Asus takes wrapping off 10in Eee PC

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 3 Jun 2008 at 09:45

Asus has unveiled the latest models of its Eee PC, with the popular laptop drifting ever further from its budget roots.

The new models are called the 901 and 1000 and feature an 8.9in and 10in screen respectively, as well as an Intel Atom 1.6Ghz processor, replacing the Celeron M that has powered the Eee thus far.

The 1000 attempts to correct one of the major bugbears of the original with a larger keyboard, which Asus claims is 92% the size of a full laptop keyboard, though it comes at the cost of a slightly larger chassis.

Though the new models offer few surprises for dedicated followers of the Asus rumour mill, the purported 7.8 hours battery life most certainly counts among them. Asus claims this is the result of new power management software called Super Hybrid Engine, though we'll wait until we get one in the labs before we take it on faith.

Storage remains the same as currently seen on the 900, which means a 12GB solid state drive for the XP-loaded machine and a 20GB for Linux, though the company is also offering 20GB of hosted storage, a tactic also employed by HP and Dell among others.

The company hasn't released pricing details, though industry observers expect the new models to drift further towards traditional budget laptop prices.