11.6-inch ASUS Eee PC due for a May release
updated 09:30 am EDT, Mon May 4, 2009
11.6-inch Eee PC coming
A new, upcoming 11.6-inch Eee PC netbook from ASUS, due to be released later in May, is estimated to account for nearly a third of all PC sales from the company, ASUS president Jerry Shen said on Monday. According to a report, ASUS expects half of all sales to come from its 10-inch Eee PC model range in 2009. Shen added that ASUS is also planning on launching 14-inch models later this year.
A 15.6-inch notebook, the XS15, is also due soon, with prices ranging from the equivalent of $1,062 to $1,328. A 13.3-inch model, priced at between about $796 and $1,062, is to be released in July. Shen expects a display panel backlog in May and June, with RAM price increases coming as well but not affecting supply. It's not clear whether these will continue to use Atom processors or else will shift to Intel's new Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV) platform, which offers much better performance than Atom but should still keep prices low.
ASUS competitor Acer recently announced plans for its own 11.6-inch netbook, the Aspire One 751.
