I kinda really want it... in my pants, hell it might fit too!

agggggg, come onnnnn 1280!!!!!

sorry to be an idiot but which one is the new screen? From a glance, the right one looks bigger but I was hoping that they would use the entire "screen real estate"

@teqsun.com: The right one looks like the new one.

any idea on how much these new models are going to cost?

what is up with the anime pr0n and vaseline in the background....

Is it just me, or do I just not get all the hype surrounding this machine?

its just you

@maltinej: Yeah, kinda weird...

Man that looks like shit.

@maltinej: That's not porn.

DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT DO WANT

AHHHHHH!! Release it already!

Wait, is this the 8" or 8.9" screen? Over on Engadget they reported one of the prototypes being on display, but I think they said it was the 8" version, and that looks to be the same. I think the 8.9" one would have a smaller bezel.

why is there a lotion bottle behind the computers?
i can't wait for my Eee PC. :]

@teqsun.com: While it would be nice to have the screen use the entire "screen real estate," they probably didn't for a number of reasons. I'm guessing it is because they still need room for the webcam on top and the speakers on the side, otherwise they would need to redesign more than just the lid. Also, they are probably trying to keep costs down and battery life up. Larger screens cost more and drain more battery life.

I was looking forward to getting the bigger screen, but I'm a bit disappointed that they kept the resolution the same. I'm guess it's to keep the price premium lower like I said before.

looks like the 7" is on the left, 8.9" is in the middle, and the 8" is on the right.

very disappointed they didnt up the resolution on the newer models. thats a dealbreaker for me.

im at idiot, the middle is the macbook.

@Zadillo: Thanks for pointing that out, I clicked through the links they say that the Eee PC in the pics is the 8" version and that there will also be a 8.9" one too. Hopefully the 8.9" model will have a higher resolution.

Aww, the resolution thing suuucks. I have an 8.9" lifebook with 1280x800 res and I LOVE that screen. Obviously, not at all the same kind of price range, but... a bad resolution totally kills the usefulness of the pc :/

Same resolution?

Hahahhaha thanks, Asus. You made me feel fine about my current EeePC. :D

Seriously, the screen size is fine. The resolution sucks, so if they didn't change that then there's no real point.

Wow, I have an original EeePC sitting on the shelf at the Best Buy that I work at that will not sell. Hell, I wouldn't buy it either. I don't understand the hype.

@maltinej:

Scary thing is, i have the same wallpaper, but I don't have the Nagato figure pictured in middle.

BTW, that's from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, pretty cool anime imho.

my first comment, long time lurker.

Apple had better announce an ULPC next week before ASUS eats everyone's lunch.

@fastm3driver: 1280 is just fine for word processing, email, and the internet. This isn't a gaming rig.

@tehronin: They're cheap and functional. They're light and portable. It's a good idea: use simple hardware to achieve simple tasks.

If the current EEE had an optical drive, I'd have already bought one. As it is, I probably still will.

The hype began because of the ridiculously low price it was first announced to have.
Then the price raised, the screen res lowered, but the hype kept still.

I know for some people this still could be useful... as for me, it's a waste of good money.

Obviously, since I already have a very nice 13.3" laptop.

But quite frankly, 13.3" is already too small for me... using a sub11" screen would be = torture for my eyes.

Unless if I used it to watch movies and animes only.

Another reason not to buy, since I already have an Archos 604.

btw, how's Eee PC on playing DivX, h.264 and other codecs?

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: EeePC has played everything I've thrown at it with the included mplayer, and if it does fail VLC picks up the slack. It does stutter on poorly encoded (as in, keyframes missing) wmv/divx files, but it does still play them. Because the CPU isn't that fast, it can't recalculate keyframes on the fly vs a high end machine where you don't notice the slowdown.

By the way, this is just a prototype apparently. It could easily change.

This reminds me of the couple who took their Christmas picture with a pump jar of "anal lube" off to the side.

@Zyren:
You're doing it wrong.
The one in the middle is a MacBook.

Wow. This is the much vaunted EEE? Looks like crap. Hey, ASUS, the eighties called. They want their design team back.

It's possible to squeeze 8.9" into the little box. Here's the math:

While Asustek has confirmed an 8" ASUS Eee PC, there are rumors over at Gizmodo that they'll pack an 8.9" ASUS Eee PC into the little case. Now, given that the ASUS Eee PC's case dimensions are 8.9" by 6.5". Thus, at a maximum, the screen size could be up to

sqrt(8.9^2 + 6.5^2) = 11.0"

Of course, the screen size won't take up the full diagonal. So let's leave 1" diagonal for the margins, then the ASUS Eee PC could have a screen size of 11" minus 1" minus 1", or 9".

In short, a diagonal of 8.9" is theoretically possible.

