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Update: ASUS Eee PC T91MT was confirmed a few weeks ago and is now up for purchase on Amazon.
An industry insider has just leaked the roadmap for the upcoming line-up of ASUS Eee PC products for the next year. Apart from several new Eee PCs, it contains news on the future of the ASUS Eee PC T91.
Apparently ASUS has not decided to scrap the T91 altogether but instead follow it up with a multi-touch version, called the T91MT (not the T91A as reported before). It sports a 32Gb SSD (solid state drive) and its price will be at $549 or around EUR 399. Additionally, the roadmap also contains the Asus Eee PC T101P. This is the first time we hear it being called P instead of H. Does the P stand for the Intel PineTrail spec? We’ll hear later. The T101P will be released in 2010. Under the hood, it will sport a standard Atom N450 processor, Pine Trail and running Windows 7. That sounds like a winner to us! [Via Netbooked]
Design
Starting with the design of the device, most reviews agreed on one thing: this is a good looking and well thought-out product. Engadget called it attractive and very slim, Liliputing felt it had a definite sex-appeal, CNET agreed, but Gizmodo complaint about the size of the dimly-lid screen. In addition, with its barely 1 kilogram , the device feels light.
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Hardware
The performance of the device is a concern however. Engadget noticed the device sometimes responding slowly and hanging in the touch interface. Gizmodo agreed that it had sub-par hardware under the hood, even for a netbook, which are usually low-specced any way. Liliputting called its processor “sluggish” and said it ocassionaly slowed down the software interface; watching HD video on it was not recommended, as the display of the video quickly became choppy. CNET agreed that the T91’s processor was not powerful enough.
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Software
All reviews agreed on the fact that Windows XP Home is by far not able enough to be used with this device. It is simply not prepared for touch, Liliputing agreed. However, Engadget and CNET appreciated the Touch Gate software layer, ASUS installed on the device to make XP usable with touch. Gizmodo felt it to be confusing and annoying at times and called it a “glorified app launcher”.
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Battery
Time registered was around 3 hours with high performance and 4 hours with maximum battery and low performance, according to all four reviews.
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Swivel functionality and touch screen
And now, on to its greatest selling point, the swivel screen. The T91’s screen can be turned around 180 degrees and put flat on the keyboard to form a tablet with only a touchscreen. All reviews agreed that the swivel screen feels solid and the movement happens natural and moves smoothly.
There was some discrepancy about the brightness of the screen, Engadget reported it to be brightly-lit, while Gizmodo said the opposite; it was “typically ASUS-like” dimly-lid. Did they receive different models?
All reviews mentioned the touchscreen itself worked well and was precice enough to take notes with. However, Engadget mentioned that when putting your palm on the device while writing, it registered touch there. Meaning it is not possible to write completely naturally, as you would on a notebloc.
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Price
The Engadget reviewer felt it hard to justify the cost of $499.99 for the device. Gizmodo did not mention the price. Liliputing mentioned that it was about the same for competing small touch screen tablets. While CNET appreciated ASUS’s efforts to keep the price in the netbook range (below the famous $500 netbook mark).
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Videos
The T91 model offered is ofcourse the base version including an Intel Atom Z520 1.33GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB SSD (and a 16GB SD card) and 1024 x 600 resistive touchscreen. Wireless connectivity includes WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, but no integrated 3G.
Will you wait for the T91go with its 3g, GPS and TV-tuner, th eT91A with its multi-touch screen, or are you going to get the base model? Leave your answer in the comments!
An anonymous source told AsusTablet.com that Asus will release three versions of the Asus Eee PC T91. We already knew about the T91GO which enables 3G, GPS and a digital TV features. In addition to the standard T91 (with a single-touch screen) and T91GO (or T91go), there will be the T91A. This model will be the only one to hold a multi-touch screen. It is not clear if this last version will or will not include the options of the T91go too or if there will be a fourth model (T91Ago), which includes both a multi-touch screen and 3G, GPS and a TV tuner.
An interesting point to note is that the T91A will weight about 0.06 kg more than the standard T91. This is because of the chips installed.
Here’s a line up of the specifications for the different models:
ASUS Eee PC T91A (Multi-touch)
“The Eee PC™ T91A measures just 225cm by 164cm, and weighs a mere 0.96kg—making it one of the smallest and thinnest gadgets with an 8.9″ display in the world today. The Eee PC™ T91A is the one of the first mini laptops to use a full multi-touch interface, supporting Microsoft Windows 7.”
“The Eee PC™ T91Go measures just 225cm by 164cm, and weighs a mere 1.02kg—making it one of the smallest and thinnest gadgets with an 8.9″ display in the world today. The Eee PC™ T91go is a device for on the road. With its built-in Global Positioning System (GPS) and 3G connectivity, it supports advanced navigation capabilities on the go and enables you to connect to the web through a cellular connection. The DVB TV tuner makes watching television on your device a possibility for extensive entertainment options.”
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