The Eee PC T91 is one of the few netbooks we really track closely now at UMPCPortal. Most others have drifted off into the forest of 10”. 1.5KG ‘high-end’ netbook land so it’s nice to see some news on it. This time it’s about the multitouch touchscreen version.
With Win 7, 32GB of SSD (no word on the speed of that yet) and XP Home Premium (I assume that the touchscreen drivers will be tablet-enabled) you’re getting quite the deal at a pre-order price of $549.
I’m a big fan of touchscreen laptops and have really got used to flying around the UI of the Gigabyte Touchnote with a two-handed multi-touch-mousepad and screen approach but I still wonder how much extra the multi-touch would bring me. I guess it depends on the type of gestures that are included.
If JKK”s story is anything to go by, the ASUS EeePC T91 is now starting to reach customers. He’s got a retail version in his hands (U.S. version) and has already posted an unboxing video and done a good evenings live testing with the device.
I haven’t had a chance to watch the video through as I’m somewhat off the grid on a campsite in Germany (2.5G if i’m lucky!) but I tuned into the live chat session and have spoken to JKK on the phone today. Here’s what he said:
The good points:
Out of box experience better than expected
Small
Looks more expensive than it is
Solid build
Very light
Good balance mainly due to battery position.
Respectable battery life. Over 4hrs standard use.
Keyboard good
SSD could be faster but still feels faster than an HDD
Good hinge quality
Two SD card slots
The bad points
Mouse Pad is not a true multi-touch (drivers not as good)
Glossy screen
Fingerprint problems
Lower performance than 1.6Ghz Atom-based netbook. (Flash video problems) JKK states that web browsing quality is good.
I also asked JKK about value for money. He said it’s ‘really really cool’ and it has the best battery life compared to other 9″ devices. For ultra mobile users it’s one of the best netbook-style purchases out there but it’s not the best for expandable battery life.
The Asus T91 is officially available as of today. Amazon US have the T91SA-VU1X-BK up for $499 and immediate despatch. This model doesn’t have the GPS, digital TV or 3G (expect a minimum of $150 premium to get all those options if they ever become available) butit does include 802.11n and BT2.1
The first thing I’m looking for on the report is battery life…. three hours and twenty minutes of video playback. I was expecting more considering that the Viliv S5 with it’s 24wh battery, can play video for 6hrs. Maybe the video was CPU-decoded? Maybe it’s just the big screen which will be adding a big drain on the battery.
Update:
I wouldn’t really call this a review. No mention of screen brightness and battery life under normal use, keyboard quality, mousepad. I suspect this was just a 30 minute hands-on with the device but it gives positive vibes which is a good sign.
There’s an interesting line-up in the top 5 on the product portal today:
This is how the list of top 5 most-viewed devices looks on UMPCPortal today. Two UMPCs/MIDs and three low cost. lightweightm touchscreen notebooks.
The Viliv S5 has been #1 for a long time now and looks like it will stay there if recent reports are anything to go by. jkOnTheRun, Pocketables, JKKMobile, UMPCFever and yours truly have all filed positive reports based on testing experiences. Much the same is true of the UMID too. I’m guessing it would be #1 if you could actually buy one outside the Ebay channels because it seems to fit a more popular ‘microblogging’ niche than the Viliv S5. I could well be wrong on that one though so we’ll have to wait to see what the price is.
Positions 3-5 are interesting though. Over the last year, netbooks have totally dominated the UMPPortal charts with the Aspire One and MSI Wind taking the most viewings. These two both still appear in the top 10 but it’s these three new convertible touchscreen devices that are creating more buzz now.
