News New Asus netbook includes optical drive

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2009/03/30/new-asus-netbook-includes-optical-drive/1

Asus' latest netbook, the Eee PC 1004DN, aims squarely for the ultraportable notebook market with an in-built DVD±RW drive.

 

Its dead ugly.

 

I think it looks quite nice, and the optical drive would certainly be useful in some situations.

 

its not bad looking... I hope they make it... How big is it? Looks a tiny bit bigger than the standard eee pc...
Any other specs aside from the Optical drive?

 

I keep getting surprised how they're so small.. This one is basically the size of the optical drive!
Kind of like most mp3 players that are basically the size of their batteries..

 

i think Asus and companies making stuff like this are forgetting what the 'netbook' market is for.. I'm sure this is going to be such a pricey device you'd probbaly be better served just buying a true 'ultraportable' laptop.

 

Is that a fingerprint reader too or just a sticker? I wish someone would make a 12" netbook

 

Some like Dell?

 

hmm do I go for this or the 10" touch screen when it comes.... oh the choices...

 

I doubt this would be anywhere near as expensive as "true ultraportables", which generally sell for at least £1,000. I expect this will cost around £500, because apart from the optical drive and the new chipset, it's pretty much just the same old Eee. And there is definitely room in the market for something this size, for that price, with an optical drive and the ability to play back video smoothly.

 

definitely creeping into regular notebook territory there.

Bar the CPU, it's not that different to my current notebook

Guessing the main issue is going to be the price on this

 

Blame the Intel+Microsoft bullying. Once NVIDIA and VIA come out with some nice Nano+Ion2 products, based on Linux, we could see 30" netbooks with 16GBs of memory and a handful of juggling tricks to entertain your kids!

Intel and Microsoft impose limits on OEMs (such as Dell, Asus, etc.) regarding screensize, memory, graphics capabilities and so forth so they don't lose money from the pricier Core 2's, i7s and Vista machines. Something like "if you want a better machine, pay for our more expensive laptops".

That's why I'm hoping for Nano+Ion2+Linux products!

 

then its not a netbook, its a laptop

 

Isn't the whole point of a netbook to perform basic functions, like web-browsing, word processing etc? Adding all these new features just seems to be steering away from the whole idea of what a netbook is. Not to mention the fact that it'll add to the potential cost of the machine, something which is supposed to be low in the netbook market.

 

Anyone got any idea when this is likely to be available?