14 DAY TRIAL // After releasing an entire slew of laptops, ASUS recently came out and finally made a crater in the enthusiast segment by smashing it with the ARES HD 5970, a version of AMD's dual-GPU DirectX 11 card but with higher clocks and, most importantly, a full 4GB of GDDR5 VRAM. Now, the company has decided to help things settle down by resuming its habit of periodically launching a new netbook. The newcomer, in this case, goes by the name of Eee PC 1005PX and has already hit stores.
Since it is based on the Intel Pine Trail platform, the actual hardware that lies inside the casing of this new device is not exactly uncommon. For one, the screen size is the same as that of all Intel-powered netbooks, namely 10.1 inches. Even the LED-backlit LCD with a native resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels is similar to that of most competing entry-level laptops.
ASUS settled for the Atom N450 CPU when it constructed this device. This chip has a clock speed of 1.66GHz and, though it doesn't support DDR3, it is backed by up to 2GB of DDR2. This much memory should be enough for whatever basic computing tasks the netbook is used for. Furthermore, the mobile PC features the GMA 3150 integrated graphics and a hard disk drive of either 160GB, 250GB or even 320GB. Other specification include 10/100 LAN, Bluetooth 2.1, a 0.3 megapixel webcam, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and a 6-cell battery.
The Eee PC 1005PX with 1GB of memory and a 320GB HDD has already become available in Thailand, priced at $455. Its maker is even offering multiple color options, such as white, blue, red, pink and black, but hasn't said when they will reach other regions. All versions will be able to last for up to 8.5 hours.