Hardware Asus EeePad 101TC and EeePad EP121 Hands on

We get in touch with Asus' latest 10in and 12in EeePads - are they iPad killers?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/mobile/2010/06/12/asus-eee-pad-101tc-and-ep121-hands-on/1

 

If their 10 hour battery claim for EP121 is even 80% true I'm getting it.

 

the ep121 is a seriously tempting piece of kit, but i reckon the price will be high, either way they're both more useful than an iPad

 

The EP121 could be a fitting successor to my toshiba portege M200, when I finally decide to retire it. Unless I find the money for a sahara slate, that is. Oh, does the ep121 have a digitiser or is it just touch based?

 

the EP121 is what every tablet should aspire to be (depending on how W7 turns out in touch environment - not tried yet)

 

Even if not, Ubuntu 10.10 will include a spin directly suited to tablets with multitouch, so that's at least one other OS to choose from.

And to the design: having a dock with a keyboard, bigger disk and extended battery, which still only makes it look like a very smart notebook, is a really awesome idea.

 

Also Google's Chrome OS will be supporting touch screens and that is out in a few months (assuming you don't mind a cloud based experience that is).

 

They still don't get it though which Apple did. They need to design a proper tablet OS from the ground up.

Just dumping Windows 7 or Windows Embedded Compact 7 onto a device is far from enough.
Even with some fancy custom UI put on top (ala HTC Sense) is also not enough. We need apps, like on the iPad. Without apps there is no tablet. Simple as that.

And I'm not sure I would want to use MS Word on such a thing. Word is not designed for tablet use. Even with the on screen virtual keyboard that will be just too hard to use. I played with a Pocket PC running Windows CE before and it wasn't that easy to use.

 

I agree with Saivert.

I'm not buying a machine with a sub GHz cpu, less than 512MB of RAM, and then running a full version of windows on it. That's just retarded.

 

Its the first tablet type device that actually seems to make any sense (the design and dock thing)..

 

@Salvert: Normally I would agree with you. however, there seem to be (at least) two mitigating factors in favour of the EP121 running 7. Firstly, it is using an Intel CULV processor which, as far as I can see is perfectly capable of running full-fat win7 (my mum has it in her laptop). Secondly, the dock design seems to be aimed squarely at turning the tablet into a laptop and thus bridging the gap between the two.

Now I'm sure you'll agree that there is no way they would be able to bridge that gap if the tablet doesn't run a full-fat OS.Remember, also, that while win7 is still relatively clunky, it is still also relatively new and as it ages even very low-end hardware will be able to run it well. (XP was virtually useless to me for the first year or two, even though I had a P4 1.4 GHz)

 

I don't get why I need apps to cover for websites when I can have the full web and HD flash.

CULV is powerful enough.

 

I've had some old Celeron laptop made by HP since about 2004.

I write (using word), I watch DVDs, I check my email. A couple of years ago I bought a new battery for it. And yes, if it's encoded in the right way, VLC will play certainly 720p and I believe 1080p (though that isn't worthwhile given the 1280x768 display) on it.

One day someone will give me a reason to upgrade.

 

Has the EP121 (full-fat Win7 one) got a USB port?

 

The Ep121 so far looks like want I want as it only makes sense for me to be able to go from desktop win 7 to slate/tablet win 7 and still be able to MULTI TASK (stupid iPad). 12 inches is porn star material and I like the fact they used glass and steel which makes for the best touch screen. The Intel CULV is great enough to run win 7 and I like the dock keyboard with extra HDD space.

Now gives us a good price and make a slate running Win 7 64 bit that can run Crysis LOL

 

YES a USB port is included as well as HDMI port , SD slot, 4 in 1 card reader, Head set - MIc , and it comes with a STYLUS... the ASUS eee pad121 is PIMPIN!!

 

Both are valid concerns. I think 6 to 8 hours is feasible, but only in laptop mode (with the second battery in the keyboard part --else think closer to 3 hours). I also think we are looking at at least £900,-- of hardware.

Having said that, even then it looks like a seriously good alternative for people for who the iPad isn't enough. I don't think heat output will be a problem at all. There's just the issue of the OS...

Totally agree. But Windows 7 Embedded may still fit the bill. It basically looks like a cross between Windows 7 and Windows Mobile 7.

I own a Tablet PC with Windows XP and it really does not work that well (luckily, Rocketdock and Samurize are decent for a functional overlay). Windows 7 is supposed to be better, but it isn't much better.

It needs a Windows that comfortably straddles both Tablet and laptop functions. It can be done --Microsoft's ideas around Courier proved that-- and Windows Embedded Compact 7 actually looks like a step in the right direction. Not brilliant (like Courier was), but better than vanilla Windows 7.

My main worry is how they will pitch it to people. Just as with the convertible Tablet/laptops of yesteryear (you know, the one where you could twist the screen around and lay it flat over the keyboard screen-up) most people did not see the point in paying a premium over a regular laptop just for some fancy tablet action. Perhaps the iPad has changed that --people now see the point of a Tablet. And a removable screen is a better solution than the twist-hinge because you can actually ditch some weight in the process. It may be the best of both worlds.

 

FYI the iPad will be able to multitask with the next iOS upgrade, and it uses glass and aluminium.

Still, the EP121 is indeed Pimpin'.

 

problem with the 101 slate is that it's not running x86 CPU, thus not able to run usual windows programs, not what people expect from a windows running system.

 

I too own a convertible tablet PC (Toshiba Portege M200). It originally came with XP tablet, which I used for a while, but soon found quite frustrating so I got myself a copy of Vista (yes, you read that right) and it's made it loads better. The tablet experience is much more polished and I've found that with relatively little fiddling Vista can be made to run very well on the 2005 P4 2Ghz with 1gb of ram.

From what I've been able to see, win7 brings further improvements over vista, so I would have no qualms using it on a tablet, provided it is not atom-based (and the CULV processors seem awesome). TBH, I would run 7 on my M200 if I could get decent drivers.

All in all I love this idea and provided it has a decent digitiser (tablet with no decent pen input is worthless to me, as I use it for uni) and comes in under £1000 it will be a guaranteed purchase. I've already started saving up