Today at IFA 2014, Asus gave the world its first look at the EeeBook, a Windows 8.1 laptop that takes direct aim at the super low-cost laptop market that Chromebooks have carved out a significant chunk for themselves.
The Asus EeeBook runs on an Intel Atom quad-core processor, wears an 11.6-inch display, and sports 2GB of RAM. Like Chromebooks, it comes with low-level storage options; 32GB or 64GB. The company supplements that with 500GB of free Asus WebStorage, its cloud storage service, for two years. That approach is very similar to the way Chromebooks make up for their paltry storage offerings (16GB, usually) by adding on 100GB of free Google Drive storage for two years. The Asus EeeBook runs on Windows 8.1 Bing.
Related: Asus claims its ZenBook UX305 is ‘thinner than air,’ powered by Intel Core M
Asus says that the display sports an HD pixel resolution, so it sounds like it will be 1366 x 768. We imagine that if it had a 1080p, it would have spent a significant amount of time pointing that out during its event in Berlin, Germany today.
Ports will include two USB 2.0, one Micro HDMI, and a MicroSD memory card reader. It’s unclear whether the EeeBook will connect to the Internet via 802.11n or 802.11ac. Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like the EeeBook will have any USB 3.0 ports.
Weighing roughly 2.16-pounds and measuring 0.68-inches thin, the Asus EeeBook is firmly in MacBook Air territory when it comes to portability, so it should be as light as a feather when you’re lugging it around. It wears a full keyboard and touchpad, and Asus promises up to 12 hours of battery life when you’re Web browsing. Of course, taxing the EeeBook with more strenuous tasks will pull that number down significantly.
The Asus EeeBook will cost 200 Euros or $200 in the United States. It will ship in White, Black, Red, and Gold.
