The first Asus netbook was a model with a 7 inch display. The Eee PC 701 was successful enough as a product to kick-start the netbook revolution, but it had a low resolution screen and a cramped keyboard. So about half a year after its launch, Asus introduced a series of models with 8.9 inch displays, and later that same year the Eee PC got one more size bump with the launch of the Eee PC 1000H and its now-standard 10 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display.
So you might think that the whole 8.9 inch screen thing was nothing more than a phase Asus was going through while trying to find the ideal screen, keyboard, and overall case size for a netbook. But it looks like Asus isn’t done with the 9 inch netbook. A few weeks ago we spotted a new model called the Eee PC 900AX on the FCC web site. And as expected, it turns out that what we’re looking at is a brand spanking new Eee PC netbook with an 8.9 inch display.
Asus added a product page for the Eee PC 900AX to recently. And I have to say, the spec sheet reads like something straight out of 2008. The notebook has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 CPU, 1GB of RAM, an 8.9 inch, 1024 x 600 pixel display, 802.11b/g WiFi, 0.3MP webcam, a 4 cell battery, VGA output, mic, headphone, and Ethernet jacks, and 2 USB ports. It weighs about 2.5 pounds. Oh yeah, and it also runs Windows XP.
All in all, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Eee PC 900AX is essentially the same computer the company was selling in 2008 as the Eee PC 900A or Eee PC 901. Maybe Asus found some extra units in a warehouse somewhere and decided to slap a new name on them. Or maybe there’s some extra feature hidden away that I’m just not seeing.
There’s no word on when or where the Eee PC 900AX will be available or how much it will cost. But while the 10 inch netbook has become the de facto standard, I know there are some people out there who really prefer the smaller size and lighter weight of 9 inch models, so you might be able to take heart in the fact that Asus is at least still thinking about smaller netbooks.
Update: The user manual is now available. There doesn’t contain too many surprises, but does confirm that there are only 2 USB ports. It also looks like you get a single headset jack with mic and headphone capabilities instead of separate jacks for each. The touchpad supports multitouch gestures.
via Notebook Italia
I wrote several books with my EEE 900, but when I went to 11 and 10 I lost my appetite to write, they’re too big for working everywhere like the old 9 inch
The 9″ netbook is a good size. They really need to figure out how to improve the keyboard, though.
Technically, the T91/T91MT resurrected the 9″ Asus netbook, which is one of the reasons I like mine so much. 10″ netbooks are just too big. =)
Almost every other 10″ netbook is the same as 9″ asus netbooks. Just saying.
This looks identical to my 900HA except for losing one USB port. Nothing wrong with bringing back the 900HA as it is the optimum 9 inch netbook. But why only two USB ports?
I’m one of those people! I love my 901 and 10″ netbooks are bigger than I’d like.
I don’t know if this is just a typo, but the N270 is 1.6 Ghz, not 1.66. Is it possible that this is the N450 processor? I believe that is clocked at 1.66Ghz, which would make this an ‘update’ even if it is a minor one. (I checked the ASUS website, it seems it is just a typo on this site). Another thing that is strange is you mention 2 USB ports, whereas my 901 (and I believe the 900 series as well) all have 3 USB ports (Update – pictures on the ASUS website confirm only 2 USB ports, strange they would change that). The last difference is that the original 900A (and 901) had SSDs, whereas the 900HA had a HDD. (Update) The keyboard has also been updated to the chicklet style, whereas the 900HA had the traditional style keyboard. The bezel around the camera is a little different. They also removed one of the audio jacks, so you can only have either headphones OR microphone, not both at the same time (a la Macbook).
My ideal netbook : 9″ matte screen, matte finish case, multitouch trackpad, >=6 cell battery, two separate mouse buttons, Ion 2, and that rumored dual core netbook Atom. I might buy two of those.
Yup that’s a typo. I’ve gotten very used to typing 1.66 lately.
Sent from my Google Nexus One
Product page also indicates it only has a single mono speaker… When Asus goes budget model, they really go budget it seems.
I’d much prefer my 901’s to this release but having a 9″ option is better than none I suppose…