Asus Eee Pad

The Asus Eee Pad is meant to compete directly with Apple's Ipad.

Asustek Computer unveiled two Eee Pad tablets running Windows software and an e-reader, the Eee Tablet, with a note-taking function.

The Eee Pad EP121 sports a 12-inch touchscreen and has Microsoft's Windows 7 Home Premium operating system and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor inside. This model is meant for internet use, watching movies and multimedia use and can be used as an e-reader.

You can either use the on screen keyboard or one that the device can plug into as a dock. It runs for 10 hours before needing a recharge on the battery. This is just about the same as the Ipad.

There are two docking stations for the Eee Pad. There is one keyboard meant to give users the feeling of typing on a desktop and another to turn your Eee Pad into a desktop machine.

Asustek will offer the docking stations separately. They also plans to build a similar combination of tablet and laptop docking station with a smaller screen and lower-power processor.

The other iPad-style device is the Eee Pad EP101TC, has a 10-inch touchscreen and uses Microsoft's Windows Embedded Compact 7 software. It is 12.2 millimeters thick, weighs 675 grams, and has Nvidia Tegra chips inside.

It is going to cost between US$399 and US$499 when it first hits the market in the early part of next year.

Asustek also says it plans to join the app store business with the Asus App Store, in partnership with the Intel AppUp Center.