Asus Announces AMD Congo-powered Eee PC

So first we started at 8" "netbooks", then we worked our way up to 10" "netbooks. Now 12" "netbooks" are being put out.

Lo and behold, we are just back to an ultra-mobile PC. Just with a different name.

How many GB of RAM?

Yes I think this is a netbook no more.
Netbook, as it implies, should be a "book" size... max 8.5" width.

Damn. About the same (but more modern) graphical power as my older Asus notebook, probably have similar battery life and CPU performance (1.6GHz Core 2, 667MHz FSB). Only thing it's missing is an integrated optical drive.

I'd probably get one if it'd be 10".

edit button needed:
Asus and AMD or Intel. Please get us 1.6GHz Congo or low power i7/5/3/2/1 with HD5200 and 10" LCD LED screen.

TV tuner, GPS, Wimax, 3G and WiFi and 10" e-paper on the other side.
Give us the ultimate netbook! Tired of the old c/stuff/p.

As far as I'm concerned- right now a netbook is a small light computer with a single core processor and no DVD drive. 7", 9", 10", 12" I don't care. Somebody may someday make a 15" machine with an Atom and no DVD, but they probably can't sell it unless it is very cheap.

My wife has a 12" Toshiba, but it has a dual core processor, came with Vista Home, 3GB ram and also has a DVD drive. It cost about 3 times what a basic netbook would have cost.

I am a power user I have no need for cheap little notebooks. Why buy something new like this just because it's portable? You might aswell find something on the scrapyard for free that runs faster. I think these computers are just made to kill the second hand market.

Hey, thanks for assuming that the market system operates solely based off users like you. Yeah, EVERYONE is a power user, EVERYONE stays at home in a dark basement on their giant desktop computers and monitors, and absolutely NO ONE sees the light of day and the internet at the same time. Amirite?

Please, get real. The world revolves only around a large amount of molten metals.

Note... book?

Seems to me the only definition for a netbook these days is a maximum of a dual core processor under 2GHz and absolutely no optical drive.

There you go whine-a$$es!
Now let's see how the battery life and price compare to an ION or Atom platform!
Just give me a regular Atom platform with an SSD and XP; good enough for the job!

Prodigit80: By those performance standards, then a Pentium III 1.2 Ghz is "good enough for the job"(I'm not sure what job, but apparently not a very hard one), since the Atom would be lucky to keep up with such an antiquated system.

AMD's new laptop platform is great, I picked up a Toshiba with Athlon II M300 2.0ghz dual-core and Radeon 4200 graphics, it delivers truly "good enough for the job" performance for under $100 more than a standard netbook. Atom is complete garbage.

Without an arm processor, which I've been promised for at least a year, I don't forsee a purchase. I believe in pairing the best tools for the Job, and the atom's performance/watt rating doesn't make the cut. Retailers are Just scared to sell anything other then windows. We wouldn't even have netbooks if it wasn't for the popular One Laptop Per Child program.

I'd probably want one if the price is right, and if it has good enough battery life.

netbook or notebook the definition is meaningless, what matters is the price !
If it wasn't for netbooks, we would be arguing about whether to pay $2000 for this ultra-portable notebook. The netbook word and it movement has done its job... let move on.

...because there is a need for them in the market or else this would be a dying breed. I for one need something like this for school...why do school work and waste the life of a high-end power system that I have to have on most of the day...everyday?

I've had two execs replace their laptops with 11.1" netbooks because they were tired of lugging their 10 lb+ laptops (and chargers, etc) around the airports and to meetings just to get two to three hours on a battery.

Also, yeah, they are "ultra portable" but at least the price is not in the traditional "ultra portable" range.

I loved my EEE PC 1000h + Vertex 32gb SSD. Was one of the best computers I've owned in terms of usability and overall awesomeness. Too bad the resolution is just too low to do any actual work in Visual Studio (the IDE takes up too much of the screen).

