Introducing the Asus Eee Pad
You knew it wasn't going to be long before someone cloned Apple's iPad, right? Here it is: the Eee Pad, from Asus.
At first glance the Eee Pad, the tablet computer unveiled at the Computex trade show in Taiwan by Asustek Computer, Inc. (Asus) in late May 2010, is the spitting image of the Apple iPad. Heck, even the name is eerily similar; but to be fair, it's derived from the Eee line of products Asus has been making for years.
Now, there's hardly any doubt that Asus would be happy to ride the coattails of Apple's success, given the fact that more than 2 million iPads (!) had been sold by May 31. And clearly, this is an attempt by Asus to throw their hat in the tablet computer ring.
However, this computer has been in development for a while now, and despite its superficial similarity (which is to be expected, given the limitations of the genre), it's got some significant differences under the skin. Let's take a look at a few, shall we?
What's Under the Hood?
While the Eee Pad is also a touchscreen tablet, its operating system is different from the iPad's. For one thing, it uses the Wintel system that most of us are used to: that is, an Intel or NVIDIA chipset that drives a Windows operating system.
In the case of the ten-inch model, the EP101TC, the OS is the new Windows Compact Embedded 7 OS, while the processor is the NVIDIA Tegra 2. The twelve-inch model, which has yet to be revealed, will use a more powerful Intel processor, and is intended to be more competitive with laptops.
The slender EP101TC weighs 675 grams (about a pound and a half) and basically does just about everything an iPad does--which, if you've read my review of that product, you'll know is a lot. But unlike the iPad, it offers a USB port, a keyboard docking station, and can actually handle Flash with no problem.
The Givability Index
The Eee Pad is no iPad, and frankly the unfortunate similarity in the name makes it appear to be a direct rip-off of its chief competitor. However, the similarity is only skin deep, because they Eee Pad uses different technology to achieve the same purposes--and offers other things the iPad doesn't.
Make no mistake: both products make excellent gifts, and there's no shame in giving someone an Eee Pad, even though they may kind of look askance at it until it proves what it can do. And here's a little tidbit that puts it just slightly ahead of the iPad: the Eee Pad will be priced lower, at $399-449.