The T91GO is the Eee PC Tablet

By Jane McEntegart
published

The EeePC T91GO is on display at Asus’ booth at CeBit in Hanover this week, and while the company has a lot of interesting kit to show off, the T91 stands out -- especially after yesterday’s news about Always Innovating’s Touch Book.

The Touch Book is a netbook/nettablet that made us sit up and take notice, mainly because it was ARM-powered, we’ll admit, but a close second is because it looks to be the netbook market’s answer to a low cost tablet.

The T91 (which we saw briefly at CES back in January) presents itself as stiff competition for the Touch Book. While the TB boasts a 10 to 15 hour battery life, it is thanks to the fact that it’s ARM based. The T91 is Atom-based and so, probably has a shorter battery life but will probably cash in on the ubiquity of the Atom processor for its speed and compatibility for running desktop operating systems. It features an 8.9-inch (1024 x 600) touch screen and a 180 degree rotating lid. It measures in at 225 x 164 x 25.2-28.4mm, and according to bit-tech, is less than 1 kg. Word on the street is that the glossy finish attracts finger prints and smudges like there’s no tomorrow. No pricing or availability details as of yet.

So which do you think is a more likely winner? Asus has the advantage of an already great reputation built up by the previous EeePC models but the 10-15 hour battery life claim is something we just can’t get past. Battery life is an issue for everyone with a netbook. Question is, will it be enough to shift the $299 unit off the shelves? Leave your thoughts below.

10 Comments Comment from the forums
  • maaksel
    personally no use for a tablet... however, I can see how this might have a chance in the market. I work in the IT field and Nurses through Teachers might find this beneficial in the workplace or classroom. However, after recently upgrading a local Hospital to Fujitsu tablets... they found out the hard way it's not as cheap as they thought. 'having to have' monitors (32" LCD Vizio TV's) in the rooms so they can show patients.

    It was their part in going green though and having everything electronic - from the patient signing the forms to having all the charts. If this option was available 3 months ago (6 months at the project starT) I think it might have been very tempting for them.
    Reply
  • chaohsiangchen
    T91.... Good name. I would be happiest man on earth if I could mount it on a T91 assault rifle.
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    You mean I could have waited a few months and had an ePC tablet running OneNote for 400 bux cheaper than my HP tx2500z?

    DOH!
    Reply
  • jacobdrj
    You mean I could have waited a few months and gotten this tablet instead of my HP that has better battery life and costs half as much?

    DOH!
    Reply
  • Niva
    I'm always looking for a cheap tablet with pressure sensitivity for applications like Photoshop and Zbrush. If this thing can run those apps without too much trouble I'm in... still the resolution is small and now there are good tablets for less than 1k anyways.
    Reply
  • plbyrd
    $299 for a tablet! I'm practically vibrating right now!
    Reply
  • mdillenbeck
    I've been tracking the blogs on this one, as I am a tablet PC user.

    From what I heard, the cost will be about $550 without the extra stuff (3G and TV tuner). It runs its own apps on top of XP, and it should have a 4-5 hour battery life. The bad news, the last demo had an internal battery.

    Doubt it will be pressure sensitive for the price. Probably will have vectoring problems during inking like so many early tablet PCs - but for the size and weight, it might be a great alternative for the student. Keep scans of your textbooks, use the tablet note taking features (and/or type it in, depending on your courses), and carry only one small lightweight device in your bag. Even I find the TX2xxx series from HP to be a bit cumbersome (and noisy) at times.

    Of course, what I am really waiting for is Plastic Logic's eReader with markup capabilities - too bad they're talking 2010 for release instead of this year. *sigh*
    Reply
  • ahslan
    I ABSOLUTELY LOVE TABLETS! My girlfriend got one at the beginning of college and since then, I have been obsessed with them. I initially didnt get one because tablets are usually really expensive, but I was able to buy a used Fujitsu T4010D on ebay for $220.I use mine for school so much (OneNote mainly). I really do think tablets should become the standard for college students, and having this cheap option might be able to sway students that are apprehensive about buying a tablet.
    Reply
  • aracheb
    maakselpersonally no use for a tablet... however, I can see how this might have a chance in the market. I work in the IT field and Nurses through Teachers might find this beneficial in the workplace or classroom. However, after recently upgrading a local Hospital to Fujitsu tablets... they found out the hard way it's not as cheap as they thought. 'having to have' monitors (32" LCD Vizio TV's) in the rooms so they can show patients. It was their part in going green though and having everything electronic - from the patient signing the forms to having all the charts. If this option was available 3 months ago (6 months at the project starT) I think it might have been very tempting for them.


    why the vizio lcd?
    don't understand. i also work in IT in the health care sector and we have everything electronic, but i dont see the use for a lcd!!!..

    the table pc is a must. and the dual MOnitor for PACS also.. maybe three monitor one hanging in the wall for showing RAD or SONO to the patient.. but don't understand the LCD. and here everything is electronic we verily use paper (well in the toilets) but that is must until we can develop the three clam shell.
    Reply
  • mclancer
    Hum...
    $400 Pocket PC (600mhz, 128mb 320x240)
    or
    this baby for around the same price,
    more power, larger screen, more memory,
    more storage, runs XP and apps...

    When can I buy one !!!
    Reply