Netbook Reviews

It has long been suspected that Asus will release an “Eee Pad” device after a number of manufacturers have seen the interested created by the iPad.

Now at Computex in Taipei, Asus have taken the wraps off of two Eee Pad tablet devices. Asus say that the ultra slim Eee Pad has been designed for tech savvy individuals who are on the go.

Asus have also announced the Eee Tablet, which is a smaller, more basic black and white device which is aimed as a note taking device.

Asus Eee Slate EP121

First up is the Asus 12-inch Eee Pad EP121, a slate computer which is fully featured and can serve as an multimedia player, e-reader, Internet device and as a standard compact PC. It’s powered by the Intel Core 2 Duo CULV processor, and runs Windows 7 Home Premium. Update, it’s now know as the Asus Eee Slate EP121, or simply the Asus EP121.

Asus EP121

And unlike the iPad, it supports multitasking and full flash support. Everything you can do on your home computer, you can do on the Eee Pad. A virtual keyboard or docking station keyboard can be used. Battery life is quoted at more than 10 hours.

Asus Eee Pad EP101TC

If the 12-inch Pad is too big, there is also the smaller 10-inch Asus Eee Pad EP101TC. The “pocket friendly” device is only 12.1mm thick and weighs just 675g. It runs Windows Embedded Compact 7, a toolkit built on Windows 7 technology.

Asus EP101TC

Update: Asus have replaced the Windows OS with Google’s Android operating system. The current prototype runs Froyo, but the released model should run Android 3.0 (Gingerbread). We can expect to see a working demo at CES 2011.