Asus North America has officially confirmed that major U.S. retailers have begun taking preorders for the new Eee PC 900, which will officially go on sale on May 12 in both Linux and Windows XP flavors. Both will be priced at $549, but Windows users are penalized with a smaller hard drive, due to the additional cost of the Windows user license. The PC has already launched in the U.K. and Singapore.
The list of retailers includes: Amazon.com,
Buy.com,
Costoco.com,
Directron.com,
Mwave.com,
Newegg.com,
Pcmall.com,
Tigerdirect.com, and
Zipzoomfly.com. Bricks-and-mortar retailers include J&R and RCS Experience in New York and Alice Computer, Central Computer, and PC Club in California.
The Eee PC 900 is an update to the original Eee PC, but with a larger 8.9-inch, 1024x600 screen and a full gigabyte of memory. Full specs after the jump.
You can either purchase the Eee PC 900 XP or Eee PC 900 Linux, with identical specs, savefor the internal storage, which is 12 Gbytes for the Windows model (a 4 Gbyte flash drive plus an 8-GB solid-state-disk) and 20 Gbytes for the Linux version (4 GB+ 16 GB SSD). Otherwise:
LCD Size / Type
8.9" Wide
LCD Resolution
1024x600
LCD Type
TFT
Graphic
Intel UMA
Chipset
Intel Mobile Chipset
Processor
Intel Mobile CPU
Memory Onboard
1GB DDR2
Flash / HDD
12GB (4GB+8GB SSD) vs. 20GB (4GB+16GB SSD)
OS Loaded/Supported
Windows XP Home vs. Linux
1 Internal Microphone
2 Internal Stereo Speakers
Audio Jack - In/Out (3.5mm)
1 of each
802.11 b/g
1.3 Mpixel camera
10/100 Mbps / RJ-45 Ethernet
3 USB 2.0 ports
MMC/SD (SDHC) reader
1 (D-sub 15 pin) VGA port
4 cell battery
AC Adapter Input:
100-240V AC, 50-60Hz universal
Weight:
2.18 lbs (with battery)
Dimensions (W x D x H)
8.86" x 6.69" x 0.79"~1.33"
No mouse
Warranty: 1 Year Warranty
(6 months for battery)
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May 6, 2008 1:39 PM
Wow. At that price I'd rather get a proper laptop with a decent screen and a much bigger (and upgradable!) hard drive.
Seems the original point of the EEE PC has fallen by the wayside.
May 6, 2008 6:54 PM
I don't see the 900 on any of those sites. It would be nice if you could confirm your source before posting a news story.
May 7, 2008 2:50 PM
@John: Asus was our source, as Mark stated. If the product wasn't yet available when you checked, it is now, at least at some of the sties--I just saw it on ZipZoomFly and PCMall.
May 9, 2008 4:38 PM
I just purchased one at Buy.com