We heard rumors a while ago that Asus was consolidating its netbook lineup, and possibly eliminating its 7 and 9 inch models in the UK to make room for the popular Eee PC models with 10 inch displays. But I didn’t see this one coming at all. Register Hardware is reporting that Asus plans to phase out everything but the Eee PC 1008HA, Eee PC 1005HA, and a yet-to-be-announced Eee PC 1000 series netbook.

If the story is accurate, come July those will be the only three Eee PC netbooks targeted at UK consumers. The soon to be released Eee PC T91 with an 8.9 inch touchscreen display will reportedly be targeted at educational markets and not consumers. But it’ll be time to say goodbye to existing popular netbooks like the Eee PC 1000HE, with its astonishing 7-9 hour battery.

While I do think that Asus went overboard with the sheer number of netbooks it released between 2007 and 2008, I’m not sure this particular consolidation makes much sense. First, Asus would be limiting its product line to three new units, at least two of which are a major departure from any of the company’s current netbooks. Second, the company put a lot of time and effort into refining the Eee PC 1000x series. The Eee PC 1000HE includes an excellent keyboard and battery. It could stand to lose a few ounces in weight, but I certainly hope that the unnamed new netbook from Asus isn’t too radically different from the 1000HE.

I reached out to the US Asus office to see if the same consolidation would be taking place here. The response is that “every market is different” and that some models would  be available in different markets, and “what happens in the UK is not a global roadmap.”

This makes sense, since some models that Asus initially launched earlier this year, like the Asus Eee PC 1004DN, have been made available in Asia but not in the US or Europe. So while nobody is ruling out consolidating the lineup in the US, it doesn’t look like the Eee PC 1000HE is going away… yet.

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6 replies on “Is Asus UK about to kill off the Eee PC 1000HE, all 9 inch models?”

  1. I just bought the 1000HE after investigating other netbooks on Amazon and find multiple tracks kept leading to it – both in number of excellent reviews outside of and within Amazon and just some simple comparisons.

    I have a house full of Macs but wanted something very simple and cheap that I could easily drag around and find this to be a good choice.

    All of the various sales reports, blogs, etc. seem to point to this being wildly popular as well, so what gives with killing it so soon after birth? Odd and perhaps a bit premature.

  2. Isn’t the 1000HE one of the best sellers right now? I know I love mine and wouldn’t want any of the other netbooks currently on the market (except maybe the Samsungs… but they are not available in Canada). Killing the 1000HE makes absolutely no sense unless they can put another netbook on the market with at least the same battery life.

  3. Call me a fussbudget but EVERYONE needs to consolidate. There are too many netbook models now. Nearly everyone has multiple models or options and given they are so similar in power and performance all this does in confuse the marketplace.

    Netbooks should be easy. Easy to choose, easy to buy, and easy to use once you have it. All the manufactures need to pick two models, and concentrate on selling those.

    A large stone should be dropped on Dell and HP if they continue to sell Netbooks like notebooks where you slog through fifteen or twenty screen just to choose what you plan to purchase.

    I have the trebuchet if someone has a rock…

    1. I agree that consolidation needs to happen. However, it really bugs me that they’re killing off the nine inch models.

    2. I actually think that HP and Dell have the right idea when it comes to netbooks. Asus, MSI and some others have flooded the market with numerous SKUs that have minute differences, but at least HP and Dell don’t have a new model for every little modification. They just have you customize the base model instead of introducing a new one.

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