Higher LCD Prices Lead to More Expensive Eee PCs?
October 22nd, 2007 by antAccording to this article at Digitimes, one of the main reasons for ASUS not meeting the $199 price point was because of unexpected rises in the prices of small sized LCD screens over the past year.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:01 pm
I still find this hard to believe, I think that ASUS is in dire need of an official release. There is a whole not of unofficial hearsay floating around…
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:08 pm
i’m tired of waiting… i want one now! haha… no, really, i want it bad.
October 22nd, 2007 at 10:37 pm
Bullcrap… they wanted too much and they failed. I for one am sick of waiting and decided to buy something different - a full-featured laptop as desktop replacement. Sorry Asus but we’re not dumbasses that can be commanded to wait forever until you finally decide to release something totally different than announced at a higher price than initially anticipated.
October 22nd, 2007 at 11:13 pm
GET OVER IT ALREADY.
How many times are reporters and people in general going to harp on the $199 price not being what the non-bottom end models are being sold for. It’s simply BAD reporting to write a story from this angle. So the second from the top model didn’t sell for the initially announced bottom of the line price of $199 - big deal. If the final price of the lowest end 2G is not $199 then there will be something to complain about. Wait for that, then start you complaining. Thanks and have a nice day.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:19 am
I replied once and i’ll reply again. The report is right. The original 199 price WAS for the bottom end.. but the bottom end announced initially was 4gb/512mb.. sure they said specs subject to change.. but halving the specs and taking away the camera and STILL charging a higher price.. c’mon.. that’s not deception?
October 23rd, 2007 at 2:00 am
But it’s already known that Asus has a weird kind of price policy - and actually 200 for 4G 512 LCD and a webcam would be sick, first off - almost no cash to asus itself, second - It would really be a hell of sqeezing some things to achieve that the sell price wouldn’t be smaller than the price of making one.
With 2G quite a bit less sqeezin’ but still.
October 23rd, 2007 at 3:37 am
“200 for 4G 512 LCD and a webcam would be sick”
Exactly, and that why we all wanted it at that stage…
October 23rd, 2007 at 3:43 am
yea it WAS sick.. that’s exactly what caught everyone’s attention… every paper/blog was commenting on how crazy the idea was… now it seems evident that asus did that exactly for the hype… knowingly misled all of us… that’s what people are pissed off about.
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:36 am
One major reason for price hikes in USD is that the dollar is falling. I wonder how much the price have changed measured in Euros or the chinese curreency.
Also I think the 199 USD price still holds if you are a big government buying millions.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:41 am
I just hope the 8GB version is out in the USA by December
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:48 am
http://usa.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=7405
I see no specs on the page from July other than screen size.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:59 am
Oh, other than the 2Gb SSD and WiFi…
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:10 am
Well, the hype worked good as hell. Need proof? Look at almost everybody here we saw the original prices and we saw the raising of ‘em but we still want to buy it because it’s such a unique product.
Only hope for no price bumps anymore since they’d give me a heart attack.
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:22 am
ASUS may have waited too long. The Nokia N810 is going to be pretty appealing to people wanting a little Linux machine. Admittedly, it’s less computer than ASUS will be, but it’s also going to be smaller and will probably be in the stores by the time ASUS gets around to shipping their machine.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:08 am
the LCDs are only $28? Holy shit, I thought they would be like 1/4 of the price of the laptop!
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:25 am
I finally got one here in Taipei, and this is the second batch after the first sold out. So it’s not as scarce as that previous report made it out to be. Which means for everyone in the US, be patient and wait your turn because it is indeed coming.
btw, if you’re buying a “desktop replacement” as an alternative to this, you probably wouldn’t have been happy with an eeePC anyways. It’s a great product and despite the price being raised still an awesome value, but it is limited. The main issue I have is with the resolution. The screen itself is great and very clear, but websites and software (even some of the stuff included with the computer) don’t play nice with the small screen. For example yahoo gets scrunched, while others require you to scroll horizontally. Someone with Win XP might want to elaborate on how stuff looks there, because I have a feeling a lot doesn’t fit properly. It looks like a lot of the important stuff (like OpenOffice) was worked to fit, but less important software (like games, and even OpenOffice dialog boxes) look too long for the screen, which is annoying but rarely makes it unusable.
