Computer Advice

It’s no secret that Asus has some big expectations for its low-cost Eee PC, but it looks like the company is now getting a bit more specific on the matter, with it saying it expects to ship some 3.8 million of the laptops in the next fiscal year. To put that in some perspective, HP (currently at the top of the laptop heap) shipped some 6.2 million laptops total in the last quarter, while Apple sold approximately 1.4 million in the same time period. Given that Asus is talking about one particular model (with few variations), however, 3.8 million in a year certainly isn’t too shabby. What’s more, as Daily Tech reports, at least some of those 3.8 million laptops will be shipping with Windows — specifically, a stripped-down version of XP that’s been designed for “emerging markets.” Stripped-down or not, however, those’ll apparently still demand a $30 to $60 premium over the base, non-Windows model.

[Laptop sales figures courtesy of CNET News.com]