What Happened to the ASUS Eee PC, the Original Netbook?

For a few years, netbooks were everywhere. It started in 2007 with the ASUS Eee PC, a tiny, inexpensive laptop that seemed almost ridiculous next to a normal notebook. It had a seven-inch screen, a cramped keyboard, barely any storage, and early versions even shipped with Linux. On paper, it wasn't particularly impressive. But people loved it. The Eee PC was cheap, light, easy to carry, and good enough for what more and more people actually wanted from a second computer: browsing the web, checking email, writing something, or connecting to Wi-Fi while traveling. Almost overnight, an entire industry appeared around it. Acer, HP, Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, Toshiba and others rushed out their own netbooks. Intel created Atom processors for these small, low-power machines, and Microsoft even extended the life of Windows XP partly because it worked so well on them. Then, almost as quickly as netbooks appeared, they vanished. Smartphones became capable enough to handle quick everyday tasks. The iPad offered an easier way to browse, watch videos and use the internet from the couch. Meanwhile, regular laptops became thinner, lighter and cheaper. Netbooks themselves also grew larger and more powerful until they started losing the simplicity that had made them interesting in the first place. By 2012, the boom was basically over. This is the story of the ASUS Eee PC, the strange little computer that created the netbook craze, changed what people expected from portable computers, and then watched the category it created disappear in just a few years. #AsusEeePC #Netbook #RetroTech #TechHistory #WindowsXP #ASUS #OldTech