October 23rd, 2007 at 11:56 am
the usa release date is nov 1st through newegg and best buy. that story has been out for awhile.
while it’s still not the price we were all hoping for the 300-400 price range depending on model still makes it less than half the price of similar devices.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Well, I don’t mind the prices too much.
My PocketPC cost about $350, and the EeePC will be much more useful than that.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Although I think their models are incorrect.
If you go with the correct models (2G) the price difference would be about US$60 or 18% leaving 82% of the price in question. Clearly they must have raised the price on something else more than the LCD.
With a simple mistake like that in the article, makes you wonder how legit the info really is.
October 23rd, 2007 at 12:38 pm
The story will have a climax. We all have opinions about the reasons for the price hikes, the delays, etc. It will ALL be settled soon. Was it worth the wait? Is there value for the money charged? We should have our answers on Nov 1, right? BUT… will they meet the latest release deadline, and stock the shelves of BestBuy and New Egg Nov 1 in the US? Because if they don’t then they will clearly have lost ALL credibility. And no one except the most fanatical gadget freaks will care anymore. What kind of people will continue to care? The same kind of people that camped out all night waiting for the first iPhone. The same people that Apple screwed 2 months later by cutting prices. The early adopters are the infantry shock troops of high technology. They are necessary but expendable disposable — and they die in high numbers in the first wave of any war until the situation stabilizes.
Ohhhh. I just love that analogy. I’m like another Mossberg. Really. I am.
Seriously. IF Asus punks out on Nov 1 then how can anyone trust them even after they DO eventually release? How can you trust them for ongoing support, etc.
We ALL have alternatives. And I will exercise my other options if they don’t deliver on Nov 1.
October 23rd, 2007 at 1:43 pm
@JDP:
http://www.asus.com/news_show.aspx?id=7317
October 23rd, 2007 at 4:03 pm
Re: Pricing - I think the reason it’s priced the way it is, is because consumers are price-insensitive below a certain price band, e.g. you wouldn’t care much if the price of eggs go from $1 to $2; you’d still buy them. For ultraportable laptops, a price below $500 (my SWAG) is probably inelastic wrt demand. This is marketing 101. Another has said that a possible reason for the increase is that the dollar is falling, but the chinese yuan is pegged to the dollar (it’s a safe bet that much of Asus’ manuf capacity is on the mainland), so that’s not a strong reason.
Price aside, I think it’s going to prove underwhelming for the mainstream market. First is the 7″ screen. The laptop is designed for a 10″ screen, as can be seen by all the black plastic filler around the LCD, and the 800×480 res will exclude many apps from working at full functionality, web browsing will be cramped, etc. Put another way, it can only be a secondary laptop, which begs the question: does the average joe need to have two laptops? The 10″ model will be much more functionally viable, but won’t be seen until next year.
The second issue is that it’s underpowered for Windows. Yes, it will be released for XP, but with the present specs, I can’t imagine anybody would be happy with it. Its best bet is with Linux apps, which haven’t been given any ink in its marketing hype.
Another important consideration with ultraportable is battery life. At the 2+ hrs mentioned, it’s just way too limited for an ultraportable. If you have to be tethered to an AC outlet, you might as well have a full-featured laptop for not much more money.
I think the present 7″ line will be adopted by a small number of Linux users, but the XP version is DOA, and the 10″ version next year will be contigent on pricing. Right now, it’s an underpowered device with a cramped screen and short battery life, and the low price isn’t enough to compensate for all these weaknesses.
October 23rd, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Actually “HP” you have a point about the screen but I offer one correction. The Eee can handle a screen size of up to 8.9 inches not 10 inches. There are many laptops the exact same size as this unit without CD/DVD drives whose LCD’s are no more than 8.9″.
