Eee PC 900 details, launch dates come trickling out

We've already gotten the disappointing word that the Eee PC 900's processor is the same 900MHz Celeron M found in the 701, but perhaps our hearts can be warmed by all the new details that came flooding out today. First, we've got word that the 900 will actually carry two different flash storage units, with 4GB soldered onto the motherboard and an 8GB SSD in the PCIe slot for XP versions and a 16GB unit for Linux models. The dual-storage system means you should be able to upgrade easily, but we're still wondering why the lighterweight OS gets more storage -- we've got a feeling that since both models will be priced at the same $500 - $650 price point depending on territory, Windows license fees have something to do with it. Speaking of territories, we've also learned some international ship dates: Hong Kong and UK customers should be seeing this pop up as of today, while France should join the fun on the 17th, Taiwan and Singapore later this month, and Australia, Germany and Italy will all have to wait until May. Sadly, we're still in the dark on Stateside release dates, but you'll know as soon as we do.

Update: Asus just made the final specs official.

[Thanks, Bob]

Read - International launch dates
Read - Dual flash storage
Read - Eee PC 900 specs

[will @ Apr 16th 2008 12:49AM]

sweet

[Alan Partridge @ Apr 16th 2008 6:20AM]

"UK customers should be seeing this pop up as of today"

Really? Anyone know where?

[E. Leigh @ Apr 16th 2008 11:30AM]

The launch was official yesterday, but you won't see them in the UK retailers until the 19th.

[Fernando G. @ Apr 16th 2008 12:50AM]

want to touch the lappy

[happy_penguin @ Apr 16th 2008 1:51AM]

Vould you like to touch my monkey?

[TeddyLikesComputahs! @ Apr 16th 2008 12:57AM]

weeeeeeeee pc! good news at last!!!

[szfs @ Apr 16th 2008 1:00AM]

We Need a freaking atom vs Celeron test.

could the US release be delayed waiting foe the atom, 1 processor type of deal?

[P Sin @ Apr 16th 2008 1:11AM]

there has already been a benchmark released. A similar clocked atom is SLOWER than a dothan chip (yes even the celeron) but what i am interested in is how much the battery life will improve (pretty much a guarantee that it will). Check a previous EEE post for the benchmark link (its in the comments)

[mac @ Apr 16th 2008 2:18AM]

It's worth noting the test was SuperPI, which is unlikely to be very indicative of other tasks. Still, I wouldn't want to do anything computationally intensive on it, like encoding.

[mypetridish @ Apr 16th 2008 9:20AM]

@mac

i disagree. i dont think encoding is an important criterion to these UMPC/smaller devices-bound chips. if anything, it should be tested for video decoding and multi threaded applications, given that it is hyper threaded.

[Justin @ Apr 16th 2008 1:09AM]

Earth to Netbook manufacturers, come in Netbook manufacturers--

We, the vast majority of ultraportable-desiring hip-trendy geek enthusiasts are interested in ATOM!

Roll out a 1.4-1.6Ghz Atom chip, coupled with GMA950 in a 9" or larger LCD sporting 1Gb. of RAM (Expandable) and 20Gb. of storage, and I'll nerdgasm, followed by selling whatever isn't bolted down to order one.

[Owen @ Apr 16th 2008 1:12AM]

Hasn't Asus ALREADY SAID they'll be shoving Atom in these things when it's availalbe?

They can't put a chip in that DOESN'T EXIST YET.

[Good_Bytes @ Apr 16th 2008 2:10AM]

As said, the Atom processor is not really out.
However.. with these specifications and my testings. I think Vista Basic (or maybe with the classic windows skin) Vista might run fine on it. I mean you could add a SD card and make it use with Vista's Ready Boost if you need more RAM. And I don't think the laptop will struggle much.

As a test experiment I was able to run Vista in Virtual PC, with 256MB of RAM. The runs fine, and it is perfectly usable, in fact a bit faster then XP. However, I did pretty much disable EVERYTHING. The only thing I left turn on in the services, was just the minimum for internet and well Windows important things like Workstation service and instant search system and indexing. Also it was nearly impossible to run Vista with default settings, even with 512MB, so I had to set it to 1 GB, and have fun disabling everything, then reduce it to 256MB. Now I know that what I did with Vista was simply turn it back down to XP I think even a bit lower. However the idea is that Vista is able to run, in the day where and if we get to a point where certain applications won't be compatible with XP.

[Chebwa @ Apr 16th 2008 1:15AM]

Is the only difference between the soldered memory and the SSD simply the ability to upgrade it? Or are they different types of flash storage with different speeds/reliability...? Once that Atom hits I'm diving right in.

[thehumanyawn @ Apr 16th 2008 1:18AM]

Wow, why does the world hate us so much? Just another fine example of how companies want to bank off of us, but do nothing about getting things in the hands of Americans. If they want to sell the damn thing here, they damn well better give us a release date, because if I happen to come across the amount of money this will cost, then I want a FIRM date, because I have a lot of other things I could do with that money, things that won't have me waiting indefinitely. Companies: if you want to move stock, move your asses.

[Nick @ Apr 16th 2008 1:28AM]

They'd better release it in the next two weeks before I spend my tax refund...

[Valgas @ Apr 16th 2008 1:38AM]

Is there enough room in there for an HDD? MAybe I can hack one in there.

