What might be seen as one of the biggest Computex Day 1 announcements for the mobile market has just been unveiled by ASUS this afternoon. The company just took the covers off its Eee Pad tablet lineup, an ultra-slim and light yet high-performance series “designed to provide users with a real time cloud computing experience.”
Yet, what might be even more important to consumers is the fact that its flagship EP121 12-inch tablet is actually thinner, lighter and faster than the Apple iPad. It is 12.2mm thick, weighs 1.48 pounds (675g) and is powered by an Intel Core 2 Duo CULV processor (either an SU7xxx series or SU9xxx series chip at 1.3GHz or above). In contrast, the iPad is 12.7mm thick, weighs 1.6 pounds (726g) and is powered by an ARM-based Apple A4 1GHz custom SoC design.
Unlike the iPad, the ASUS Eee Pad EP121 offers the great convenience of being able to be docked in landscape mode. This seemingly insignificant but rather important design aspect was one of the main reasons why many prospective tablet customers chose not to buy into the first-generation iPad. Mobile productivity is designed in a way that is best optimized in a landscape screen environment, and the only way to do this on an iPad is to purchase a $69 dollar Apple Wireless Bluetooth Keyboard which faces occasional connectivity issues with OS 3.2.
ASUS also delivers another blow to Apple with the inclusion of a USB port and a front-facing webcam for video conferencing. This means that the tablet series will features all the amenities of a typical Windows 7 notebook, minus the included tactile keyboard of course. Unfortunately, the company didn’t mention what resolutions these tablets would run at it, but it did mention that they will all deliver up to 10 hours of usage.
ASUS has given its Eee Pads a price range between $399 and $499, but don’t get ready to pull the trigger on the Buy button just yet. The only unfortunate factor about this announcement is the company’s release strategy. These tablets will not be available in time for Black Friday, and they will not be available in time for the holiday season either. ASUS has told the press that its Eee Pad series will debut in Q1 2011, or in other words, just in time to take a small lead ahead of the second-generation iPad.