While some countries are already taking stock of the ASUS T101MT netbook, it’s not here in the U.S. That’s about to change according to a Liliputing source — Brad Linder says we should see the touchscreen device next month for around $499. At that price, I suspect it’s a base model and not the decked out version folks in Italy can pick up. EeePC.it says you get 2 GB of RAM, Microsoft Windows Home Premium and a 320 GB hard drive for your 499 Euros.
I’m in agreement with Brad — the $499 version we’ll see is likely to have only 1 GB of RAM and Microsoft Windows Starter Edition. This is one time where I hope I’m wrong, since that version of Windows doesn’t include touchscreen support. In fact, I still can’t fathom why any touchscreen PC would be offered with an operating system that can’t take advantage of a touch input. And speaking of touch, there’s been some confusion about the touch solution ASUS is using with the T101MT — while is is capable of multitouch, it’s a resistive display. Here’s an excerpt from an ASUS Press Release on the device:
“Equipped with an advanced display can recognize 256 levels of pressure, Eee PC T101MT provides maximum sensitivity to touch, offering the ability to digitally reproduce even handwriting in an extremely fluid and natural. Thanks to technology multitouch addition, the display of a small tablet on ASUS recognizes the input in several places simultaneously, allowing, among other things, to rotate, enlarge or reduce images and documents, as well as browse web pages simply and intuitive, while moving two fingers on the display, without even having to use the built-in touchpad.”
As soon as I saw the “256 levels of pressure” bit, I knew it wasn’t capacitive. Those screens can’t sense pressure levels like a resistive display can. The alternative is to use a dual digitizer with both capacitive and resistive, but at $499, you’re not going to see that solution. Another option would be for ASUS to use an active digitizer with special pen — those can sense pressure levels too — but again, they’re costly and don’t support multitouch. So for touch navigation, the T101MT should work nicely, provided it has the right operating system. For inking and handwriting — not so much based on the technology used.
Image courtesy of Liliputing
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