Engadget seems to have gotten some nice hands on time with the Eee S101 [Portal page]. Their impressions were pretty lite, but identical to some that we have heard in the past. Of course the most prominent aspect of the S101 is its (relatively) high price tag of $699. Then there is that dubious tiny right shift key which couldn’t be more annoying to type with. However they did seem to like the multi-touch trackpad, the screen, and the thinness of the S101. Swing by Engadget to see the hands on impressions and the gallery.

The Asus Eee S101 has gotten its own official press page. Featured on the page are some good videos, images, and probably most importantly some release dates. On the first screen of the product page, you can roll your mouse over a bar on the left that is vertically labeled as "S101 launch schedule", and you can see when the S101 has apparently launched, or will be launched in the future, and what locales that each date corresponds to. There are some videos talking about the S101 and Eee PCs in general, and also some press photos from the initial announcement. One section of the page mentions that the S101 runs almost completely silent, and uses Asus’ exclusive "Super Hybrid Engine" to push the S101 to 5 hours of battery life.

[Electric Vagabond]

The ASUS Eee S101 is flying up the UMPCPortal charts right now and currently the 6th most viewed product in the database. Maybe it’s because it’s a very viewable product? I mean, lovely! Gorgeous even!

UMPCFever have just posted the English version of theirS101  unboxing photos and comments.

Its lighter and smaller than a Mac Book Air. It looks just as good and costs about half the price. Of course, that isn’t going to sway anyone with an Apple fetish but I bet the people you see in the coffee shop with the S101 will have a wider smile than the MBA owners. Assuming they can prize out those silly faux diamond from the hinges that is!

ASUS S101 in the database.

There’s no doubt that the low-cost netbook trend will affect pro-mobile sales. It’s likely to affect laptop sales too. People in the industry are already hinting to me that they have problems. OEMS can’t price and position pro-mobile devices with confidence and specialist resellers have problems choosing which devices to stock. They don’t want to be left with a shelf full of out-of-fashion netbooks. There are still a few areas where netbooks can’t compete with UMPCs; built-in 3G, size and weight advantages, touchscreens, alternative form factors and rugged builds which can drive some good high-margin sales but when a well known brand comes along and offers a device with reasonable mobility advantages, a known quality-level, huge battery life, built-in 3G and a great price, you have to wonder how customers, OEMs and resellers in the mobile PC market will respond. [More of my thoughts about netbooks causing industry problems in this article.]

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It was only made official a short while ago, but Mobile Computer already has a review of the Eee S101. Head over to the site to catch the full review (with plenty of pictures), or check out some highlights I pulled out below:

• "gorgeous", aesthetically pleasing
• underside looks just like the bottom of any netbook; exposed vents and internal parts cover
• keyboard identical to the Eee 1000, still has the annoyingly small shift-key to the right of the up arrow
• large trackpad that matches the lid color, single button instead of separate left/right buttons, click feels good on both ends of the button
• Windows XP version will have 16GB SSD, while Linux will have 32GB
• battery ran for 3 hours and 45 minutes on Battery Eater’s ‘classic’ test [impressive!], over 5 hours with light usage
• runs quietly [reviewers weren’t even sure if there was a fan inside], performance matches other 1.6GHz Atom Eee PCs

All of the aforementioned points show the S101 as being a quality product, however it looks like the price will be around $699. Some people may say that the price of the S101 is too high for a netbook, but I say: let’s welcome the broad range of pricing and spec options that consumers now have. Maybe this ‘higher-end’ netbook will spur other companies to bump up the quality of their netbooks, or perhaps offer premium versions of their computers.

Finally, a new Eee PC is announced that can be easily visually identified apart from its other several thousand variants. Asus seems to want to prove their dominance in the netbook area by creating a product that manages to fill the oxymoron of the ‘high-end, low-end computer’ category.

Announced several days ago is the Eee S101. Considering we are calling this a netbook, you can probably guess the specs: 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, 10.2" 1024×600 screen, and 3x USB 2.0 ports (I’ll spare you the rest of the generic netbook specs). At least the S101 throws something interesting into the mix, as it will be offering SSD storage solutions of 16/32GB and up to a 64GB SSD is rumored to be available.

This new model looks quite visually appealing with some nice rounded edges, and what appears to be brushed aluminum. The rounded edges of the screen look as though the S101 will have somewhat of a flush close similar to that of a Macbook Air. The S101 is thinner than its predecessors, and will come in brown or graphite. Check out the official images below:

[Liliputing], images from [Notebook Italia]

Answering some of the unanswered questions about the R50a, a new tablet-style ultra mobile PC from ASUS, is a review by the Spanish-language website Hispazone. Take a look at the article translation for a good 5-page run-down but don’t miss these points.

• 3.5 hours with connectivity options switched on.
• Max 50MB/s read speed on ssd. 20MB/s write.
• 3G, GPS, Fingerprint reader included.
• Included foldable USB keyboard.
• SDHC support (micro)
• No ethernet port.
• VGA out via adaptor.
• Origami Experience 2.0.

Its great to see ASUS still pushing forward with the mid-range UMPCs and moving on from the mediocre R2H and R2E products with high-end features and a slick design but it’s so sad to watch them avoiding the low-cost route. According to my sources, you’ll be paying around 1000 Euros for this which, in the current climate of belt-tightening, may not even appeal to the pro-mobile customers that are being targeted.

R50a datasheet.

Something strange is happening in the world of ASUS. In a back office, somewhere behind Eee-Towers, a product manager is battling to get the R50a out on the streets and the story that is coming through is about as clear as mud! Or should I say FUD?

Apart from the normal show appearances, we’ve seen the R50a hit the FCC (July 29th, USA) get an official press release (August 29th, Taiwan) appear in online stores in Portugal (Asus R50A-DV002C, 1019 Euro, 13th Sept, Portugal) and now, via JKKMobile, we hear that its been previewed in Germany by Toms Hardware. [translation link]

As JKK said, Vista on a 1.3Ghz Atom processor is not a great combination but if that SSD is fast, it might be acceptable. I’m still using Vista on the SC3 in certain situations and that has a relatively low-end HDD.  Remember that this had a hard-touch screen when we tested it at CeBIT and with the fingerprint reader, GPS, DVB-T (Germany) and 3G, the quoted price of 799 makes it an attractive pro-level mobile tablet. If the video codecs worked, I’d say that this would also make a nice video player but I see no evidence of any hardware decoding support out of the box (based on the Kohjinsha SC3 video playback problems) which takes away a big reason to have this device for many people. As it is, it remains targeted at pro-mobile users wanting natural input but even these users are going to have to wait for reall battery life figures before they make a purchase.

More links and details in the R50a info page.

Photo credit: Cnet Asia