Asus are now saying what many Eee fans do not want to hear; if the initial T91 does not sell well, there wont be a T91A, T91Go or the T101H. With many Eee Users being keen to see how the Asus “test” release works and plays, just as many are holding back and waiting for the T91’s successors as the T91 itself does not feature many of the other great features that Eee Users were wanting and expecting.
Asus were already trying to phase out the smaller screen netbooks, of which would include the T91, and were wanting to stabilize their market with the ten inch and above netboks. This meant good news for Eee fans who were waiting for the ten inch T101H, but many are probably hoping that enough other people buy the T91 so we can get our hands on the T91A, T91Go and the T101H.
In a review of the T91, it was concluded that the T91 suffered from three potential setbacks: [1] The included software and operating system didn’t full utilise the touch screen, [2] it had a small and cramped keyboard and [3] it carried the slower Intel Atom Z530 1.33Ghz processor.
Will promising sales trickle down towards the Windows 7 release in October so Asus actually mass produce the multi-touch tablet T91 brother netbook, or is the T91 the first, and the last, of tablet netbooks from Asus?
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I more or less lost interest in buying the first generation T91 when it came out late and with a single-touch screen. If Asus thinks that low sales on this model means nobody wants one with multi-touch, a fast cpu, and higher screen res, then they are crazy.
I have decided that it will simply be too long before any netbook can play HD flash video. I expect my replacement for the 900a will be either a higher res multi-touch, or a good ION/equivalent powered machine with 6+ hours battery life. Of course it will have to cost <$500 in the US… At $500 and up, there are Core 2 duo laptops with all-alround better specs than any eee pc. That makes it kind of hard to justify paying more for less.
I just got my T91 yesterday, and so far I like it. I think many reviewers are so busy waiting for the perfect machine that they forget there are ordinary users who might find it useful. Also, very few people (other than reviewers) actually have one, so maybe the jury is still out. Maybe folks could wait a bit before killing it — that way you might just get the bigger one too. Just my two cents.
This is ridiculous. This is like if a car company tried to sell a car with no windshield, then said they weren’t going to add a windshield because nobody bought the car.
Not everybody wants to add their own windshield, Asus.
Also, I would be really upset if Asus stopped making 9″ netbooks. I’m not buying a 10″, and I would really prefer to continue to buy from Asus.
Stop making 9″ netbooks? Refusal to release a new model due to poor sales of an inferior device? There goes my brand loyalty to Asus, out the window.
They could have skipped this stripped-down model altogether as far as I’m concerned. I was holding on until the multi-touch T91 came out, even willing to overlook the internal battery. Instead, maybe I’ll go see what other companies have cooking.
If the T91 fails, I lay the blame entirely on Asus.
Why do a phased launch like this? Why not just delay the whole thing until October and release multitouch + Win 7?
Small and cramped keyboard? That’s the reality of 9-inch devices. Can’t blame them for that. I prefer it to the 10-inch models.
Also, I realize the Z5xx-series of Atom has better energy consumption, but releasing the slower Z530 when the entire market is moving to the N280 speeds is just wrong. Let’s not even bring up Asus’ refusal to use Ion in its netbooks.
I have a 901 with a small keyboard and I love it, don’t want a bigger one, love the smaller screen because of the smaller physical size machine as well. I was also waiting for the T91A. This article about Asus wanting to drop the smaller netbooks is sad, I think the smaller netbooks are the future, if Asus can get the same physical size netbook as the 901 with a 10inch screen then of course I am all for the 10inch! The small keyboard is no problem at all though, you just need to get use to it, hell people are typing essays on cell phones these days!
Has Asus just made a threat to it’s consumers? Why the heck has Asus made an laptop that lacks features that people have waited for example resolution, and then expect people to buy devices, just to see later development versions of their devices?
Now that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard for a while. Risky customer loyalty game if you’re asking me. If this threat is real and not just a rumor, Asus has already lost that game on my behalf.
Two thumbs up, lol
The small screen size and keyboard isn’t any problem for me (why should I buy a 10″ T101 with exactly the same screen resolution), and I don’t really need the multitouch feature either. But the current model is missing all these great features I was waiting for, namely GPS, DVB-T and – most important – UMTS/HSPA a.k.a. 3G connectivity. I don’t wanna use an external device for this (otherwise I had bought a TouchNote some weeks ago, intead of waiting) so I’m still waiting for the T91go model.
I think it was a bad idea to announce all these features (3G, GPS, DVB-T, multitouch, I even read about a FM transmitter in early 2009) and then release such a ‘minimal’ model first. I suppose many users are waiting for the ‘full-blown’ models.
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