♥ Princessa's Royal Diary ♥ - Royalty has never been so PINK!

Before I forget... Today was my first day on the job at Gadget3! And below is what I wore to work,

Woot! I don't have to dress like my mum!!! Hurhur.

Okay. Enough of that.

*Ahem* By the way, what's the difference between Ultra-Mobile PCs (UMPC) and "netbooks" again? I'm sooo out of touch.

Anyhow.

Not too long ago people were still going "gaga" over the not-so-new range of Asus Eee PCs. During my recent visit to Sim Lim Square (SLS) I glance upon the sight of the newly release Asus Eee PC S101 for, yes, the very first time!

^{Image from eeepc.asus.com.}

The 5W1H came to mind - who, what, when, where, why, and of course, how?

I'll be honest here, I have not been updating myself much with "what's in, what's HOT" in the "geekonomics world" so I was a little surprised when I saw that sleek looking piece of electronics sitting dazzling on the display table.

Without hesitation, I was at work again, throwing the norm-asked questions at the sales representative. Unfortunately for me, time was at the essence - it was minutes away from closing time, even the shutters were about to be drawn down.

Filled with unanswered queries I decided to hit the search engines for the answers, right after I grabbed dinner with Teddybear that is.

The 5W1H...

Who? - Needless to say, since it's the Eee PC "fashion forward" model, who else could we be talking about other then good old Asus?

What? - Just in case we lost track, yes, we are still talking about the Eee PC S101 netbook.

When? - I'm not sure when the official release was but it was on the display table at SLS so I would assume that it's purchasable already.

Where? - I'm sure SLS has it, as for the Funan and the rest that we've got to look into.

Why? - The ultimate question!

I have yet tested its worthy-ness but according to the various write-ups online, it is said to be higher specs than the traditional Eee PC range, which would include my 1-month-old 901 model.

How? - Let's just skip the "how," or should I say "how, what?"

Now for the specs...

The S101 model has the usual 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, and as stated in Asus official website,

... exterior in three gorgeous colors - Brown, Champagne or Graphite
... weighing a mere 1 kg and svelter than most fashion magazines at just 1.8 cm
... It supports Wi-Fi 802.11n
... also features Bluetooth V2
... The SSD comes in capacities of up to 64 GB
... an integrated 4-in-1 flash card reader
... supported flash memory types are MMC, SD, Memory Stick and MS-PRO
... equipped with a vibrant 10.2” wide active matrix LED-backlit display which is capable of running at WSVGA resolution
... features the exclusive Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) which greatly enhances its energy efficiency, letting users enjoy longer battery life per charge - enabling up to five hours of continuous use

It measures 264 x 180.5 x 18-25mm and weighs roughly 1kg. Plus, it looks great with my new dress! (Kinda.)

I've seen the one with 16 GB SSD running on Windows XP in brown, but as for the rest I can't be sure if their made available in Singapore yet. I mean... The previous models kinda didn't come in the full range of colours in the initial start either, right? (Why do you think my 701 and 901 are in white and not pink?)

Now for the most important detail - the price!

I'm not sure about the rest, but the 16 GB SSD one I saw at SLS is priced at SGD 1,099.

PS: (Updated March 9, 2009) Apparently the word "netbook" is trademark by Psion Teklogix, so now I'm calling the "netbook", sub-notebook instead.