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Asus has announced it will discontinue its ground breaking netbook, the 7 inch Eee PC 701 series.  It was that tiny wonder that started the current netbook craze.  Asus says it wants to concentrate on its 10 inch models but says they will also continue to produce their 8.9 inch netbooks as well:

Asus chairman Jonney Shih told Zdnet: “The seven-inch is going to be phased out, although some emerging countries may still have some demand. I still believe we have a good opportunity in 8.9in for kids, telecoms or emerging markets”

I owned a 701 for a short time and while I was initially thrilled it with, the novelty quickly wore off. The tiny, low resolution (800 x 480) screen and slow SSD drive (a miniscule 8GB) made for a less than pleasant computing experience.  The small screen was not only hard to see at times, but it lead to the frustrating experience of opening a program or window only to find it was larger than the screen, leading to much scrolling and dragging.

I’ve since moved on to a 8.9 inch Acer Aspire One and couldn’t be happier.  However I will always think fondly of the Eee PC 701 as it was a true pioneer, ushering in the age of high powered, low priced ultra mobile PCs.  Happy Retirement!

Read [PCWorld]