Unboxed: Asus Eee PC 904HD
When we first got word of Asus’s plans for the Eee PC 904HD, essentially the 10in 1000 series with a 9in screen and a HDD, we thought it was as bright an idea as an iPhone without 3G. That is, not very.
Alas, now one’s dropped into our laps, we’ve had a rethink. While it reprises the original Eee PC 701’s shonky bezzle feature to accommodate the smaller screen, the extra space it creates for the speakers is most definitely welcome.
Likewise the full size keyboard, which, if you’re anything like me, is a godsend compared to the scaled down version found on the Eee PC 901. Bashing out blogs without infuriating typos every third word is now a reality.
The comparisons to the dinkier version don’t end there. Size wise, this 900 series model is significantly bigger than the original 900 and 901. Specs–wise you;re looking at 3 USB ports, DVI and ethernet. So it's certainly tooled up and ready for all the peripherals you can muster.
Whether you want all the offerings of a 1,000, but with a smaller screen, remains a moot point. We’ll be giving it a road test at a string of major gadget events in the next few weeks and will be reporting back, so keep an eye out on the blogs for our thoughts.
In the meantime, feast your eyes on these pictures and, as ever, be sure to leave any comments down below.
Comments
JoshJohnson
3 years ago
Asus are kind of getting confused with ultra portibles and normal laptops?
One or the other lol
fatduck101
3 years ago
it's getting far too big. the realistic solution would be to get rid of those front mounted speakers.
padamj92
3 years ago
the realistic solution would to keep the ULTRA portables small and portable. if people want a powerful laptop then they can get one
inajiffi
3 years ago
I tend to agree with the comments above, however the keyboard was a huge sore point and needed to be rectified and the only obvious way to do this was to increase the chassis size. The addition of an 80GB HDD is also greatly appreciated and necessary as the new "Acer Aspire One," net-book is now sporting a 120GB HDD as standard accompanied by 1GB of DDR2 RAM. Although these attributes are welcomed in this new offering I think Asus are now petering on the meniscus between laptop and notebook and further more price increases combined with models with comparable chassis sizes to that of their notebook counterparts, will ultimately result in consumer migration toward a fully fledged laptop to satisfy the casual surfer.
jamafoley
3 years ago
I think that the laptop is really cool and portable but the main down sides are the lack of memory and the speed of the laptop. Maybe a macbook would be a lot simpler!