Image by geognerd via Flickr
Asus created the Netbook craze with the first eee Pc (the one I owned for a day) released last year, and it has become a huge market – in fact the most dynamic segment in PC sales. Laptop Magazine published an interview with ASUS CEO Jerry Shen. Key factoids:
Four million Eee PCs have been sold to date. He plans to reach the goal of 5 million Eee PC sales by the end of 2008.
Touch-enabled Eee PCs are on the way and will be here by early 2009.
He then goes on explaining that the difference between netbook and notebok is screen size: anything below 10” is a netbook, above that are notebooks. OK… but this is the part he got wrong:
For us, the difference though between netbook and notebook, is that the netbook is used to consume content and have that connectivity experience. The notebook is for creating content and you have more storage and memory – its a machine that can do more.
No way, Jose! (Ok, Jerry). I actually hate viewing those tiny little screens – but am going to conferences, meetings, travel a bit, and need a lightweight work tool for all those times. Nobody I know buys netbooks as their main computer, but as a travel machine, which is:
- is lightweight
- has long battery life
- allows basic writing (note-taking, blogging, report-writing) and browsing
In other words, netbooks are all about creating content for me – and to do that, I don’t really need more power or storage, since I am primarily using Web Applications.
In fact I’m flying to Denver for the Defrag Conference soon, and decide I would no longer carry my notebrick, so have just ordered a netbook myself – not an eee PC, but the Acer Aspire One. I think I got a good deal @ Amazon, for $399. Yes, I’m aware of the $309 deal, but mine is a different configuration:
- 1GB memory vs 512K
- 6cell battery vs 3
- XP vs Linux
- 160GB hard disk vs. 8GB solid state drive – I don’t actually need the extra storage, and for a travel tool would have been happier without moving parts, but for some reason Acer thinks SSD’s are only for Linux jocks…
So I was happy that I got the best deal – until this morning, when I saw the exact same configuration for $279, shipping included!
I am speechless… this looks too good to be true. I can’t find any info on the vendor (BeneficialTech.info) , there is a contact email but no phone number – but they have Google Checkout.
So I leave it to my dear readers to decide: do you think this is real or a scam?
P.S. I'd rather have the Asus S101, but it's not yet available.
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That looks pretty darn tempting.
Haha, Chris, please go ahead and try it … I’m scared it’s a scam
[..] The One Thing the ASUS CEO did Not Get Right | $279 Acer Aspire One? [..]