It was disappointing on this netbook shopping trip not to be able to try out either of the Asus Eee PC Touchscreen tablet-style netbooks I’ve been reading about since January, 2009 (the 8.9″ Asus Eee PC T91 and the 10″ Asus Eee PC T100H).

I’m such a fan of tablets and touchscreens, particularly for seniors and aging baby boomers. But these Asus models were simply not available for me to test. You can watch a detailed video about the features available on the model T91 here.

For the last three years, I’ve used an IBM ThinkPad Tablet for mobile computing. Not that it performs well, because it doesn’t. It’s the slowest and most frustrating laptop I’ve ever used! But, I’ve gotten really spoiled using a stylus to navigate on screen. And I like being able to make handwritten notes and draw on my photos and slides using the stylus instead of a clunky mouse.

So , from the first moment I saw the interface Asus offers on the new touchscreen netbooks, I wanted one. Even if it meant having to pay a little more and even if I have to wait a bit. Here’s a vid that shows how Asus imagines users might work with the currently available T91 and the upcoming T100H Touchscreen netbooks:

What’s not to love about that interface? Especially if you’ve gotten to a stage of life when you’d rather point than type or mouse?  If you enjoy new things that shake up your thinking – and then make things easier – this interface is downright exciting!

It’s not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. But being able to use my fingers instead of a stylus or a mouse really appeals to my increasingly cramped mousing hand and tender typing fingers. I know I’ll never be able to escape typing altogether – and I’ll probably want some kind of cordless mouse sometimes – but the idea of being able to point and press – instead of point and click with a mouse – makes my mouth water…

And it’s not because I’m beginning to drool… quite yet

It could be another 6-9 months before the bigger 10″ Asus Eee PC T100H is available in the US. So if you’re ready to launch into the cloud now, and you want a touchscreen interface, you’ll be ordering the smaller Asus T91 model with the 8.9″ screen now. It’s going to run you about $499.