The price and size attract me even if the low end model is $300. Asus’ ‘bait and switch’ tactic worked well on us. As far as size, I want a laptop that I can use at Starbucks and still look over the top of the monitor at the pretty girl sitting across from me… LOL
October 23rd, 2007 at 7:10 pm
I measured the diagonal of the LCD from one of the photos, and then the diagonal to the white bezel. Assuming the “inner” diag to be 7″, then 7″ / inner diag * outer diag = 9.5″. This indicates that the next LCD size will be around 10″, which also correlates with Asus’ initial announcement of a model 1001.
While I don’t think the E3 can cut it as a standalone laptop, Asus did bill it as a MID (Mobile Internet Device, per Intel’s marketing for the new portable category). Then, is it a good MID entry?
My take for MID functionality: ultra-mobile, i.e. around 4″x7″ form factor (enough to have a 7″ diag screen), with usable keyboard for 10-finger typing. It should do web browsing, e-mail, GPS, scheduler/to-do, and basic wordprocessing (using Google Docs). It should have around 6-hr battery life for full day use. Price should be under $500. The recent Nokia N810 is close to this ideal, other than the too-tiny keyboard.
The E3 fails this above MID test. First, it’s too big for an MID, and second, battery life sucks. For the mobile warrior market, it is a poor fit.
Looking at the (college) student market, it’s also not viable. A 2-hr battery means it won’t last for more than 2 (1-hr) classes. College students also need to use Microsoft Office for not only papers, but also Powerpoint presentation. It’s hard to use something like OpenOffice, because of the need for collaboration, meaning you have to have the same software as other students in your team. And I can’t imagine having to use a 7″ screen for any length of time.
The only viable market I see for the present E3 is K-3, as a starter PC for kids to learn computing basics. The low price would make it a good fit.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:04 pm
It’s going to be hilarious when they sell a shitload of these little things.
I come here time to time and 80% of the posts are why this E3 is a bad idea and they are too expensive and etc etc etc.
It’s all the same thing. I don’t know if it’s the same group of people over and over again or if it’s just the same sort of person, but it’s pretty much non-stop.
Seriously. Go back to the earliest postings on this blog and you’ll see what I mean.. it’s like a broken record.
It’s time to ask yourself.. if your not interested in this thing then why the hell are you here?
For me I know that mobility == usability and 900mhz and 512megs of ram is more then enough for Linux.
When you actually get your hands on a ultra-mobile laptop, if you never had a chance to use them before, you’ll understand why people are willing to go out and pay twice as much for half the performance of your standard 14-15 inch/6-7 pound laptop.
(and the concept of gaming laptops or desktop replacement laptops is just plain insane)
This thing has ultra-mobile laptop form factor and is dirt cheap.
Look at these things:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2030260032+103980219&name=11.1%22+and+smaller
The EEE is more then thousand dollars cheaper then the cheapest ultra-mobile laptop.
When compared to the N810 it realy depends what your looking for.
The N810 is slow enough that it’s going to limit desktop applications and it’s got a bit less resolutions and less disk space.. but better battery life and GPS and all that.
So it depends on what sort of thing you want.. a tablet vs ultra-mobile laptop.
And yes.. if you go out and find a used ultra-mobile laptop you can get better performance for a couple hundred bucks more.. and if you want to spend about 1500 on a new small laptop you can get a big harddrive and better performance… but how is that suprising?
The only initial dissapointment for me is the battery life. Other then that it’s still everything I ever expected out of it.
I come here still because I know it’ll sell out damn quick and I want to know as soon as possible when they are available.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:44 pm
I’m here, as with many, as I’m interested in the MID category, and the E3 is the first one that caught my eye, not so much for the cheapo price but for the fact that it has a functional keyboard and there’s no Windows tax.
I currently use mostly ultraportables for road use (Thinkpad X series mainly). PDA & smartphones are too limited for any real mobile computing use, and the MID cat is interesting to me.
