Eee PC With Windows or WiMAX at CeBit?
March 1st, 2008 by antNext week at CeBit, there’s some speculation that either Windows or WiMAX could be announced in connection to the Eee PC.
PC Pro is reporting that Microsoft will be participating in ASUS’ press conference during the event. Windows XP may be appearing on the US based Eee PC 8G. Perhaps this explains the recent slight price hike on 8G Eee PC preorders on Amazon.
T-Mobile will also be in attendance at the press conference. We can only hope this means that integrated WiMAX (along with a wide service coverage!) will be coming to the Eee PC shortly.
March 1st, 2008 at 5:45 pm
I am happy with a steady supply of black 8g eee. Maybe the SSD are improved - which is a plus. But, the continued 8G shortages are inconvenient.
March 1st, 2008 at 6:03 pm
I hope the linux support doesn’t get left behind with all this windows stuff, and that they at least let you choose if you want windows shoved down your throat or not (and don’t make you pay for it if you don’t want it).
March 1st, 2008 at 10:20 pm
@bar
There is no way they will be able to shove Windows down peoples throats without hiking the price so much that its unappealing.
One of the biggest points on the 4G one is the price. Adding windows will make it at least $50 more.
I think they will still be pushing the Linux ones just as much. I also have a feeling they wont be doing Windows on anything other than the 8G, because the 4G leaves to little room, its going to confine new users to much. They wont understand that you cant install a 150mb office suit, iTunes, Firefox, etc and still have enough room to function.
At least with an 8G there is enough room for people to get their major apps in there.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:55 am
I hope the 8.9″ version is shown at CeBit, I really want one of these but the screen resolution is a little offputting. If Asus doesn’t come out with an 8.9″ one before May or so and HP’s 2133 comes out first I’ll probably go with that unless the Via CPU in the HP is really slow.
March 2nd, 2008 at 9:48 am
While it is important that the eee come with WiMax, does the fact that T-Mobile is at the CEBit press conference suggest WiMax? Is T-Mobile offering WiMax in Europe. It is not a WiMax provider in the United States.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:24 pm
I would think that they’re going to be sporting a UMTS unit, to coincide with their UMTS rollout in the US. They gave up their hotspots to AT&T. Although I just bought a 4g unit, I would gladly buy another, if I could get built-in UMTS support for use when T-Mobile rolls it out. Bigger screen, UMTS support & an easy to install WinXP? I’d pay at least $100 more for that.
March 2nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
@ Joshua Walters
Asus released 4G EEEs in Japan with XP preinstalled. And my understanding is that wherever they’ve released EEEs with XP, they’ve not released the Linux model, which doesn’t augur well for the future. I’m sure Asus’ rationale, however, is that most non-techie consumers would be willing to pay an extra $50 or so to have the OS they’re familiar with, and which supports their various apps, etc.
March 3rd, 2008 at 12:18 am
@Joshua: according to the Forbes article, you’re at least $10 off. “Meanwhile, the prospect of millions of new PC users buying the Eee PC without Windows seemed to worry Microsoft. Just before the launch, it agreed to give Eee PC buyers the option of getting Windows for under $40, more than a third off the standard price.”
http://members.forbes.com/global/2007/1112/024a_2.html
i want windows (for academic specialized software not available on linux), and i’m more concerned about screen and disk size than price. is it true that the ssd has a read-only rom partition that cannot be freed up, effectively reducing available storage by more than 25% of the total? i sure hope they put windows on there for me: that’s the first thing i’d want to do, but i’d hate to waste that much space.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:00 am
@m: “is it true that the ssd has a read-only rom partition that cannot be freed up, effectively reducing available storage by more than 25% of the total?”
No. It is not true. All the space can be freed up on the SSD by deleting the original Linux partitions. One of the partitions of the original Linux system is *mounted* as read-only, but the partition itself can still be removed.
March 3rd, 2008 at 3:20 am
They had an interview with the CEO in a German newspaper yesterday where he confirmed that an EEE PC with Windows XP would be released in Germany as soon as April (which might indicate that we can buy one around christmas time lol).
March 3rd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
If they announce a Windows eeePC and dont announce a new Linux version, a 4G is being purchased by me immediatly.
March 3rd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
It seems it will be 8.9″ 1024×600, 8GB SSD and 1GB RAM. And Windows.
Btw, I scrapped the sh*tty preloaded Xandros and tried Ubuntu, Xububtu and a few other things but finally I ended up with XP on my 4GB. Btw, XP leaves more room on the skimpy 4GB flash than Xandros - with all the same apps installed.
March 4th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
ASUS’ 9-inch Eee PC ay CeBit
Photos at Engadget
http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/04/asus-9-inch-eee-pc-now-with-living-pixels/
March 4th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Linux is “cute” but the command line and sudo bash crap is for the birds. I’m not a techie and I just want to get things done. Mac OS X is my OS of choice but since its a real pain in the rear to get it to work on the eee, I’ll sleep with the devil and install windows XP. NEVER thought I’d be pulled back into the M$ world again. Oh well, at least it ain’t Vista.
March 5th, 2008 at 8:49 am
I could not understand whether there is provision for CD drive in eeepc 4G otherwise how the software provided by operators in CD can be loaded .
March 5th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
@milan
The EeePCs, neither the old models, nor the new ones, have an optical drive. Software can be loaded through an external USB optical drive
March 6th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
It would make more sense to ship the Eee with a XP installation image on a cheap USB key, without an activation code. Users that couldn’t or wouldn’t want to learn a new more advanced OS (Linux), could then call Bill and buy an activation code from him, boot off the USB key, enter the code, and install XP with an Asus customized interface.
The rest of us would then not have to pay a Microsoft tax, and we could th wipe the USB key and use it for something useful. I think Microsoft’s interest in the Eee has less to do with selling XP licenses, and more do with seeing that people are not exposed to the capabilities of Linux, even if it is a simplified version.
March 15th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
I saw the stuff about the 900 and Windows, but was there any WiMAX Eee news at CeBit?