It’s been several months when we last reported about the Asus EeePC T91, one of their first touchcreen equipped netbooks. Well, we’ve got good news for you guys in the UK. The Asus EeePC T91 is now confirmed to be hitting the UK market sometime in late May or early June for £449 which is roughly $685 in US currency. It might be a bit more expensive than the average EeePC, but the T91 is certainly not your average netbook. There’s still no word on when it’ll debut elsewhere, but we’re optimistic that the ball will start rolling as far as its global release is concerned once its outed in the UK already. The question now is; are you willing to pay the extra dough for a slightly more capable touchscreen enabled netbook?

[electricpig via engadget]

Whether they call it UMPC, Tablet or MID, the looks suggest another cheap Asus product. The Eee PC 701 UMPC is still in the prototype stage. The EeePC 701 seems to be the end-result of Asus’s Origami concept. It’s very light, too, at 1.68 pounds. Apparently it’s a stylus touchscreen sort of a deal. No one knows what kind of battery it will be using. The hands-on photos is by X-gadget, which you need to check out for more of them.

[x-gadget via engadget]

What do you get when you combine the Sony Vaio P and an Asus Tablet netbook? The Viliv S7 is probably it. The Viliv S7 comes with a smaller 7-inch 1024×600 display, an Intel Atom Silverthorn (1.33GHz or 1.86Ghz) processor, 1GB RAM, 1.3-megapixel webcam, 16GB SSD or 60GB HDD, Wifi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth, WiMAX, HSDPA, GPS and runs on Windows XP. It also boasts of a 7-hour battery life which is quite remarkable if indeed it is true. With its ultra-compact size, it’s got what it takes to compete with the Vaio P in terms of size, but adds a twist to it literally by adding tablet netbook functionality. I guess tablet netbooks is indeed the next step in the evolution of the netbook.

[product via yugatech]

It looks like the Asus Eee PC T91 won’t be the only tablet netbook to hit the market this year as the Asus Eee PC T101H has also been spotted at the same event albeit not being announced. Aside from sporting the same tablet feature, the Eee PC T101H comes with a bigger display that measures in at 10-inches and sports an all-new flat Macbook-like keyboard design (with a larger left Shift key) that seems to be a growing trend nowadays. Apart from that, little is known about the specs and price of this other tablet Eee PC.

With Asus unveiling two new Eee PC tablet netbooks at the start of 2009, one can’t help but wonder; is this the next phase in the evolution of the netbook? You can only impact the market so much with additional storage capacities, but by providing users with a new alternative as to how they input information on their netbooks, that will definitely catch everybody’s attention. Provided that it’s priced just right, Asus might be setting another new trend in this whole new year of 2009.

[via liliputing]

The Asus Eee PC T91 will not be in the range of most netbook prices, but Asus assures us it’s still a netbook. It uses the Intel Atom Z520 and will have an 8.9-inch touchscreen that can swivel into tablet mode. It’s thin at 1 inches and light at under 1kg. Asus says GPS and TV tuners are optional. No price has been announced yet.

One has to admit, Asus took the light away from Apple today. Macworld wasn’t much at all. Asus, though, has several interesting announcements including the T91 above and the S121, a 12-inch ultralight notebook using the Atom Z520 and packing 512GB (that’s gigabytes) of SSD storage. Hope the Asus S121 comes with very durable parts, not to mention upgradable . The price and storage capacity says this notebook will be with you for many, many years.

[photo source via liliputing and article source: yugatech]

It seems that Acer has managed to do what other netbook manufacturers have failed in achieving, stealing the netbook sales leadership from Asus. Well, that is if Acer’s projection of shipments is to be believed. They say that they’re on track to ship 6M units this year which is definitely more that the 5M of Asus. Amazingly, Acer is doing this based on just one model, the Aspire One. The aggressive pricing and slightly more stylish looks probably helped propel Acer into their current position, but with better competition coming up in the form of the HP Mini 1000 and Dell Inspiron Mini 12, Acer had better step up their game if they truly want to gain the top spot in the netbook industry.

