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All Things Technical

Just saw the Asus U80 at Best Buy for $649.  What a steal.  It has everything I was looking for (See earlier post)  Was initially looking at a netbook due to the long battery life and compactness, then looked at Best Buy’s 2 “Blue” computers that were $749 for the Toshiba and $899 for the HP.  HP had more options and keyboard seemed more solid, but battery life was less.  Toshiba, had a cool keyboard, but felt cheap, flexed and speakers were rated the worst.  Best Buy person stated that both models were being phased out already.

The Asus is so new, it’s not even posted on Best Buy’s Website yet or anywhere to purchase on the internet that I could find.  They appear to be in transition with their older models and replacing them with new ones in preparation for the July Holiday.

Asus u80 outbeats both though with longer battery life, backlit keys, thinner profile, better power than a netbook.  Includes both VGA and HDMI, express card, multi card reader, etc.  Includes the newer LED screens for longer battery life, multi-touch pad, facial recognition, battery life rated at around 7 -8 hrs, so I’m guessing more like 6 hours, but hey, that’s better than some netbooks.  Now I don’t need to compromise between power and battery life and it’s cheaper than some of the outdated models still selling.

Ok, the only thing it’s missing are 2 ports, eSATA and a firewire, but not deal breakers at this time.  Make note, I’m not much of a gamer, so the fact this has integrated video also isn’t a deal breaker, but I know hard core gamers won’t like this.  I travel alot, so lightweight, power and long battery life are critical.  I plan to use this for business aps, ebook reading, photo editing, video editing and programming.  Of course the typical netbook usage: email, internet, watching videos, etc.  This should replace my HP tablet which just gets too hot and battery life is dismal, not to mention the weight.  I think this may also have the new Instant On feature (unsure if it’s using spashtop or hyperspace) for those “netbook” usages, it does have that dedicated button, we’ll see, otherwise I’ll just load Presto onto it for the same functionality.  I’m waiting until Sunday to see what other notebooks come out, so I haven’t unboxed this yet because Best Buy will charge a 15% restocking fee if I decide to go with something else.  But I did purchase the only one they had as I’m sure this baby will disappear very quickly off the shelves, assuming they get any more in by Sunday.

This could be the netbook killer if all computer companies can produce these for such a low price point saving people from having to compromise speed, size and features for battery life.  Yeah, I know there are compact notebooks but for the starting prices of $1,000-$3,000 and they don’t come with backlit chicklet style keys.

For those looking to increase their screen size to 15.6″ and have a dedicated numeric keypad, for $400-600 more, there’s the U50, not sure where though you can buy one.  Tempting, but can’t justify the extra cost just for those 2 improvements.  But then I’ve also been seeing the U80 priced at $900, so perhaps the U50 will be cheaper than what the web is reporting currently.

I know Dell, MSI, HP and all the other major companies are planning on releasing their versions of full notebook computing with thin sheek style and longer battery life, but at what price and when.  At $649, I’d be hard press to see any of them doing any better.  We’ll see.

Also, if you purchase an Asus computer on June 26th or later, you qualify for a free Upgrade to Windows 7 when it’s released on Oct 22, 2009.  See details here.

Also, I just learned you might get a years worth of FREE Accidental Damage Protection.  See details here.  The fine print suggests it won’t be honored, but it did let me register, so we’ll see.  Won’t hurt to try.

Now, I’m just waiting till Sunday, to see what all the “new” models Best Buy is planning on selling since it seems to be such a big secret, all the sales people keep saying they can’t say or sell any of the new laptops they just got in until Sunday.  We’ll see.  Perhaps I’ll change my mind on this one too.  Maybe they’ll have a U50 for only $50-100 more.  If I decide to keep this one, I’ll provide an update with my first impressions.