ASUS Pursues the "Open-Apple" Dream with Eee Pad at Computex 2010
by Anand Lal Shimpi on May 31, 2010 10:09 AM EST- Posted in
- Trade Shows
- Computex 2010
- Eee Pad
- Asus
- Laptops
Aside from wanting to be the 3rd largest notebook manufacturer in the next 2 years, ASUS also wants to be the more open alternative to Apple. That means no closed platforms, no limiting functionality in order to preserve an ideal user experience, but it also means that we should expect some Apple-alternative products from the Taiwanese company. That's where today's Eee Pad announcement comes in to play.
There are two versions of the Eee Pad, a 12" and a 10" model. I'll start with the 10" first as it is the closest competitor to the iPad. The EP101TC runs Windows Embedded Compact 7 (Windows CE based) and uses NVIDIA's Tegra 2. 1080p playback is supported but I'm waiting to hear from ASUS exactly how open the platform will be. The iPad is great for video playback but everything needs to be in an iPhone/iPad friendly format. Hopefully the 10" Eee Pad will let you play all of your H.264 content on your network regardless of format/container. In my mind that would give the Eee Pad the edge it needs over the iPad to be a great video consumption device.
The 12" Eee Pad shares little in common with the 10" version other than the name. The EP121 uses a CULV Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. This is a touchscreen tablet PC rather than an iPad competitor. ASUS estimates up to 10 hours of battery life.
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michael2k - Monday, May 31, 2010 - link
Good luck with that. I have a hard time believing you can pull 10 hours watching full screen video on an Intel Windows 7 powered tablet.PsychoPif - Monday, May 31, 2010 - link
Off course I'll need a deep review by Anand before buying one, I think I'm not the only one waiting for exactly this.While I don't expect 10, a 8h would be more than enoug hfor me to go through my day.
Kegetys - Monday, May 31, 2010 - link
It can probably do 10h sitting on the desk doing nothing like the CULV laptops do.I wonder if these will have an IPS panel like the iPad or the same junk Asus puts on their laptops. If its TN, then portrait use especially will likely be pretty awful.
damianrobertjones - Monday, May 31, 2010 - link
But can you do that on an iPad?ckantack - Monday, May 31, 2010 - link
Yes. The iPad gets (on average) 10 hours battery life or more. It doesn't seem to matter what you're doing on the iPad. You can surf the web, play games, or watch movies for the entire time and you'll still get around 10 hours per battery charge.I've had my iPad for nearly 2 months now and love it! Prior to my iPad purchase, I'd never considered an Apple product. Always thought they were too pricey. But for me, the iPad is well worth it.
nortexoid - Tuesday, June 1, 2010 - link
Exactly. There's not way this super slim device with a Core 2 Duo CULV is going to get 10hrs running Windows 7. The iPad can't even get with is far more power-conservative specs and more efficient OS.If it looks like the photos suggest, I'd be surprised if it lasted more than a few hours.
rpmurray - Wednesday, June 2, 2010 - link
It's just a bigger droid phone.CrimsonFury - Sunday, June 27, 2010 - link
They didn't say 10 hours watching video, it just says "upto" 10 hours of battery life (doesn't specify doing what). The 10 hours would likely be with power saving settings (low brightness, wireless off) doing basic tasks like documents, photos and such.sprockkets - Monday, May 31, 2010 - link
But it is going to need more than a media player to get people to buy it. Which also brings up a point about how all 1080p stuff is h.264 in mkv containers.medi01 - Monday, May 31, 2010 - link
This sounds beyond ridiculous:" no limiting functionality in order to preserve an ideal user experience"
so Apple is an "ideal user experience"? Orly?