While accurately describing the sound geeks make when opening a box of brand new kit, Asus"s "eee" brand is also a heavy hitter when it comes to thin, light and mobile offerings. Although known for their netbooks and net-top devices, Asus announced their entries to the tablet market back at Computex in June and is finally laying down proper details for their iPad-killing wares.
Asus plans to release more than one eeePad with the lower, 8 to 10 inch models starting at less $399. Android powered and targeted directly at iPad, this device is not only cheap but will fill the gap between Asus"s power line up of fully fledged tablets as well.
Android seems to be just the beginning for Asus, with a cryptically (when isn"t it) named device, Eee Pad EP121, set to slot in somewhere between netbooks and laptops performance wise. The EP121 is a 12 inch tablet that is slated for pricing at almost double that of an iPad. "If you want to compete with the iPad, you have to do more than just be less expensive," said Jerry Shen of Asus, "You have to offer more features. We want to spend more time perfecting the [Eee Pad] before we launch. We"re looking more at Q1 to launch the devices." Although priced at $1000, the device is no slouch: running Windows 7 Home Premium and featuring a Core 2 Duo processor and a docking station that turns this tablet into a laptop with full keyboard. Excitingly, this could be one of the first devices to ship with UI Centric"s game changing UI overlay, although this is purely interesting speculation.
After targeting the low and high ends, you"d think that it"d be just about time to wrap it up, yet Asus is covering the middle range as well. With a 10 inch tablet running Windows 7 Compact Embedded and powered by an ARM processor, the company is set to saturate the market all by themselves this winter.