Asus and MSI have both recently launched products in the same area: all-in-one touchscreen computers.  Although they use the same principle as Apple's iMac, they are more entry-level products using the same Intel Atom processor found in the majority of netbooks.

Today's first challenger is the Asus Eee Top, which has 15'' 1366 x 768 screen.  Asus is pushing this as a family machine, which will complement, but not replace, a regular computer.  It's also partly mobile, meaning you can move it from one room to another.

Opposite it is the MSI Wind Top AE1900.  It's larger and includes an 18" screen, but it has the same resolution as the Asus.  That means it can show the same amount of information--just written larger.

> Product Survey: All-in-one Computers

Although Asus has just released its new SeaShell line of notebooks, another Eee PC,the 1101HA is also now joining the family.  The main news: a bigger screen but the same attractive design.

Unveiled at Computex 2009, the newcomer boasts a larger 11.6" screen, with a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels.  Let's hope that it will be better than the one sported by its younger brothers, which we found rather disappointing. 

The design is the same as on other models in the range, so it's still very attractive.  It's about as thick as the 1005HA, but the similarities don't end there because the 1101HA has a removable battery, unlike the thinner 1008HA which has a fixed battery.
The hardware sees a move to the Intel Atom Z520 CPU, complemented by 1 GB of RAM and a 160 GB hard drive.  The Poulsbo GMA 500 chipset won't provide incredible gaming, but can handle video reasonably, decoding HD video.  Elsewhere, there is a 1.3 Megapixel webcam with built-in mic, a memory card reader, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth, three USB ports, Ethernet, a VGA output and a pair of mini-jacks.


Weighing just 1.38 kg with a 4400 mAh six-cell battery, the 1101HA is reasonably light for its size (286 x 796 x 36 mm).  According to Asus, its battery life will be 9 hours 30 minutes running Windows XP.


Our friends at notebookitalia have tried the Eee PC 1101HA and you can watch them unboxing it in this video.


> Product Survey: Netbooks

Because netbooks are evolving so rapidly, the pecking order that we established at the start of the year has already changed.  As one of our readers has pointed out, the Asus Eee PC 1002HA is no longer as new as it was:

Subject: Eee Pc 1002 HA Hello, Right now, I don't think that this Eee PC is worth five stars.  Given the improvements in battery life made by the competition and the 1000HE, it should really only have four stars.  The 1000HE and the Samsung NC10 are really a cut above. Thanks.

Our reader was entirely right: the 2 hours 50 minutes of battery life on the 1002HA just doesn't stand up to the almost six hours achieved by today's best netbooks.

As a result, we've adjusted its battery life score from four to three stars, and its overall score to four stars.

> Product Survey: Netbooks