Asus unveils netbook with touchscreen that swivels

Asustek Computer on Tuesday unveiled its latest Eee PC netbook, with an 8.9-inch touchscreen that swivels and can even fold down to convert the device into a tablet PC.

The new touchscreen Eee PC, the T91, is similar to a netbook Giga-byte Technology launched earlier this year, the M912, which also boasts an 8.9-inch touchscreen that swivels.

The two devices run Microsoft's Windows XP OS, have Intel Atom microprocessors inside, and have the same size swivel touchscreens.

The M912 differs slightly in using a more powerful 1.6GHz Intel Atom microprocessor, while the Eee PC T91 carries a 1.33GHz Atom that has slightly better power savings and includes support for a few technologies such as Intel Virtualization.

In the T91, Asus goes a step further on the software side to make touch navigation a little easier.

The company developed its own touch mode software at research and development centers in Taiwan and China, said Jonney Shih, chairman of Asustek, at a news conference in Las Vegas ahead of the International Consumer Electronics Show, which opens Thursday.

The T91 also comes with a TV tuner so people can watch their favorite shows on the road, and GPS (global positioning system) technology to transform the netbook into a navigation device.

Shih said the Eee PC T91 will be on the market within the next three to six months. Pricing information was not immediately available.

Netbooks are miniaturized notebooks about two-thirds the size of a normal laptop that have become popular for mobile computing and Internet use. The devices are designed with less powerful chips and other components so they're more battery efficient, cost less and usually weigh just a few kilograms.

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