Express card? No interest. Why widescreen? Because it fits on the keyboard. You can either use widescreen or have a lot of blank space on the sides of the screen. It's the same ratio as the N8x0. I have a 701, and I use it for almost everything, seldom bothering to turn on my desktop or full-size laptop. My N800 doesn't get a lot of use, mostly on the road with Maemo Mapper, and sometimes from my pocket, but the Eee is so portable I tend to take it just about everywhere I would take the N800.

looks nice!

so what's their next version ? a regular laptop ?

I could care less about widescreen. I doubt I'll spend much time directly using a mini-laptop (EEE PC, HP's new offering, etc.). At most, I'll probably want to have an external display, external keyboard, and external mouse. That's probably as directly as I'll ever use it.

However, I absolutely DO want an Express Card slot (I'll settle for PCMCIA), Wifi, Bluetooth, external monitor port, USB, and larger than 8 or 16 GB SSD options. Oh, and as much battery life as you can get out of it.

Why Bluetooth? For FTP so that I can store files for my N810 on it.

Why Wifi? So I can use it as an _access_point_ for my N810.

Why Express Card? So I can put a WWAN card in it, and thus use it as a WWAN gateway for my N810. I don't want such a thing _built_in_ to it, because I don't want limited choices. I want to pick my carrier, my protocol (GSM family, CDMA family, WiMAX, etc.), etc. I can do that with an Express Card or PCMCIA card. (I suppose I could do it with a USB dongle, but I'd prefer express card)

Then I'll just shove it in my bag, and leave it there except when I really need a bigger keyboard/screen than my N810 ... or to recharge its battery.

So, you can easily see why I consider an Express Card very attractive for me to purchase it ... and that I don't care one little bit about widescreen. I don't intend to use such a device as my mini-laptop. I intend to use it as my personal-area-network server.

My personal area (workstation) is my N810. Not something as awkwardly large as an EEE PC. Something that big belongs in a bag where it never sees the light of day.


(EDIT)

Oh, and I want Ubuntu on it. None of this gOS crap, Suse Enterprise on a UMPC (HP's plan), or whatever random a** linux distro the Eee has. Ubuntu damnit.

why not widescreen? its a more natural layout, plus nearly every TV monitor etc these days is wide screen.

I'd really like to see the evidence that it's a "more natural layout" ... Please tell me what aspect ratio is defined by the average human's visual envelope? The only experiment I remember ever doing along these lines didn't say to me "oooh! 16x9! our eyes are so much better suited to 16x9!".

And, who cares if it's what every tv monitor these days is doing? I care about the device footprint, and a screen that fits the device footprint. Since "watching TV shows and Movies" isn't on my list of intended uses for the device, why do I care about what the current trend is in that regard?

If I was going to make this a portable workstation instead of a portable server, you'd get more mileage out of trying to make a portrait display of paper-like proportions ... than a landscape display of movie like proportions. That way it would at least feel more like working on an actual document.

I will probably get one of those, but I may want to see if they have improved the keyboard first!

I'm not gonna complain about what the triple E should be and what it shouldn't. I'm just gonna buy this lil bad boy and do all the mods. Being that this isn't a tablet. There exist many other websites based on the triple E. Checkem out, you'll learn more and read less Bi**hing!

Asus has now committed to a version with a touchscreen by mid-summer. I was seriously considering upgrading to the 901, but getting a touchscreen and 12GB of flash in addition to the larger screen, for a projected $500, will make me wait and see. With inflation really taking off, I wouldn't bet on that price, but even for a little more it's a very good deal.

No, in an article an Asus CEO had with Laptop mag, he said the EEE will be staying small. Read the last interview question.

Article here: http://blog.laptopmag.com/eee-pc-to-...-forward-style

Well if you believe Gizmodo, it's going to have a cool track pad.

http://gizmodo.com/372482/