Posted on 01/07/2008 9:59:40 AM PST by ShadowAce
Who in the hell is Asustek, and why does Microsoft hate them more than any other company in the industry? Why does Apple, Dell and Palm Computing hate them?
And why does Intel love them?
Taiwan's Asustek -- better known as ASUS -- is one of the most interesting, innovative and fastest-growing companies in technology.
At its core, Asustek makes motherboards -- more than any other company. Asustek motherboards are the heart of Sony's PlayStation 2 consoles, Apple MacBooks, Alienware PCs, and some HP computers.
But that's not why they're hated. The source of ire is a tiny laptop called the ASUS Eee PC. This open, flexible, relatively powerful, and very small laptop is notable for one feature above all: Its price. The Eee PC can be had for as little as $299. (Go here to read the reviews -- they're all positive.)
Let's take a moment to ponder how cheap that is. This full-featured laptop costs $69 less than the 16 GB Apple iPod Touch. It's $100 less than an Amazon Kindle e-book reader. The most expensive configuration for the ASUS Eee PC on Amazon.com is $499.
Even though ASUS isn't a well-known consumer brand, and even though the company just started selling them in late 2007, the company expects to sell up to a half million units by March, and up to 5 million by 2009.
The reason Microsoft hates Asustek couldn't be more obvious. The Eee PC runs Linux (Xandros running KDE) and uses an appealing and innovative tabbed-based user interface developed by Asustek. The device also comes with OpenOffice, a Microsoft Office replacement, and Firefox. The entire system -- hardware, OS, office suite and applications -- costs $30 less than Amazon.com's discounted price for Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate alone. The Asus Eee PC is demonstrating to the world that its success depends on aggressively *avoiding* any Microsoft product.
Apple and Dell hate Asustek because these companies have been planning for quite a while to introduce flash storage-based mini laptops. But by the time they get around to shipping, the ASUS Eee PC will have already gobbled up some of the market. Worse, the ASUS Eee PC is preemptively poisoning the well by applying enormous price pressure on these two companies.
In truth, Apple isn't all that concerned because they'll do what they do, and the masses will respond. But poor Dell. That company's flash-based mini-laptop will probably cost five times as much as the ASUS. It will be 10% better and 500% more expensive than the ASUS Eee PC. Good luck with that, Dell!
Palm, Inc. hates Asustek because the company has made a fool out of them. Palm announced in May its Foleo mini-laptop. The device was slightly bigger than the ASUS Eee PC, but less capable and twice the price. The Foleo focused on connecting to the Internet through Palm's own line of giant cell phones. While many think Palm "killed" the Foleo, they in fact only killed the idea of shipping with a Linux-based OS.
In his blog announcement, Palm's CEO vowed to come back with a Foleo-like device that runs the same proprietary OS that powers Palm's next-generation of cell phones. By the time Palm gets around to shipping something, the market will be saturated with millions of ASUS Eee PCs on the low end, and thousands of Apple and Dell units on the high end.
Meanwhile, Intel loves Asustek. The ASUS Eee PC is powered by -- you guessed it! -- an Intel processor, namely the 900 MHz Intel Celeron-M. More than that, Intel respects Asustek for its engineering prowess. Intel discovered this fact when the company was struggling in the 1990s to fix a range of design flaws in its own 486 motherboard prototypes. Asustek was able to fix it, and in fact already had a fully operational motherboard for the chipset before Intel did. Since then, the companies have been very close.
Now rumors are circulating that a new Intel Merom-based ASUS Eee PC that may ship as early as April will run so efficiently that it won't need a fan. The entire laptop will be solid state -- no moving parts. Intel loves that kind of thing.
There's no question about it -- Asustek is the most hated company in the industry. Microsoft, Apple, Dell and Palm hate Asustek because the company can give us something they can't: A super cheap, flexible, powerful mobile computer. At $299, why would anyone not buy one?
I think MS is hated pretty much by both groups. But that’s just MO.
I never used to be an Apple fan until I saw some of their recent offerings. My next computer may very well be an Apple......never thought that would be the case.
If MSFT hates them sooooo much, why am I buying so many of their products? Their Lamborghini computer is a beauty.
That 900MHz processor only runs at 630MHz.
Yet, as “a good PDA replacement,” I think you’ve nailed it. I told my wife I like her Palm Pilot, but that it’s too small and I couldn’t get used to the input device.
Boom, here comes the eeePC.
I’ll wait for the 8Gb or 16Gb 10” version late this spring.
The Playstation 3 has a blue ray player as its optical drive. It plays movies as well as games.
I'm not knockin the EEE. I'm actually thinking of getting one to play with and then give to my parents. (Either that or an mac mini.)
If you carry a briefcase around, that makes sense. But a PDA (Palm) is still my choice precisely because of its size. I can stick it in my pocket and take it anywhere. Sure, it doesn't have the power of a PC, but for what I need (contacts, appointments, small document/data applications, photos & video) it fills the bill. And I don't care about going online with it so that's not an issue.
When I need a computer I take my laptop. But that's infrequent. My Palm's my almost constant companion.
My new Blackberry Pearl has all the PDA features I need.
Our wireless phone service is up for renewal beginning at the end of March. I’ve debated whether to get a Blackberry so I don’t have to carry two devices, but being retired, I don’t want to spend a lot of cash on something that’s as much gadget as a useful device. My Palm suits my needs very well. I’d only upgrade if I could for the right price.
I’ve used Palms because I do family genealogy and find them useful at times, instead of carrying a laptop. I’ve developed some database applications I use for that purpose. I can then transfer the data to my PC when I return home. I also use database apps I created in my weekend part-time job. I put it through its paces in the 9 hours I work each weekend.
A new generation CDMA Sprint Treo 800w is rumored to come out 1st Qtr 2008, loaded with WiFi, GPS, 3G internet, Windows Mobile, Bluetooth, yada yada. I will probably get one, as you can get 500 minutes plus unlimited internet access for $30/month from Sprint on the SERO plan, the best deal available that includes hi-speed internet access. Here is a photo of the expected new Treo that came up on a slide show in a Bill Gates keynote speech at CES in Vegas last nite:
Regarding this new portable Asus micro computer, I am also going to seriously consider selling my notebook and buying one, for the portability. My newer notebook has Visduh, and though I have had no problems with it, it is very slow to boot up, which I find very inconvenient. For web surfing when on the road, this might be just big enuf. A smartphone, though indispensible IMHO for looking things up on the internet, is a bit small for serious websurfing.
When my Dell PDA died, because I spilled water on it, I tried to replace it with another Dell PDA. I found that Dell does not make them anymore. They were selling ASUS PDAs instead. I bought one and is seems fine, but it does not have the range of the Dell PDA.
We’re with Verizon and will continue with their plan. They too have the Treo PDA available, but they’re all too expensive for me. As I noted, I don’t use it for business, am retired, and have no intention of spending hundreds of dollars (again). My Tungsten E2 works just fine for me.
If one were available at a reasonable price, then I’d jump at it. But for what I use it for, a real cash outlay makes no sense.
95% of my actual use of a computer is internet browsing. So, 95% of the time this Asus eee would work great. As far as specs go, all but two of our household laptops are the same or less processor, memory, and storage wise.
I want one, because I usually have a half hour to catch up on news, weather, etc. before leaving for work. Asus eee’s 15 second boot time sounds really good.
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