This very brief bit of info from Current in Australia could be read one of two ways. Either you read it that ASUS is launching a new, tablet version of the Eee PC and you get excited about the prospect of a new sub-$400 UMPC or you take a wider view and consider that ASUS already have 3 versions of the R2 touchscreen devices already on low-power platforms, one that never launched and another two devices launching with Atom. [Click on images about for details.] The current R2E is already a very good value device and a small bit of re-engineering and re-marketing could easily see this launched as a low-cost Eee-branded UMPC. Moving an old design into a new brand to give it a boost makes total sense to me and although it wouldn’t be ‘new’, I’m sure a new price would stimulate a lot of interest.
We’re just finalising a review of the R2E which will be up next week and I’m going to follow up with a post that shows how the R2E is just a re-marketing exercise away from being an R2Eee
Via Liliputing on Twitter.
May 23rd, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Threre is competition between brands, but sometimes there is even competitions between different models within a brand.
R2E vs R50a
Interesting competition
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May 23rd, 2008 at 5:31 pm
If there’s an Eee tablet, you won’t be able to buy it with Windows XP. Microsoft, in its infinitesimal wisdom, won’t let manufacturers put XP on something with a touchscreen!
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May 23rd, 2008 at 5:42 pm
You can get XP until 2009 through system builder program + people will have stock of licenses I guess.
I don’t expect it to dissapear on 1st July.
S.
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May 23rd, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Very interesting indeed. It looks like we may have to wait until Computex to find out if it’s a re-branding or an entirely new build.
- UMB
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May 23rd, 2008 at 7:27 pm
To admin: what’s a “system builder” and what’s an “OEM”? I get the impression “system builer” is a small number of big manufacturers, and most manufacturers would count as OEMs, and so can’t supply XP beyond the end of June. I would love to be wrong, ie I’d love to be told definitively what a system builder license is!
I bang on about this some more (with references) at post 27 here:
http://www.umpcportal.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=2664&start=15
I don’t think the ULCPC extension helps, either. No touch screens. And for UMPCs generally, no processors faster than 1Ghz. NB the Atom has a special get out for this, but - incredibly - only for the desktop version of the Atom, not the UMPC version. I’d find the link for this, but I’m dragging the thread way off topic. Sorry.
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May 23rd, 2008 at 11:06 pm
@peejay - OEMs are Original Equipment Manufacturers. They build hardware.
System Builders assemble systems from parts manufactured by others. System Builders are your local custom PC builders. There are not very many UMPC System Builders.
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May 24th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
I would prefer an dual active and passive if asus made a tablet.
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