14 DAY TRIAL // Just one week after being officially unveiled at the CES 2012 fair, Asus’ Eee PC X101CH and Eee PC 1025C notebooks, based on Intel’s Cedar Tail platform, are now available for pre-order in the US with prices starting at $269 (roughly 210 EUR).
For this much money, you will be able to get your hands on the Eee PC X101CH which comes powered by an Intel Atom N2600 dual-core processor clocked at 1.66GHz, paired together with 1GB of system memory and a 320GB hard drive.
The standard 802.11n Wi-Fi, low-res webcam, and a 3-cell battery, that can deliver up to 4 hours of running time, are also included, to form an entry level mobile computer.
Moving to the $299 (234 EUR) priced Eee PC 1025C this also boasts the same Intel Atom N2600 processors and 320GB hard drive, but this time it includes a 6-cell battery that Asus claims it can deliver up to 4 hours of autonomy.
No matter which one of the two systems one chooses, these sport a 10.1-inch LED-backlit display with a native resolution of 1024x600.
Connectivity options include Bluetooth 3.0 (the latter only on selected models), and an HDMI output, but also support for the WiFi Direct technology that enables users to share date between devices without the need of a wireless access point.
The real star of the show is however the Intel N2600 processor which Intel has designed in order to deliver improved multimedia capabilities when compared to its predecessor.
These are mostly due to the new PowerVR SGX545 graphics core introduced in the Cedarview architecture, which can support hardware decoding for MPEG2, VC1, AVC, and H.264 Full HD content as well as for Blu-ray 2.0 content.
So far, ExcaliberPC hasn’t said when the two netbooks will start shipping to their customers.