It has more to do with the devaluation of the US dollar. $300 doesn’t exactly buy you what it did 6 months ago. If you need any proof of that, go to a gas station or a grocery store. Convert the current price to Yen and compare the Yen/Dollar conversion six months ago. That’s what is causing the price inflation.

What happened to the $200 notebook Asus… yes there is a value to size and power and screen size in this small form factor, but every price point above $500 has got to keep people thinking of a real lappy… score one for Acer for trying to at least keep to the original idea of a ultra portable with a low price point.

FYI re. Asus 901: In Australia, were are seeing the 8.9 inch EEE for $569 AU for the version running XP and with 12Gb. Will be interesting to see how much the other mini-notes will cost here (HP mini-note costs $899AU and up)

i feel it’s priced right. 802.11n, bluetooth, 1.6 ghz atom, 2bg ram?, multitouch pad. a 10″ notebook with those specs is almost non existant. anything coming close would be those tiny sony vaios and that’s quite a price difference.

I think Asus has painted themselves into a corner with the pricing. I know everyone has said this over and over, but the fact is that the first gen EEE PCs were great because of the price. Now Asus has gone for profit over progress with these new features. The argument wasn’t as strong when comparing the EEE to a regular size notebook at the same price, because no one else was offering a “netbook” at a similar price. Now that MSI, Acer, Dell, HP, etc are joining in and offer something very similar for a fraction of the cost, it has put Asus in that gray area of customer loyalty versus price, and we know how that usually goes. Price wins unless you are a loyal to a particular brand. I love my 7” EEE PC, and I hoped Asus would make a good step with the next model, while keeping the price relatively low. Now I’m pretty much looking at other alternatives to the EEE just to get a decent deal. But thats how business works I suppose. I guess I’ll get off my EEE soapbox and wait to see what happens.

I’m loving the MSI Wind though, so my EEE may be a casualty of war.

My expectations get lowered with every bit of news released on these things. I was actually surprised when I saw the $550 price, and thought it was pretty good… then I remembered I paid $350 for my first Eee.

I think Acer has the right idea. I hope the other manufacturers follow suit.

If these prices don’t start going in reverse, we could be talking about this category in the past tense sooner than any of us would like.