Comments on: 12-inch Eee PC spotted

Following the footsteps of Dell, the Asus Eee PC S121 looks a lot like the slim and stylish Eee PC S101, except for a smaller bezel to fit the larger screen.

[Tedders85]

Technically, this device cant be released. Intel has a restriction on netbooks with larger than a 10" screen and the Atom processor. HP is trying right now to talk to Intel into letting them use the Atom processor in an 11.6" and 13.3" netbooks that they want to release next year. If all of the manufacturers push Intel to do it I see it happening, but right now it is just HP trying, so I don't see it happening.

[rubber_toe]

So how do you explain the Dell Mini 12?

[Tedders85]

You know that is a really good question. ;) I forgot about that one. I read a story somewhere else about HP having talks with them and it never occurred to me that Dell made the 12. Thanks for the correction!

[sixteensonic]

I thought the restriction was in place from microsoft - to allow the use of windows XP

[cnetbioch]

I don't know if anyone played around with a 9" or 10" screen and keyboard. It's like a playschool toy.

I hope the 12" improves the usability.

[MND_Malvern]

Hmm, I do recognise that for the casual mobile use a small screen laptop has its value, but do I not recall that EU and UK health and safety regulations require that all computing display equipment be bought up to a 17 inch display size minimum as part of optical health and safety of a workforce?

So given this legislation, just what is the market for this product, and please do not say children for that is only going to build up eye care issues for the future.

[skythra]

unfortunately MND_Malvern, i do believe that the UK is only one (small) part of the world. Australia, New Zealand, Japan, China, etc etc.

Honestly the market is for people like me - i catch a train to work and my laptop is too big (person next to me gets unhappy) by my mobile is too small. Its more a on the road device designed to be able to do the simple things. I have a laptop for times im at a desk or at a meeting away from my normal cubicle, and my PC is for spending hours on a single project in comfort of large multiple monitors and raw horse power. So yeah, i have 4 machines that can effectively do the same thing, but its like having a 1/4 inch socket set and a 3/8ths set. They may have all the same size sockets, but they are used in different situations.

Remember this isnt really a toy, not something you play snake with or watch videos on to me. Its literally i have to reply to emails or get something done urgently and rather then turn around home i can do it briefly on the road with minimal hassle.

[jlt0x]

Laptops are quickly become the standard in many govt offices. They're shipped with docking stations so all you have to do is undock and go without worrying about if all your important project files are with you. There are many positions that don't require powerful machines b/c they don't use software stored on the machine; necessary agency applications are accessed via the internet so working from home or in a hotel is just as easy as working in the office.

And the smaller Netbooks are amazingly cheaper than the ultraportable class of laptops. But if you're in a position such as me that needs to have multiple memory-sucking applications running at once (Word, AutoCAD, Excel, IE, etc), then a real laptop with muscle is required.

[jtoor1984]

This looks like a very nice alternative for my current 10 inch notebook. It's still compact and light weight, but it has the advantage of a bigger screen, and a higher resolution. I don't think 10 inch is too small, but I can't work on anything less than 1280x768 pixels.

And as far as the restricions from Intel, I thought it's not forbidden to use a Atom cpu in a 10+ inch netbook, but you have to pay more for the cpu. I think I also read something about that's not allowed to install a cheap Windows XP license 10+ inch netbooks. Therefore these kind of netbooks will be a little bit more expensive, but still a very affordable solution, for someone who is looking for a highly mobile device and doesn't need really high performence.