Of the three, I personally think that the ASUS EeePC T91 is the most interesting for readers here. I was reading an advertising supplement from Stuff Magazine a few days ago and there was a lot of focus on the T91 as a Mobile Computer. They’re calling it the smallest, lightest TabletPC in the world which is actually incorrect but you can see where the marketing people are trying to push it. ‘Up to five hours’ battery life, 32GB SSD, fanless, multi-touch trackpad and GPS, 3G and DVB-T (options) in a very small sub-1kg package and an (expected entry-level) sub-500 Euros price has to be worth looking at. The same goes for the EeePC T101H although it’s not going to be as portable. Bigger disk, screen, keyboard and CPU will increase the weight, size and price up out of the cheap netbook space. I suspect it might even come in at a higher price than the Gigabyte Touchnote T1028M that I have myself. Both are excellent choices though and if the extra size, weight and price is not a consideration for you, they will be more productive than the T91.
Bubbling under in the mobile convertible space is, to my eyes, an even more interesting mobile produtivity solution though. The Viliv S7 would go head-to-head with the T91. It will weigh even less, come with a range of CPUs up to 1.8 or even 2.0Ghz and have a similar battery life and keyboard. 3G and GPS will also be options. I tested a working model at CeBIT and was impressed.
It’s fair to say that all of these devices are new, all are getting a lot of press and that their appearance on the top 5 may not be long-term but touch is moving into mainstream computing very quickly indeed and it’s good to see sub 1kg options appearing at great prices. I feel sure that these devices will be around in the top 10 for quite a while and that we’re going to see more and more devices taking touch and mobility cues from the UMPC and Tablet PC world.
We hit the ASUS booth today and WOW! About 30% of it was dedicated to the Eee PC brand. From keyboard PCs to Skype phones and every variation of netbook in between. Quite a sight to see.
Here’s a video of the ASUS T91Go the 3G/SSD version of the ASUS T91 [specifications]. The sky-lighting made it impossible to get a good shot of the user interface but you get to see the device from every angle. JKK does a good job of talking through it too.
Mobile Computer Mag had a chance to check out a prototype model of the upcoming Asus T91 tablet-netbook [Portal page] and they captured a great hardware overview, with commentary, on camera. Have a look below:
Something interesting that we see in this video is a SIM slot built into the device. As they mentioned, it isn’t clear yet if this is something they are testing, or something that will be available when the unit launches (we’re hoping for the latter). I’m excited to see the convertible tablet form factor making its way down to netbooks. It seems like a low cost tablet-netbook could be a great way to expand the tablet-PC user base. It is also good that one of the first of these that we are seeing is coming from a reputable netbook maker, Asus. It seems like it will still be a balancing act to get a good price:quality ratio compared to current netbooks when you consider the fact that you need to get the touchscreen and swiveling lid on the unit.
If you are interested to see what the software end of the netbook will look like, don’t miss this post.
Sascha of Netbooknews.de and the Ultra Mobile podcast is out in Taiwan at the moment gathering news and info on netbooks and mobile devices direct from the OEMs. He’s managed to get hold of a T91 which is one of the more exciting and most popular devices viewed on UMPCPortal. The demo shows a nice UI layer on top of XP (which suprised me. I thought the T91 UI was going to be on Linux for some reason.) Its Beta software and Sascha’s running through it with one hand but despite that, I think it looks pretty good and wouldn’t mind having it on one or two of the UMPCs around here.
At under 1KG and looking small and slick, i’m sure this going to be a big seller for mobility fans. Especially when it becomes available with 3G.
More details on the T91 in the product database.
An 8.9″ 2.1lb PC it’s not exactly the type of thing I’d like to have on my car dashboard but it seems that ASUS might be thinking that way. With GPS, touchscreen and an FM transmitter it looks like they’re going for the navigation option.
I have a similar combination of convertible with GPS on my SC3 and I can honestly say that I’ve never ever thought about using it as a PND. There are far better solutions out there. Maybe ASUS will focus on the tablet element of this one though. At 1KG, it will work well for some.
The Eee PC T91 is one of the few netbooks we really track closely now at UMPCPortal. Most others have drifted off into the forest of 10”. 1.5KG ‘high-end’ netbook land so it’s nice to see some news on it. This time it’s about the multitouch touchscreen version.
