Hasta La Gadget!

Remember the Eee 901 “hammerhead edition,” the extra-wide monstrosity that offered 10 cells of goodness in one less than aesthetic package? Welcome to that accessory’s homebrew cousin, the creation of a modder by the name of TenaciousDre who stole eight batteries from an old laptop and wired them up to the existing four-cell battery, creating a 12-cell shrink-wrapped bulge to protrude less than majestically from the back of his Eee. The good news is 12 to 15 hours of life with the laptop set on its most frugal settings; the bad news is a 12 hour re-charge time and a useless battery gauge that reads zero percent despite eight hours of juice remaining. We have seen uglier examples of excess in the computing world before, but would probably rather carry around a second (and third) battery than have to explain this tumor to every passer-by at Starbucks.

[Via Portable Monkey]

Continue reading Modder crafts homemade 12-cell battery for Eee, doubles stock battery life, grows unsightly hump

Filed under: Laptops

Modder crafts homemade 12-cell battery for Eee, doubles stock battery life, grows unsightly hump originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Feb 2009 09:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Eee’s 1000H is generally held to be one of the more complete netbook packages out there, but the placement of the right shift key to the starboard side of the up arrow drives many a touch-typist bonkers. Welcome, then, to the 1000HE, or “extended.” It features a chiclet-style keyboard that slightly increases the size of each key, but more importantly has a slightly revised layout, moving that shift key to the left. New too is a six-cell pack full of 2.9 amp batteries (versus 2.7 amps in the 1000H), said to add another hour to the Eee’s life, up to a total of 8.7 according to Asus. Finally, the company announced an “HAE” model that sports lacks 802.11n, Bluetooth, and presumably a higher lower price tag. No word on what that price will be on either model, though, or when you might be able to get your fingertips on them.

Update: Whoops, fopkins commented to point out that the HAE actually is the one without Bluetooth and 802.11n, making it the cheaper of the pair.

Filed under: Laptops

Asus’s Eee PC 1000HE pulls the shift key in from right field originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS hinted at some alternative Eee form factors in the Spring of last year, but it’s a Japanese modder that’s showing the company exactly how it shouldn’t approach an Eee-branded tablet PC. It’s a touch tough to understand exactly what’s going on, but here’s what is (partially) clear: the hack job took around ten hours to complete, and the outer edges are inexplicably covered in aluminum foil. It’s encased in some sort of transparent housing — which we suppose is pretty nifty for showing off the internals — and the retrofitted touchpanel provides the tasty tablet functionality. Apparently this guy spent around ¥11,000 ($128) over and above the cost of the Eee PC in order to construct the final result pictured above — the question is: was it really worth it?

[Via Fashion Funky, thanks Bob]

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Japanese DIYer shows ASUS how not to make an Eee Tablet PC originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 03 Jan 2009 12:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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