By Julian Prokaza on Thursday, 29 May 2008
Asus has finally decided to throw a bone to Eee PC 900 buyers who are unhappy that their laptops came with a smaller battery than expected.
Owners can send their original 4400mAh battery to an Asus service centre and for £10 + VAT (but inc P&P), they'll get a 5800mAh battery in return. Not quite the same as the free battery upgrade Asus extended to unhappy Hong Kong Eee PC 900 buyers, but better than nothing – and Asus was really under no obligation to anything at all, in this case
The offer is expected to be available from 10th June and in the meantime, Eee PC owners can download a BIOS update that Asus claims will add half an hour to battery life. Full details of the Asus announcement and the whole Eee PC 900 battery imbroglio after the cut.
Complaints about the Eee PC 900’s battery arose because review units in the UK were sent out with a 4400mAh battery. Since the Eee PC 701 had a 5200mAh battery, cautious reviewers were quick to check with Asus about what battery would ship with final production models.
When Mobile Computer reviewed the Eee PC 900, an Asus spokesperson told us that the battery capacity hadn’t been finalised yet, but it would probably be a higher capacity cell than the one we had – so that’s what we said in the review. In fact the Eee PC 900 eventually shipped in the UK with the same 4400mAh battery as those first review units.
So far, this was just a case of bad luck – that “probably” statement from Asus is hardly binding and anyone buying an Eee PC 900 hoping to receive a bigger battery would have done well to check its specifications with the vendor first.
But here’s where things get a little more convoluted.
Eee PC 900s sent out for review in the US came with a 5800mAh battery, and that’s just what customers got. Review units in Hong Kong also had a 5800mAh battery, but retail units actually came with a 4400mAh battery – and that obviously made customers angry.
So angry, in fact, that Asus eventually claimed that review units were sent out with bigger batteries by mistake. In a wise PR move, it also offered Hong Kong and Singapore buyers a free battery upgrade to the 5800mAh cell.
Alas, despite howls of protest from UK buyers feeling similarly hard-done by failed to impress Asus UK. Its official response was that it “offers different solutions in different markets. In EU countries, we use 4400mAh battery. However, we give a two-year warranty within the country you bought the Eee 900.” So, longer warranty > bigger battery.
However, Eee PC 900 owners weren't buying this (the official response, that is – they’ve already bought the Eee PC 900) and in a lengthy debate taking over at EeeUser, some owners demanded a bigger battery for free, while others are more sanguine and think Asus are in the clear.
So, this announcement from Asus is something of a surprise, though some forum posters stated they they were given advance warning by Asus when they called to complain. All credit to Asus, however, for recognising that the customer is always right, even when they might be wrong. Let's just hope that it's going to recycle those returned 4400mAh batteries in an environmentally responsible way...
Asus has also released a BIOS update that it claims will extend battery life by 30 minutes or so. Version 0601 of the BIOS update is available to download from the Asus support website.
The full announcement from Asus is below.
ASUS delivers unique customer service
ASUS appreciate that there has been a lot of speculation regarding differences in the battery supplied with their new Eee PC 900 in different geographical locations across the world. Particular confusion has arisen between the USA specification and the UK specification as articles referring to both specifications have been published in English across the Internet.
ASUS hope the following points will clarify the matter:
1. Presently the standard battery supplied in the UK is the 4400mAH.
The 4400mAH (2.2mAH, 4 cells) is the default standard battery pack for ASUS Eee PC 900 worldwide. The 2.2mAH battery cell is the most commonly used battery cell in the market.
2. ASUS believe in taking care of their customers and the UK standard Eee PC 900 comes with an impressive 2-year warranty, including a 1-year warranty on the above 4400mAH battery. This generous warranty package delivers peace-of-mind to customers and is a highly competitive warranty compared with other 'Eee PC copy-cat' notebooks presently available in the UK market.
3. ASUS have always striven to provide the best possible solutions for their customers needs and pay close attention to customer feedback. Therefore they have appreciated that there is increasing demand for longer battery life on ASUS Eee PC 900 for some users. As a result, ASUS have developed the following solutions to meet such requirements:
a) ASUS can now deliver an immediate performance-enhancing boost to Eee PC
900s through a quick-and-easy firmware update; the newest BIOS supplied from the official ASUS support website version 0601. Available from 29th May at 10:00 am GMT, this update will help to add around 30 minutes extra battery life on the ASUS Eee PC 900. Please refer to the BIOS update procedure accessed from the following link:
http://support.asus.com/
b) As innovators in customer service and market-leaders in notebooks ASUS are proud to announce an additional support service to their Eee PC 900 customers with the new Battery-Swap offer. This provides the Eee PC 900 user an opportunity to buy a higher capacity battery pack (5800mAH) at a special price of GBP10 +VAT, P&P included, in exchange for the return of their original battery pack(4400mAH) to an ASUS service center in the UK.
ASUS will release information regarding the detailed procedure in a few days and anticipate the battery purchase service commencing from 10th June 2008.
Update:
Is the Eee PC 900 battery brouhaha a storm in a teacup?
Trackback(0)
|