$300 isn’t cheap if it doesn’t fit your needs. That’s the question, what’s the need it’s trying to fill, i.e. where’s the market? It’s not for the el-cheapo crowd (who’d have this as their only machine), because it isn’t a standalone, and it’s not for the ultra-mobile crowd.
Sure, time will tell. I expect the init shipments will be popular, if only for the novelty, but as the saying goes, shit ain’t shinola, no matter if it’s free.
October 23rd, 2007 at 8:50 pm
BTW, ultraportables now range around $1200. You can buy a Thinkpad X61, the gold standard of ultraportables, for that price. The Dell D430 and the XPS M1330 are also around there. Before you talk numbers, it helps to know what you’re talking about.
October 23rd, 2007 at 9:43 pm
My sense is that nate is right. There is a market for a low priced, ultraportable laptop and while the first version of the eee pc is compromised in terms of screen size, there are plenty of folks willing to try it out and see if it is a valuable solution.
I look at the first version as a proof of concept. If the screen size is a bit small but the keyboard is good and the linux implementation is clean and user friendly, then the form factor will survive the first version. If these basic usability requirements are not met, then the product may not survive.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:05 pm
This thing is customized for my needs. All i want is lightweight, low price, full keyboard, wi-fi and email. I intend to carry it with me while bicycle touring. If I break it, lose it, whatever… no biggy, it’s not a $1500 laptop, I simply replace it and don’t give it a second thought. I can’t wait.
October 23rd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
@Peter: That’s what I think, too, that there’s a need for a mobile computer that’s low-priced (below $500) and doesn’t need to run bloated Windows. I think Asus does have a winner on its hands (the concept), although it’ll likely be with the next version.
Actually, I’m more excited about the OLPC, despite the intentional ugly looks. It has many interesting innovations, from the hi-res mono LCD that’s readable in sunlight, to the long battery life, to the drawstring cord power generator. I’m just hoping that Quanta will follow-up on its intentions and market a low-priced device based on those technologies.
@Sudden: I made the mistake of carrying my Thinkpad X in the bike pannier for a while. Hit a curb, the pannier bounced off the hook and into the wheel, and it ate the LCD. Now I carry (the new) X in the messenger bag.
October 24th, 2007 at 12:02 am
haushinka: I don’t see them noting a price on that release.
FWIW, I really think people are jumping the gun on the “bait and switch” argument. I’m sure we all know, but: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait_and_switch
If the price “advertised” isn’t the same when you get to the store to buy it, then it’s a bait and switch. If some tech company announces a product months before it’s release and then changes the final price before actually putting the product into market, it’s not. Anyone got the *official* price list that ASUS put out that actually says the stuff you want to believe? Or, do you all have conclusions, inferences and unverified reports from questionable reporters and pre-order sales sites? I’m not trying to rile anyone up, I’m just trying to make a point of getting people to think about what the really do know. There’s always the old propaganda line of “if you repeat a lie often enough it becomes a fact.”
October 24th, 2007 at 5:22 am
I know as an early implementer I’m going to be dumped on, but I’m not too bothered. I’m going to get a very cheap device that perfectly fits my needs. In six months time the new model will be better in every way. In a year the competition will be hotting up. In my E3 will look obsolete- screen, battery and flash will all have exploded. Then I’ll get a new one, having had my needs met very cheaply for two years. It’s sufficiently cheap that I don’t care! If I loose it, if it breaks, if someone nicks it, no problem. I go and buy another. Welcome to disposable computing.
October 24th, 2007 at 6:35 am
What makes the E3 compelling to me is the SSD; what’s likely to make me wait for the next version is the screen size. I ride a motorcycle, and the vibration simply kills the HD on a normal laptop. Without that point of failure - and much smaller to boot - the E3 (yes, running XP so I have Streets & Trips!) would be a huge improvement. I spent a lot more trying to make a PDA do this kind of job - the E3 will do a much better job of it, and still cheaper than other “ultracompact” laptops.
November 24th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
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