@OMG! Ponies!:

1280 would be fine for the Eee, but according to this report, the new Eee with the bigger screen will also have the same 800x480 resolution.

@Bokusatsu_Tenshi: my EEEpc runs xvid/divx/h264 stuff just fine. i dont have any 720p content, but the high quality file that i have currently is 576p, and it plays that perfectly (even wirelessly streaming through the wi-fi), i.e. movies and anime from "questionable" BT trackers can handle it just fine.

Corrected. Thanks guys, your eyes are much sharper than my very bloodshot ones right now.

Fuck that's gorgeous. Quit asking for more from a barebones computer. That's why they're so popular! You don't mess with the whopper if people are buying.

@MikeReynolds: "there are rumors over at Gizmodo"

oh yeah? over there eh? ha.

a minimal increase in size with no increase in resolution is basically completely pointless. why even bother? when people were asking for a bigger screen i have to imagine they were asking for size *and* resolution increases. that is certainly what i meant.

I was kind of hoping for a slightly larger case so that the both the keyboard and the screen could be a bit bigger.

my favourite "eee" is the one in the middle/background ;-) however, there is still some frame left to make the screen larger!

@x23: Yeah, it IS pretty pointless. You're still gonna end up side-scrolling. On the other hand, it probably makes those of us who bought it (I know I am) somewhat relieved that they didn't "iPhone" us right after we bought it.

Oh boy, I need to catch up on some sleep. This showed up in my RSS and I read it as "Real Live Pictures of 8-Inch Anus."

If they release an 11-12" one with a 16GB SSD, it will be the ultimate mix between portable and not itty bitty for the large-handed among us.

On this wish, I wait :)

bigger screen is nice. too bad it's not higher resolution though.

@iamth3g: This much geek porn in one spot, and you find the need to ask why there's lotion? I think we ALL know it's so that the inevitable pantsing of these beauties doesn't result in any long term tearing or scarring.

the middle screen, where the wallpaper (desktop) is a bunch of girls playing volley ball...that looks like OS X. Can anyone confirm this?

@chopstickhero: I'm a little let down too, but they might have to redo major stuff just to bring it to 800x600 let alone higher resolutions, so in a way I can understand stretching the existing hardware as much as possible.

I really would like to fiddle with one of these for at least a few minutes.

And the Battery life drops from 2 hours to 1 hour for the Asus Eee. And the price probably jumps from $400 to $500.

Asus is the exact opposite from the OLPC vision.

@Charbax: The battery on my Eee lasts about 4 hours...

Even official Asus representatives say the Eee has only 2 hours of battery life. Are you sure you are really using your Eee for 4 hours on a battery? Doing what?

The OLPC has officially 10 hours of battery life, and up to 23 hours of unofficial battery life in black and white ebook reader mode.

@Charbax: 2 Hours really? That's the official line? For the 4G or 2G (they have different number of battery cells)

A quick Google Blog search shows people saying anything from 2.5 to 3.5 hours.

what's amazing is that some recent games wiil run on these, like Farcry...check youtube

Using an as yet untuned Xubuntu install, I get about 3 hours battery.

Man, increase the resolution, please, 480 just doesn't cut it, I need 600 and I'll be happy.

John.

Having now actually looked at the photos, it's clear all the 8" is is a wider screen version of the current 7" with the same height, expanding the width into the area where the speakers currently are, which makes staying at 480 pixels high make sense, but stretching the 800 pixels wide to cover doesn't seem likely?

John.

I believe these pictures are older prototypes from the summer. They are not recent pictures of upcoming models, so you shouldn't assume a lot from them.

@tehronin: It's not just you.

I'd rather pay a little (relatively speaking) more money and get more RAM, drive space, and screen.

You'd only have to pay a little.

I upgraded mine to XP for free.

I upgraded my RAM to 1GB for $19.

I upgraded my storage by 4GB for $35 (4G SDHC card)

I have many apps and docs installed and I still have over 5GB of free space.

When a reasonably priced mini PCI-e SSD card comes out, I'll stick that in (which becomes your "slave drive").

Truthfully, I don't miss the extra storage. No need yet, and none foreseen for the future.

Likewise, the only time I wanted an optical drive was for the XP install, so I borrowed a coworkers for a couple of hours. Since then, I haven't missed it.

Between jump drives and being networked to my desktop, I am not missing one.

Oh, I forgot: There's a VGA-out port, so you can connect a big monitor if you want to, and the resolution is higher that way too (it supports a higher resolution).

If it's the same resolution, I think I'd just go for the smaller display to get a slightly sharper image.

1280 x 720 minimum! please

@citizen024: With that size display, wouldn't you detach your retinas trying to see the text on there?

I just want to point out the lotion bottle in the background, and what looks like a tissue to the left.

@maltinej: I second this question.

@Metaly: Those real live pictures sure can be tricky. Funny though.