Asus T91 convertible touch netbook exposed
By Dave Jeyes
The netbook market has exploded in the last year, with Asus leading the pack in terms of new features in its Eee PC line. Now Asus has unveiled the new T91 touch screen netbook that double as a tablet PC at the Consumer Electronics Show.
Touch computing is the hot term that’s on everyone’s lips from mobile phone manufacturers to netbook companies. Microsoft is also gearing up for touch screen input in Windows 7, expected later this year.
Asus has been leading the charge in delivering portable netbook computers to the market. Now the company is continuing to stay ahead of the pack with a touch screen netbook that converts to a tablet PC in the T91.
The T91 comes with a swiveling 8.9″ touch screen monitor. It runs an Intel Atom Z520 processor with 1 GB of RAM built in. Asus built both solid state and hard drives into the T91 for a combined capacity of 52 GB.
Asus also included a few first-ever features in the T91. The netbook will be the first to offer both GPS and a TV tuner card built in.
The T91 will ship running Windows XP home and is expected to support Windows 7 once it’s released. Asus has stated that a Linux version is possible, but has not said definitively whether it will offer a Linux version.
Asus also plans to ship another touch screen netbook, the T101H. The T101H lacks the swiveling monitor, but will come with the popular 10″ monitor. Pricing has yet to be announced for either model.
It will be interesting to see whether touch technology catches on in the netbook form factor. Tablet PCs have been around for years, but not in as small a form factor as a netbook.
Below is a picture of the forthcoming T91 touch screen netbook cum tablet PC. For me it’s a toss up between the two Asus touch netbooks.
Which one would you spring for: the T91 with the swiveling monitor or the T101H with a 10″ display?
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January 7th, 2009
Dave, I would definitely go for the swivel screen. Being able to place the entire netbook in my lap like a notebook would allow me the ability to write easily on the screen if I need to and to take notes easily. Great story. Can’t wait til they’re out!
January 18th, 2009
Without swivel, touch screen is half dead. :)
1″ difference in monitor size doesn’t matter much to me.. I would rather like to know the resolution of both netbooks.
I wonder if the info about the HDD size is correct because I heard that T91 will have 160G HDD on a youtube movie taken in CES 2009. But I wish your info were correct. I think, for mobility’s sake, netbook should have SSD instead of HDD.
January 28th, 2009
The T101H will come with a swiveling monitor and it will also feature a revamped keyboard based off of Sonys chicklet design. The resolution for the new netbooks will still be 1024×600. They are basically the 901 and 1000 models with convertible touchscreens.
April 12th, 2009
SSD, wireless connectivity, battery life, size, weight, start-up time, durability and multi-media compatibility are the key features of a good netbook. If you assess all the available options against these key criteria, the eee PC 901 Linux is still the benchmark. The Dell machine came close, but lacks 802.11n. Advent of built-in GPS and TV tuner sounds like fun, tho not 100% practical yet until we get battery life like a mobile phone (12 hours plus of heavy use).