Asus W90Vp-X1
Every so often a notebook comes along that is so impressive that it raises the bar for all comers. The Asus W90Vp-X1, available exclusively at Newegg.com, is that notebook. Not only does this desktop replacement set new 3D-graphics and productivity-speed records …
Context & Ripple Effects
By early 2009 Asus is running a two-track notebook strategy. On one track sits the Eee PC 701, the machine whose late-2007 debut kicked off the netbook craze that by December 2008 had pushed an Eee model to the top of Amazon's laptop best-seller list. On the other track are premium machines like the U2 luxury ultraportable, aimed at buyers who want more machine rather than less.
The W90Vp-X1 lands on that second track: Computer Shopper credits this desktop replacement with new 3D-graphics and productivity-speed records, and Asus has chosen an unusual route to market, selling it exclusively through Newegg.com rather than through broad retail.
First-order effects
- Newegg.com gets an exclusive on a record-setting flagship, giving the e-tailer a halo product no other channel can stock and steering performance-hungry buyers to its storefront.
- Rival desktop-replacement makers — Dell among them, per the corpus's netbook-era coverage of both brands — now face an Asus machine holding the benchmark crown at review outlets.
Second-order effects
- The exclusive-retail arrangement pressures competitors to negotiate their own channel deals or flagship bundles rather than compete purely on spec sheets, since distribution itself becomes part of the pitch.
- Asus must balance the flagship against its own Eee line: the same brand is simultaneously selling the cheapest laptops driving the netbook shift and the fastest notebooks on the bench, risking brand-positioning tension between budget and performance identities.
Third-order effects
- If exclusives on halo hardware prove effective for e-tailers, high-end notebook launches increasingly become channel-marketing vehicles, with review-record claims serving as the currency that makes an exclusive worth buying.
- The two-track portfolio points toward vendors stratifying into distinct sub-brands for ultraportables, netbooks, and desktop replacements — the structure AMD was explicitly arguing for when it pitched 'creating a new laptop category' in January 2009.
The trend: Notebook vendors are splitting into multi-tier portfolios where a single brand fields both netbook volume leaders and benchmark-setting desktop replacements, using retail exclusives to differentiate the top tier.