[pcworld via engadget]

While for the most part Windows Vista has drawn the ire of netbook users for being too much of a memory hog, Microsoft has apparently addressed this issue in their next OS, Windows 7. Apparently, the Windows 7 beta runs relatively well on an Asus Eee PC 1000H that comes equipped with an Intel 1.6GHz processor and 1GB of RAM. Boot up time was approximately 58 seconds, not the best but good enough for a Vista like OS. So far so good, but with the lack of any clear release date for Windows 7 available, it might arrive just a bit too late. Developments in hardware technology are advancing at a ridiculous rate leaving Microsoft OS upgrades eating its dust. By the time Windows 7 is probably released, netbooks may be powerful enough to handle Vista for those still interested in the disappointing OS. Come on Microsoft, time is of the essence!

[laptopmag via crunchgear]

SFR is now offering the new Archos 5G Internet Media Tablet for €249 ($320) with a monthly data service plan of €19.90/$25 for existing subscribers and €24.90/$32 for new ones on a 2-year lock-in period. If you just want the HSDPA-enabled PMP, you can get it for a contract-free price of €449 ($572). The Archos 5G PMP measures in with 132 x 79 x 13mm dimensions and weighs a mere 250g making it a truly portable internet-capable device.

[via slashgear]

More details after the break.

Similarly, the M! PC Pocket MID is now available for €249 ($317) with the same monthly rate as the Archos on a two-year contract as well. The M! sports a 4.8-inch touchscreen display, an Intel Atom 800MHz Z500 processor, 3.2-megapixel camera, front VGA camera, 512 RAM, 4GB SSD storage, WiFi and Bluetooth.

Last, but not the least, the Asus Eee PC 901 rounds up their HSDPA offerings. It’s priced at €279 ($358) with a monthly plan of €29.90/$38 for existing subscribers and €34.90/$44 for new ones on a two-year contract.

With these latest non-mobile phone products being offered by SFR, is this a sign of things to come? Will more telecoms offering PMPs and netbooks that take full advantage of their data networks in lieu of less data-intensive mobile phones? It only makes perfect business sense for them to make such a move as current technology is further blurring the lines between mobile telephony and mobile computers.

Nothing gets our blood pumping then a set of unboxing pictures of an exquisitely designed device. In this case, it’s the luxurious looking Asus EeePC S101. If you’ve been out of the loop for the past couple of weeks, the EeePC S101 is Asus’ latest netbook that aims at winning the hearts of those in the upper echelons of society especially those who put a high regard on aesthetics and design. Internally, it boasts of the usual suspects: an Intel Atom processor, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, and WiFi. However, this new EeePC comes with 802.11n support and 30GB Eee Storage as well as a pimped out exterior.

[via umpc fever]

More pictures after the break.

Some of you might think that the design change is a little bit excessive, but the bigger keyboard and thinner profile will undoubtedly improve productivity and portability of the device. However, it’s more opulent look will definitely have repercussions as we can already see its price tag being a bit on the steep end of the pricing scale. Anyway, I guess the S101 isn’t exactly for everyone, but if you can afford it, Asus is making sure that you won’t regret getting one with all the detail they’ve put into its packaging and new plush look.

Considering that netbooks will have to fight amongst themselves as well as lure potential laptop owners, one would think that the netbook biz might just be headed for a recession as well. However, with the recent findings of a research done by IDC, it’s proving that the opposite is true. For the 3rd quarter alone, 2 million netbooks were sold in Europe, Middle East and Africa which is already 7% of the total sales for laptops and desktops. Acer and Asus got the bigger piece of the pie at 80% thanks to the integration of 3G connectivity and tie up with telecom firms. The IDC also sees things only getting better in the future which also means that netbook makers will most likely be shifting gears to move to the next level.

I guess the worldwide economic crisis will now also play a hand in this game as consumers will be more frugal when it comes to buying laptops. If you’re not into heavy mobile computing (which most of you are), then the more affordable and decently featured netbook is definitely the way to go. I wonder what 2009 will bring to the ever growing and changing netbook industry.

[register hardware via engadget]