Opinions: Asus Puts Seashells on Spode's Shore

I've not been going to as many launches as I should be, so today I headed down to South Kensington where Asus had purloined the Lamborghini show room to demonstrate their latest range of products.

The two particular products I was interested in were the T91 and the Seashell – both of which I had an opportunity to have a hands on with.

The Seashell was a really nice device – slim, ergonomic, well designed and aesthetically pleasing. The keyboard was lovely to type on and it would feel cosy in anyone's bag. There wasn't an obvious D-SUB connector until you reach underneath where a panel pulls away to reveal a D-SUB port on a 1” cable that plugs into a port on the side. They showed for the first time some of the newer colours available and the metallic red looks really quite sexy.

It was obvious that they were chasing the Macbook Air market, with the rounded, uniform shape and design. Unfortunately this was also obvious with the lack of removable battery. With only 4-5 hours of battery life, I don't think that's enough to justify being sealed as you'd still need to carry around a power pack or spare battery.

Then of course there is the issue of replacing this battery, for when it eventually fails. Talking to Tim Smalley of Bit-Tech.net – he had already posed this question several times and Asus has tried its best to avoid giving him an answer. The pessimist in me wants to consider this a disposable device.

The T91 was probably the most disappointing as on paper it looks so good. It felt much closer to the original 7” EeePC – the keyboard was clunky, the design was boxy and it just didn't have the build quality I was expecting. The screen pivots round, turning it into a tablet and it seemed to work pretty well. I'm not a big fan of tablets because I just can't think of a reason why I'd need one – but to someone who does, having one in a 9” form factor is pretty useful. £499 seems a little steep though.

They were showing off their software and how they had what appeared to be multiple desktops, with a fancy GL effect to transition between them. This is very similar to Compiz/Beryl – something Linux has had for years now. The difference was, they had made a big thing of “look at this cool effect” and making it last several seconds to switch between desktops/applications. This negates any positive effects of such functionality. I use 3 desktops at home with my twin monitor setup and the ability to flick between them all in a fraction of a second is what makes them practical for use.

Looking around the other laptops on display, it is as clear now as it always has been that they are still chasing after the Sony crown – but now with Apple in the mix too with it's Air competitors and another model that looked a spitting image of a Macbook – especially the keyboard design. Still, rather than coming off as a poor-man's Sony, the products are very good quality, just without the brand name tax.

The original EeePC bought us a cheap sub £250 notebook, with a fast Linux operating system. Now, the prices are doubling, Linux is nowhere to be seen and the software is slow and bulky. Can't help but wonder if this is a step back. Still, there is no denying that a Seashell with Ubuntu Netbook Remix installed just found its way to the top of my Christmas list.