yes, the price now is approaching the cost of "real" laptops but they are still not nearly as portable as these units. And I still find them cheap, but one reason is probably because I bought a $1500 Vaio TZ (and the lowest end model at that).

Sadly, I have realized that most (if not all) I do with my TZ can be done with the Wind and I think in the near future, I will dump the TZ and get the Wind (or similar) and a desktop for the price of my Vaio. And I like the Wind is smaller than my TZ and sometimes even find my TZ a bit too big. Man, I love ultraportables and sub-notebooks. I dunno how I managed to own 14-15" notebooks in the past without going insane. God those beasts are disgustingly huge.

I find the prices on the new EEE and similar notebooks fully reasonable because still consider their portability compared to the $600 14 and 15" notebooks. I am willing to sacrifice the extra power and usability of a $600 Dell or HP and leave that to a desktop. I want something I can fit in my invisible man-purse, its my crazy lifestyle.

 

there all too expensive. few hunderd more get a real pc. or a few hundred less get a pda. they might be small. and i really dont see how you could see it otherwise.

 

Manufacturers know that there are no winners in the race to the bottom.

 

its too expensive!!! the screen bezel is HUGE too! no dvd-drive how do i reinstall the unit?

after the last time i try a $900 PDA... never again i'll buy a gimmick such as this.

 

just for clarification, xandros costs money, many linux distros are free, but xandros is not. a personal license for xandros costs $100.00, so that may give you some understanding on why theres not a huge savings on the linux eee

 

Haven't you heard of an external dvd drive?

 

The $599 price tag quoted in the article for the eee PC is in Australian dollars which at today's exchange rate is about $565 US. I expect the US release will still be at $549 US.

 

Asus realising Linux is worth more than Windows?

 

Who actually uses their DVD drive anymore? Seriously, when I want a game, I'll buy it on steam. When I want music, I'll buy it on itunes. Software... same thing. Download it, install it, store it on the external drive. About the only thing I use my DVD drive for is burning movies (backups, I can't stand lending out my precious dvd collection), which i wouldn't want to do on a eee style pc anyways.

 

I don't either, but wobble987 was wondering how to install apps without a built-in DVD drive and so said just get an external DVD drive for the EEE, for the few times you need it.

Yes, I'd much rather have two hard drives in my notebook than a hard drive and DVD drive. Much rather have a 2.5" HDD instead than my pokey 1.8" HDD and a DVD drive I never use.

 

A dell vostro 1310 Celeron with slightly better specs is being advertised on RFD in Canada going for $449.

* Intel Celeron M M540 (1.86GHz, 1M L2 Cache, 533MHz FSB)
* Windows XP Home Edition or Windows Vista Home Basic
* 13.3 inch UltraSharp™ Wide Screen XGA LCD Display w/TrueLife™
* 1GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz, 2 DIMM
* 160G 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
* 8X DVD+/-RW with double-layer DVD+/-R write capability, Data Only
* IntelJ Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100
* Dell Wireless 1395 802.11g Wi-Fi Mini Card
* High Definition Audio 2.0
* 1 Year Basic Limited Warranty plus 1 Year Mail-in Service
* 58 WHr 6-cell Lithium Ion Primary Battery

I would have to say, for $100 less, I'm willing to sacrifice the ultra portable and go for a portable.

Hopefully the Wind falls in price soon, or Acer, ECS or Gigabyte bring something cheap. I wanted to get the Wind since it has BT, but not that price.

 

If those specifications on the Wind ends up being true, I'd rather pay an extra ~$50 for it over the ASUS.

 

Exactly!! How does someone reinstall with this type of machine??

 

it was already stated.... with an external drive

 

New Info!

MSI Wind coming to US in June, 10-inch version only. $399 for Linux or $549 for XP.

http://blog.laptopmag.com/msi-wind-revealed-10-inch-mini-notebook-to-hit-us-in-june
http://jkkmobile.blogspot.com/2008/05/msi-wind-us-specs-and-prices.html
$399 Linux version:

10 inch LED 1024 x 600 screen
1.6Ghz Atom with 512MB RAM
80GB HDD
6 cell battery
Novel’s SUSE Linux

$549 XP version:

10 inch LED 1024 x 600 screen
1.6Ghz Atom with 1GB RAM
80GB HDD
Bluetooth
6 cell battery
XP Home

 

$400, now we can start talking.
but I read the Linux version will come with a 3 cell battery, and has no BT. I wouldn't want to pay for a version of XP Home when I have XP Pro.

But if that is the real price, then I can't wait to see what Dell and Acer manage to pull out.

 

Just wondering, why can't I start a new thread in this sub-forum? Do I need permission from a mod or something? I wanted to post some news from HardOCP about PC Club/ClubIT going under.. also if I wanted to do a review here how should I go about doing it? Email it to a mod?

edit: link! http://www.hardocp.com/news.html?news=MzIzNjksLCxoZW50aHVzaWFzdCwsLDE=