I'd love one that could display a reasonable amount of space without having to be 15+ inches.

blurrier? I like it. 12" is just right, too big to be light, too small to read (for my eyes)

rollable screen where are you?

The ultimate netbook...
1.5GHz dual core (if AMD can do a 1.8GHz 40w sexacore, then they can do a damned decent low voltage mobile dual core already), 4GB DDR3 (for lower power usage), ATI 5200 integrated (soon as they release a decent 40nm) graphics, 10" LED screen (for lower power usage), wireless b/g/n and bluetooth (which can individually be shut off with a physical togle to save on power), and a 80GB Intel x18-m. All parts would be specially tailored for the shell (such as a non removable battery, as in Macs, to allow a larger battery in the same size shell) to allow as many weight/size reduction as possible.
We have the ability to make this possible, AMD just needs to up their game on the mobile market (or use a Intel ULV C2D), AMD/ATI needs to just make a 40nm integrated GPU, and that's it.
I want a solid performer taht's small and lightweight while still giving me 8 hours of battery usage.

Acer already made a nice Congo netbook in the form of its Acer Ferrari One. If it wasn't for the fact that the Ferrari Ones 11.6inch screen seem a bit to small I would get one, perhaps the extra inch of the Asus would make it the one to get.

A netbook is just a cell phone on steroids.
Add a graphics processor (GPU) and it is definitely a bit more of a laptop. But I'm guessing that CPU is only a single core and running at that clock rate... Well lets just say it would take a while to do certain things.

I'm going to agree with Anamaniac for my Ideal laptop. 11-12" screen in 1280x800 or 1366x768, because that's what most websites, etc. are designed for, And I'd like it in the smallest chassis possible. I'm tired of all of these manufacturers building a 2/3" surround around the screen. Congratualations, you built a cheap 12" laptop, but It's just as big as a 14". We buy laptops with small screens because we want more portability, not because we like small screens.
Personally, I'd like an AMD dual core at 1.6-2ghz, and an ATi 5200, with 4 gigs of whatever type of RAM you please, and any kind of HD you want, as long as it's got about 100gigs of space, and good battery life. I've got a giant desktop at home for whenever I need to edit videos or play Crysis. When I'm on the road I just want to be able to surf the web, work on office docs, and play some light games. You don't need a powerful computer to play Civ4 and WoW.

Well, A) most cellphones aren't x86 so desktop applications are out,
B) Atom netbooks already have a "GPU" even without Nvidia's graphics.
C) According to the info I'm reading, AMD's MV40 is dual-core and fully 64bit. If only there were some indication that it was being made at 45nm...

You apparently missed the bus on that one... UMPC's were 4-6" screens. About the size of the old sega game gear. You're thinking in the wrong direction.

The MV-40 is a single core K8 running at 1.6ghz, I believe it has 512 K of L2, and is made at 65nm, but am not completely sure of the L2 or process. AMD is very sorely in need of a new architecture.

Ah, looks like you're right. The source I was using has been corrected. Damn, a dual-core netbook would have blown the competition away in terms of sheer performance. It still might, if it's only going up against single-core Atoms with the Intel graphics chips. Problem is it'll be a power hog and probably run hot: at 45nm they probably could have gotten away with it, but I think they're devoting all of their capacity at that process to the newer Phenom/Athlon II chips.

Well, I did some more digging, and apparently MSi's busy getting ready to sell a similar laptop, the Wind U230, also with a 12" screen and HD 3200...but It's got the L335!!!! It looks really sweet, a true dual core netbook with decent graphics. It is still at 65nm, however, and unfortunately it is a power hog, (4 hours reported, 3:12 observed in video playback tests) but it is still awesome to get REAL computing power in a netbook. I'm tempted to buy, but I'm trying as hard as possible to hold out for 45nm. (AMD reports their 3rd gen. ultrathin will come out 1st half 2010 in 45nm, and *may* include a 5000 series IGP)