Netbooks are dead. But Asus revealed its VivoBook, which it says replaces the beloved mini PC it first introduced in 2007.
ASUS debuted its new Windows 8 11.6″ VivoBook (F202) notebook in Oz yesterday, and five other tablets, notebooks and a combo device called Taichi.

The device was pretty lightweight and a quick play of Windows 8 OS felt smooth and the live tiles highly responsive.

The touch based screen on a notebook was also a novelty, which will become all the rage as W 8, released tomorrow, gains currency in PC’s.

Read: Can Asus’ Taichi Be All Things Ultrabook & Tablet?

And at $499 it is keenly priced as per netbooks, in particular for a touch based W8 model, with a slick looking design.

It has a 1366 x 768 resolution LED backlit screen and 4GB of RAM (up to 8GB on the 14″).

Oh, and like netbooks, VivoBooks are sans an optical DVD drive.

The slightly bigger 14″ VivoBook S400 costs $799, can be kitted out with Intel Core i7/i5/i3 processors and are aimed at business users with option of Windows 8 Pro.

Both VivoBooks touchpads have ASUS Smart Gesture technology and for multimedia fiends SonicMaster audio technology, Technical Grammy-winning MaxxAudio sound processing tools good speakers.

The new VivoBooks are intuitive and bring the Windows 8 touch screen experience to life, all part of Asus’ “never ending quest for perfection” Asus execs said repeatedly yesterday.

Asus execs we spoke to at the launch wouldn’t be drawn on competition with tablet leader Apple, but did say the company  looking to make the best products it possibly can.

The PC maker, who recently partnered with Google for the Nexus 7, say they are aiming to capture all ends of the market–top, middle and lower–with their machines, which will be up against stiff competition from Dell, HP and Acer as they all look to capitalise on the hype around Microsoft’s new touch based OS.

All VivoBook models include 32GB of ASUS WebStorage space at no charge for three years.

The VivoBook F202 and the VivoBook S400 will be available in Australia from next month.