ASUS Uses Android OS in Eee Pad Tablets, Reveals Prices

By now, end-users will know that virtually all PC makers aim to enter the tablet market at some point, and ASUS seems especially eager to do so, having even reportedly disclosed some general details, including the pricing, of several Eee Pad slates set to debut over the following months.

Tablet PC have been selling for years, but only recently have media slates established, more or less, their own niche.

HP was the first to show off a tablet project, the HP Slate, but ended up scrapping it and starting over once it acquired Palm's webOS.

Now, ASUS has also apparently decided to renounce Windows Embedded Compact 7 in favor of the Google Android OS, at least on the lower-end tablets.

In fact, the company reportedly intends to bring out an entire collection of slates by March, 2011, priced at between $300 and as high as $1,000.

One of the lower-end ones, the Eee Tablet that is actually an e-reader, was reportedly priced at below $599 but is not coupled with a tag of $300.

Not all slates will drop Windows 7 Compact, however. A 10-inch model loaded with it will supposedly come out in January and will bear a price of $499 or lower.

What's more, ASUS is planning on releasing, around December or January 2011, a 12-inch slate loaded with Windows 7 Home Premium and equipped with a docking station that allows it to turn into a laptop.

This 12-inch Eee Pad EP121 is based on an Intel Core 2 Duo ULV, will offer full PC functionality and will cost around $1,000.

Finally, the last piece in this series will be the Android 3.0-running Eee Pad EP101TC and will cost less than $399 and will start shipping in March.

All in all, one can expect a whole slew of slates to flood the market over the coming months.