Since Apple has successfully entered the tablet market with their iPad, Microsoft is now having to play catch-up and come out with a killer device. With HP scrapping their Windows 7 tablet, ASUS has stepped up to the plate!!
Taking bucket loads of style influence from the fruity Californian's, the ASUS EP121 Eee Pad will house a 12in screen and has a dual-core CULV Intel CPU whirring away under its hood, allowing for up to 10 hours of battery life. It will also run Windows 7 and support Adobe Flash so immediately trumps the iPad in the productivity stakes. Moreover, with connections for USB and HDMI and an SD slot, the Eee Pad will be much more versatile as well.
As well as the normal connections, there's also a dock connection, though unlike the iPad it's on the 'long' edge so it will be in landscape format when docked. The dock itself will be available in two versions: desktop and notebook, a concept that Asus calls 'multi-mode'. The premise is rather neat. The desktop version comes with a seperate keyboard and a simple stand for the screen to sit in while the notebook version integrates the keyboard with a stand that you can then fold shut for portability.
For those who would rather enjoy a smaller tablet, ASUS has come up with another product, the Eee Pad EP101TC. It runs Windows Embedded Compact 7 with a custom interface slapped over the top of it. There isn't many bells and whistles with this device, but ASUS mentions some cloud computing services that will be available.
Pricing and availability for the Eee Pad hasn't been announced, but you're looking at a price range of $399 to $499 and most likely early 2011 for a release.
Below is a short clip thanks to the guys at Engadget showing off the notebook docking version for the 12-inch Eee Pad and a glimpse at a still beta-mode buggy version of the 10-inch Eee Pad running Windows Embedded Compact 7.
No comments:
Post a Comment