Asus EeePC T101MT to Land in April for €499 in Europe, $499 in the US

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According to an EeePC enthusiast blog out of Italy, the Asus EeePC T101MT is expected to land in Italy and presumably the rest of the world in the month of April. Those residing in a European country can expect to pay a respectable €499 ($665 USD) for this fine convertible netbook while those in the US should set aside $499 USD (€372). The T101MT was announced back in February by Asus and is the bigger brother to the 8.9 inch T91MT which was one of the first multi-touch convertible netbooks to hit the market when it launched late last year.

The Asus EeePC T101MT is a typical netbook under the hood but has notable improvements that distinguish it both from the previous generation of netbooks and from its current competition. The T101MT features a 10.1 inch LED backlit display(1024×600) with multi-touch functionality that includes 256 levels of pressure. The netbook has a convertible form factor whose display can rotate 180 degrees and fold down for usage as a slate device with stylus input.

Storage and memory-wise, the T101MT includes an ample 2GB of DDR2 RAM and a 320GB hard drive which is supplemented by one free year of online storage (500GB) provided by the Asus WebStorage service. Powering the netbook is a low power Intel N450 (PineTrail) 1.66GHz processor which when coupled with the netbook’s Lithium polymer battery promises to deliver up to 6 hours of battery life.

Connectivity options on this portable device include WiFi 802.11b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. Rounding out the hardware is a  rather low resolution (0.3 MP) webcam, stere0 speakers, built-in  microphone, VGA-out, three USB 2.0 ports, and a MMC/SD(SDHC) card reader. Moving away from the hardware, the system is powered by Windows 7 Home Premium and includes a suite of touch-friendly software tools design by Asus. All this and more is packed into a white-colored chassis that is 264mm x 181mm x 31mm and weighs a mere 1.3kg.

The above specs are for the model slated to launch in Italy and presumably the rest of Europe. In the US, a second variant will be available which will include 1GB of DDR2 RAM, a 160GB hard drive, and Windows 7 Starter edition. This variant with its slightly lower specs will sport a slightly lower $499 USD price tag. With netbook prices hovering in the $349 price range and the Apple iPad about a week away, we can’t help but wonder if Asus is pushing this computer to the market just a little bit too late. Which would you rather have – this Asus, the cheaper Dell Mini 10, or an iPad?