901 and EeePC strategy

EeePC 901 is no more selling in Malaysia

This is what local sales person told me, it was replace by 900 and 1000H. 900 is using Celeron CPU and 1000H is using Atom CPU but with a SATA hard disk (80G or 160G), selling price around RM2000.

I ask the sales person, since 1000H is using SATA hard disk, will it consumes more battery power compare with 901? The sales person told me, both 1000H and 901 battery life is the same. Later I found out from Asus's official specification, 901's battery last 1 hour longer than 1000H.

I feel like Asus EeePC strategy slowly losing their direction. Asus EeePC 701 as one the first successful sub-notebook, is getting popular because is light weight (less than 1 kg) and low cost (selling less than RM1k, now is about RM800).

If you look at the 1000H model that the market is selling now, the weight has increase to 1.45kg compare with the original 0.99kg. The price has been increased from RM1300 to RM2000, about 50%.

Using Intel Atom CPU is a good move, because it almost double the battery life. Using HD (as in 1000H) and selling with a higher price, I don't think is necessary, even there could be a market for it.

With RM2000 budget, I rather add a few hundred more, get a HP mini than EeePC 1000H. HP mini looks nicer and with a bigger size keyboard.

Personally I think 901 suit best for me. The weight is 1.1kg, using Atom and SSD storage, 6 cells battery which last for 4.2 to 7.5 hours. Just the price is slightly over my expectation, or else is just a perfect sub-notebook (without full size keyboard).

Too bad, Asus is no more selling 901 now.