Asus wasted no time in greeting the new year with two new products – namely the Asus Eee Top and the Eee PC Model S101. Rumors have swirled around the internets for a long time regarding these products, with some hoping that these latest “Eee’s” will have something better up their sleeves than specification changes and an added feature here and there to differentiate them from the rest of their Eee brothers. Not to worry, as the Eee Top and the S101 both bring something very new to the computing paradigm, while still maintaining the major tenets of the Eee line – especially Ease of use.

                                              Asus is putting the letter "E" to good use - for new releases, a new "Emphasis" on fashion and ease of use.

The Eee Top which comes in two models – the ET1602 and the ET1603 (ET = Extra Terrestrial Movie – with the iconic finger-touch – get it?) differing only with the addition of a discrete ATI Mobility Radeon 3450 and an embedded battery on the ET1603. Otherwise, both models have the form factor of a 15.6” wide panel LCD, backed by an Atom N270, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, 160GB of storage and wireless capability.

                                             Ease of use is the central theme of the Eee Top.

                                             The Eee Top design is reminiscent of the products of another ease-of-use champion.

More important than its hardware specifications is the software that holds everything together – Asus intends the Eee Top to be a computer that anyone who can touch and point at something will be able to master – this includes kids and senior citizens. Asus designed an icon-driven, Windows XP anchored front-end that puts everything essential on the front menu, ready to be manipulated by a finger. Anything not immediately accessible can be reached by easy to access menus.

                                             Touch panel technology for the computer beginner.

                                             One of the easy-to-use programs included with the Eee Top.

Additional programs such as Eee Memo – which offers a quick way to leave notes, SoftStylus – handwriting recognition and on-screen keyboard capability, and Opera Touch – an easy-to-use touch-optimized web browser – all add to the ease-of-use tenet. To get these usage scenarios to the user, the Eee Top makes use of the aforementioned 15.6” touchscreen with Eee Splendid, integrated Hi-Fi speakers with SRS TruSurround HD, a webcam, card reader and USB ports. The Eee Cinema complies all media in the Eee Top into an easy-to-access multimedia center.

                                             Multiple multimedia functions all included in the Eee Top's LCD body.

The second “Eee” to be launched during the event was the Eee PC S101 “Fashion” netbook, a slim slab of a netbook more akin to the premium Mac Air than the regular netbooks that have so far come into the scene. As the name suggests – this Eee release is not a simple specification upgrade or anything similarly simple; it concentrates on giving the most stylish netbook solution a user can get. Style in this case starts with the S101’s slim profile, measuring just 4.9mm at its thickest point. The external styling is also helped along by a trio of unique shades, namely Champagne, Graphite, and Brown.

                                             Slim as compared to the competing brand "M".

                                             Asus compared the S101 to Acer's netbook entry.

Opening up the S101 reveals a nearly full-sized keyboard carefully designed to accommodate the best compromise between size and comfort in its individual keys. Fully 92% the size of a regular keyboard (similar to the HP Mini Note), the S101’s keyboard was compared to competition during the event. Asus also took care to correspondingly increase the size of the touch pad, to the extent that it seems almost disproportionately large in relation to the S101 itself. This touch pad supports multi-touch technology, and the mouse keys are located at the bottom, where they’re supposed to be.

                                            From packaging to the small details, S101 is set to impress with its fashion sense.

A treasure trove of unique details find their way onto the S101, not least of which are is the Swarovski crystals on both ends of the S101’s hinge. The brushed aluminum palm rest sets off the class exterior colors of the S101, while the high-gloss UV painting on the cover and the bezel both protect and enhance the S101’s looks. All these together with the S101’s slim looks makes for a convincing argument for the S101’s label as a fashion netbook.

                                             Asus executives proudly showing off the newly-released Eees.

Both products fall under the Eee line, but both are departures from the normal formula adhered to by Asus the past year – the touchscreen-capable Eee Top and the fashion–friendly Eee S101 should prove to be an excellent opening remark to what will surely be a good 2009 for Eee and Asus. More pictures to follow.

                                              The Eee Top being test-touched by a member of the press.

                                             The Eee S101 with some accessories.

                                           The Eee S101's presentation slides showing design concept and selling points.