Asus prices up Eee PC sub-sub-notebook for US

Cheap as chips

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

29th October 2007 16:37 GMT

Asus' diminutive Eee PC will go on sale in the US on 1 November for $300-400, depending on configuration, it has emerged.

Information supplied by Asus to its resellers appears to have found its way to NotebookReview.com, which this weekend revealed that US buyers will get to choose from three configurations: the 2G Surf, 4G Surf and 4G, priced at $300, $350 and $400, respectively.

Asus Eee PC 701
Asus' Eee PC and early adopter, yesterday

Asus formally launched the Eee PC earlier this month. Then, it announced four models, including an 8GB version, which doesn't seem to heading Stateside. In the UK, we're likely to get only the 4G model, though the 2G version will be made available to schools by educational computing specialist RM - formerly Research Machines.

The 2G Surf has a 2GB of Flash storage and 256MB of DDR 2 memory. The 4G Surf ups the storage to 4GB and the memory to 512MB. The next machine up, the plain 4G model, matches that spec but introduces a 0.3-megapixel webcam into the display's bezel. It also ups the first two machines' 2.8-hour, 4400mAh battery to a 3.5-hour, 5200mAh unit.

All three Eee PCs sport a 7in, 800 x 480 display; an SD memory card slot; 802.11b/g Wi-Fi; three USB ports; 10/100Mbps Ethernet; and an Intel processor - though which one, Asus still refuses to say.

Each micro-laptop runs a version of the Linux open source operating system, Xandros.