Asus X101 and X101H specs – here’s why they only sell for $200

We told you a couple of things about the Asus X101 yesterday, the new ultra-thin 10 incher Asus added to their EEE PC line of netbooks at Computex. At the moment though, we did not have the full specifications sheet for that model, or its close relative the Asus EEE PC X101H. We knew however that they were going to start at $200, but now we know exactly why.

First of all, there will be two different versions for this sleek mini laptop. The X101, with SSD storage and Meego OS, and the X101H with standard HDD storage and Windows 7 OS. Here’s what they both have in common:

• 10.1 inch LED backlit display, 1024 x 600 px resolution
• Intel next generation Atom N435 CPU
• up to 2 GB of memory
• Wireless N and Bluetooth
• 2 x USB 2.0 slots, one mic-headphone jack, microSD card-reader, 0.3 MPx webcam

Asus had to cut some corners to get such a sleek netbook under $200

The X101 version Asus plan to sell for $199 also ads 8GB SSD storage and a 3 Cell battery. All these for a total weight of 900 g (2.1 pounds) and in a sleek 17 mm thick body. Plus, you get Meego as the OS like I said. Now, with Meego being such a light OS, the 3 Cell battery might not necessarily be a big problem; you’ll probably be able to get up to 5 hours of life out of it.

However, the small storage space is: you can’t really get that much in only 8 GB, especially if you plan to add some music or movies to your portable computer. You can extend storage capacity with a microSD card though, but it would be nice if Asus will bring a better equipped version, with 16-32 GB SSD and a bigger battery.

The X101H version will bring Windows 7 Starter OS and 250/320 GB HDD storage, plus probably a bunch of different battery options. We have no infos on prices for this series, nor on weight, but we do know that the X101H will be 5 mm thicker than the X101 (totaling 22 mm) and will be for sure heavier as well. At the moment we don’t have any pictures of the X101H, nor it was displayed at Computex as its slimmer kin is, the X101 EEE PC. Scrap that, it was displayed and we’re getting a hands-on video online as we speak.

Asus plan to have these in stores by September, so there’s plenty of time for us to get all the missing parts of the puzzle till then.

Only the slim X101 was displayed so far

As a bottom point though, it’s impressive how Asus managed to bring a sub $200 10 inch netbook to the market right now, especially since it’s such a sleek unit. But they did have to cut some corners for that, as some specs look similar to the ones we had on early EEE PCs 2-3 years ago. I doubt many will go for the base versions though, but we will be able to get a good machine for probably around $250, a truly portable and cheap notebook.