Asus Eee brings in anorexic computing
Today Asustek plans to showcase a new ultra-thin Eee PC at the CeBIT show in Germany, which opens today and runs until Sunday. Called the Eee 1008HA Shell, it is said to be so slim that if you look at it sideways it disappears.
At the same time it will announce the Eee Keyboard which has a touchscreen built into the same shell as the qwerty keyboard – will apparently feature the Intel Atom Z520 processor, come with Windows XP, and will connect wirelessly to a TV or projector, according to a DigiTimes news report.
The one announcement that makes the hormones jangle is the Eee Keyboard which has a touchscreen built into the same shell as the qwerty keyboard which will connect wirelessly to a TV or projector. That should rattle some cages.
We are heading towards a time when television and the Internet are going to meld into one. Not this year. Not even next. But soon. A device which allows you to use the television like a computer seems to have a future just as any device that lets you use the computer like a television will be of great interest.
Finally, one more thing but nowhere nearly as interested as anything Steve Jobs has ever announced a new netbook model, the Eee PC 1000HE, which comes with a 10in. LED backlit display, multi-touch touchpad, 160GB hard drive at about US$567.
The 1000HE will soon be available with the Intel Atom N280 processor. It is said to feature new industrial design and longer battery life. You get the last by bunging in extra batteries and what manufacturer ever launched a new PC without saying it was a new industrial design?
Less happily in the eyes of some, the Eee PC 1000HE features a “chiclet” keyboard. Asus says this gives wider gaps between keycaps, making cleaning a cinch, and helping users type with ease. Most users of this type of keyboard have simply found this not to be the case.
Chiclet keyboards which featured on some of the first PCs and toy computers, have plastic or rubbery keys that look like — and, critics claim, feel like — pieces of chewing gum. For Australians Chiclet is a US brand of chewing gum.
All of which sounds like a computing company that is not quite sure what is going on in the world but insists on being part of it. An ultra-slim computer? Why not. It works for Sony with its ultra-desirable but far too damn expensive Vaio and, as we are assured by American authors of the more lurid kind, you can never be too rich or too slim.
Ordinary laptops like the Eee PC 1000HE are going to have a very tough time in a very over-loaded market. It is doubtful that Chiclet keys will help its chances.
The basic difference — which sounds a bit daft as I write it — is that television is a leaning back experience and using a computer is a leaning forward experience. It requires some thinking about but that truly is a major and basic difference. How is that divide going to be crossed? Perhaps this keyboard is a sign for the future.
Related Posts:
