Asus to UK: You don’t really need a 2.5 hour battery, do you?

Asus has confirmed that the Eee PC 900 will ship in the UK with a 4400mAh battery, while customers in the US and several other markets will get a higher capacity 5800mAh battery. The Eee PC 701 2g Surf, for comparison, comes with a 4400mAh battery with an estimated life of just about 2 hours, while the Eee PC 701 4G comes with a 5200mAh battery that gets 2.5-3 hours.

In other words, UK customers will get a computer with a larger screen, a CPU that runs at its full 900MHz speed (earlier models were underclocked to run at 630 or 571MHz) and a lower capacity battery. All of this spells disaster for anyone who was hoping their ultraportable laptop would be able to run for 2 hours or more on a single charge. Maybe it’s just me, but if I have to lug a power cable with me everywhere I go to use my light weight, portable notebook, I start to think of it as a little less portable.

To be fair, this isn’t entirely Asus’s fault. A fire at an LG Chemical plant earlier this year has led to a global shortage of laptop batteries. So the company is conserving wherever they can. But it’d be nice if Asus would at least knock a few bucks off the price. As things stand, the company is trying to convince UK customers that they’re getting a good deal because the computer comes with a 2 year warranty. But which would you rather have, a 2 year warranty, or a 1 year warranty and a battery that lasts up to 30 minutes longer?

Posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008, 4:05 pm by Brad Linder

http://www.whydoineedtoenteraurl.com Oliver

I’ve been wondering if that fire is the reason why HP isn’t offering any additional/replacement batteries for the Mini.
http://liliputing.com/ Brad Linder

I like to just sneak that stuff in there under the radar.
http://mikecane2008.wordpress.com Mike Cane

Whoa! Two things there I did not know:

1) US getting the proper battery

2) The CPU runs at the full 900MHz!

WOW!
http://allabouteeepc.com Aldrin Cantos

That’s quite unfair, really. Here in the Philippines, we’ll also get the 4400 mAh. Maybe you’re right, Asus must reduce the price a bit for lower capacity batteries.
SvOlli

At least with the latest BIOS update the 900 only runs on 900MHz only when running with the AC adapter. If it runs on via battery it is downlocked to 630 MHz. Now that’s an upgrade that I would like to see for the 701…
SvOlli

At least with the latest BIOS update the 900 only runs on 900MHz only when running with the AC adapter. If it runs on via battery it is downlocked to 630 MHz. Now that's an upgrade that I would like to see for the 701…
SvOlli

At least with the latest BIOS update the 900 only runs on 900MHz only when running with the AC adapter. If it runs on via battery it is downlocked to 630 MHz. Now that's an upgrade that I would like to see for the 701…

Asus to UK: You don’t really need a 2.5 hour battery, do you?

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