Finally, Asus releases netbooks with touchscreen, GPS and TV tuner

Yesterday, on the first day of the Consumer Electronics Show, Asus unveiled several new products, including a multimedia keyboard with a touchscreen. However, more importantly, Asus released three new models of the EEE series, the T91, the T100H and the N20.

All of the three models have touchscreens, but the screen on the N20 also has multitouch capabilities. The T91 is an 8.9-inch screen netbook with a convertible touchscreen. It retains the small keyboard design from other older iterations of the EEE series, such as the 701 and the 901. However, the most important feature of the model is that it incorporates an Intel Atom Z520 processor, which belongs to the Silverthorne family. Usually, all other Atom-powered netbooks have a N270 Diamondville processor.

On the other hand, the T100h, which shares the same tablet design as the T91, has a 1.6 GHz Intel Atom processor with Diamondville core. However, this model is richer in features, as it is the first EEE PC model to come with an integrated GPS receiver. Furthermore, users will be happy to discover that the netbook also has a TV-tuner.

The Asus N20 is conceived with a somewhat different philosophy than the rest of the EEE series. Asus fitted the netbook with a multitouch-capable screen. To make the most out of its potential, Asus also provides a customized GUI of Windows XP and several other programs that will ease the interaction between the user and the machine. However, the multitouch applications crashed during the live demonstration.

The Taiwan-based manufacturer also unveiled other interesting devices. The most appealing was the EEE Keyboard, which bundles a 5-inch touchpad that can also act as a touchscreen. On one side of the keyboard, there are several connection ports, including DVI and HDMI.

If you wonder why a keyboard needs video-out ports, the answer is that the EEE Keyboard is actually an ultra compact PC, with all the necessary hardware to do basic computing. This unique device will certainly appeal home theater users, but it will also be interesting for business users who often use laptops for presentations.

The features on the three new EEE PC models were expected by a big part of netbook users, which were particularly craving for a touchscreen. This thing alone made several third party manufacturers to develop and market touchscreen kits that are very popular among users. In addition, the inclusion of an internal GPS module corroborated with shockproof solid-state drives turn these ultraportable computers into ideal navigation devices.