Assuming Asus sticks with its low-cost approach to the Eee PC brand, however, the two new models will probably be priced at a much lower price. What that price is, however, is unknown.

Both PCs are essentially identical, designed around a 15.6-inch touchscreen panel, an Intel Atom N270 microprocessor, a gigabyte of RAM, wired Ethernet and an 802.11n connection, and 160 Gbytes of storage. The two models differ in the graphics used -- the ET1602 uses integrated graphics, while the 1603 incorporates a ATI Mobility Radeon HD3450 graphics card. The ET1603 also includes an integrated battery; does this mean that the 1603 will double as some form of tablet? Since the unit weighs 4.4 kilograms (9.7 pounds) that seems doubtful. We'll have to wait until Asus launches this to find out.