CES: Netbooks get performance boost from the ASUS S121

by Stevie Smith - Jan 7 2009, 13:00

Who is ASUSTeK trying to kid? While it may not be carrying the popular Eee PC branding, the new S121 ultra portable notebook, despite its glittery bells and whistles, is surely a Netbook by any other name.

ASUS moves away from Netbooks with its S121 slim-line notebook. Image: ASUSTeK.

Regardless of the Taiwan-based manufacturer’s insistence that its latest slice of mobile hardware is actually an “Ultra Slim Mobile Notebook,” the 2.6-pound system (a little over a kilo) measures less than an inch in terms of thickness and looks every bit like a conventional Netbook.However, that being said, ASUS has focused attention on certain contributing elements of the S121 in order to wedge a little distance between its Eee PC line and any new hardware category it might be trying to create with its upgraded portable.Those differences include the incorporation of Intel’s Atom-based Menlow processing platform, which is a more oomph-worthy edition of the current Atom chip technology utilised by the majority of Netbook computers.ASUS has also boosted the S121’s core specifications by adding 128GBs of solid state drive (SSD) data storage, while aesthetic improvements see the inclusion of Swarovski crystals in the display hinge (what?), and user functionality is tweaked by a leather palm rest.Current reports describing the S121 suggest the slim-line portable will also come complete with a Linux-based quick-launch environment for swift and easy access to the Internet and onboard documentation without having to wait for the computer to boot-up fully.Retail availability and unit pricing for the S121 have not yet been divulged by ASUSTeK.

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CES: Netbooks get performance boost from the ASUS S121

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