[SIC TR4NSIT @ Apr 16th 2008 1:45AM]

Did anyone find the whole "so light children and women can easily carry it" thing a little disturbing yet still kind of funny?

[E. Leigh @ Apr 16th 2008 11:34AM]

As a clumsy chick, I am thinking: so light, I can easily drop it.

[Virtuous @ Apr 16th 2008 1:53AM]

ASUS should attempt to ship the 900 in the US before HP can ramp up production of the Mini Note.

[mortzz @ Apr 16th 2008 1:57AM]

So could one order the 16gb linux model and then load their own copy (stripped or not) on it? I don't see why not.

[ethana2 @ Apr 16th 2008 1:57AM]

I love how it takes OS license fees and makes them stick out like a sore thumb.

Not having to ever worry about them at all is quite nice.
Torrent, burn, boot, install, and go.

[jpxdude @ Apr 16th 2008 2:07AM]

What happened to the touchscreen capability that was mentioned before? Seem's to have disappeared off the radar :(

[Charles R Hamilton @ Apr 16th 2008 8:30AM]

Touchscreen is going to have to be there for me to buy it.

[Wisam @ Apr 16th 2008 8:38AM]

Yeah, I am disappointed as you. What about GPS ? and why is it so freaking expensive ? 500-650$
That's not the Eee I know :(

[Tyler @ Apr 16th 2008 2:10AM]

can you hook up a usb portable hard drive to these if wanted? like a western digital passport?

Also, to anyone who already has an EEE PC is it really worth the price when you can get a full featured (160GB HD, 2 gig ram, dvd writer, core 2 duo) for a 1 or $200 more?

[Syliss @ Apr 16th 2008 2:28AM]

You must be stupid, its not about power, its about size & portability. Im thinking about getting one because i want something small.

[Gorgula @ Apr 16th 2008 2:37AM]

Yes, i must be stupid. I was indirectly asking if anyone regrets it when you can get a slightly less portable, and more powerful notebook for 1 or $200 more. I will have to spell it out for you next time, Syliss. you stupid f***

[Lance @ Apr 16th 2008 4:42AM]

Gorgula FTL!

[the tansman @ Apr 16th 2008 9:35AM]

the EEE is losing its appeal for me. too expensive, and still the tiny keyboard. the mini-note has the right idea, but for the via.

[mayq @ Apr 16th 2008 2:19AM]

isn't $650 already a little too expensive? we could already buy a low end dell laptop at the same price.. I have the perception that eee pcs should have a target price of about $100-200

(in contrast, the dell laptop would contain a full windows os, the japanese windows xp os used in the first eee pc is a stripped down version. plus bigger screen, better processor, built in dvd drive.....)

[Wisam @ Apr 16th 2008 8:43AM]

Basically, they are killing the Eee. Eee was all about size (portability) + price. They are giving themselves away to competitors. I don't care much about disk size. 4GB would've been enough for me at a much lower price and not touch screen, no GPS.

Tablet feature, any ?
Sighhh

[sexy zouizoui @ Apr 16th 2008 2:21AM]

japan release date please??

[kibalt @ Apr 16th 2008 2:22AM]

　　☆ chink

　　　 　 　 ☆　chink　〃　 ∧＿∧ 　 ／￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
　 　 　 　 　　ヽ　＿＿_＼（＼・∀・）＜　 so when does it come to japan?
　　 　 　 　 　 　 ＼＿／⊂　⊂＿)＿ ＼＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
　　 　 　 　 　 ／￣￣￣￣￣￣￣／|
　　　　　　　　| ￣ ￣￣￣￣￣￣:|　:|
　　　　　　　　|　　　　　　　　　　　.|／

[Jim Nastik @ Apr 16th 2008 9:24AM]

wow! how did you get ascii art in engadget... I tried few time but its always a mess...

[Martin Carlsson @ Apr 16th 2008 2:42AM]

Grrrr, where on earth is the touchscreen? FingerGlide... havent we seen this somewhere before? Yes we have, Apple made it first.... As always

[alloneword @ Apr 16th 2008 2:59AM]

Yes, and Apple invented touch screens, with the iPhone being the first ever touch screen device. They also invented the music player, there was no music player (portable or otherwise) before the iPod. There was no audio on the internet before podcasts / iTunes. They also invented MPEG-4.

http://cs.nyu.edu/~jhan/ftirtouch/

[iofthestorm @ Apr 16th 2008 3:05AM]

Asus is the ODM for Apple's laptops...

[alloneword @ Apr 16th 2008 2:47AM]

I am shocked there was no mention of Bluetooth in the specs. Did i miss it, or was it not mentioned?

[Cellenin @ Apr 16th 2008 3:13AM]

The best bet for a fast system is to use a modded version of vista or xp that is stripped clean and only includes drivers and necessary utils. Check out the guys down at mexico. ;)

[zomg0t @ Apr 16th 2008 3:21AM]

Or you could just use Linux...

[Cellenin @ Apr 16th 2008 3:33AM]

@zomg0t

No thanks. I want something that runs and do what i want. If i wanna play os/software mechanic, i will get a old pos and drop linux on it.

[zomg0t @ Apr 16th 2008 4:34AM]

Most people say that once Linux is configured to their desires, it requires less work compared to Windows. I use Linux and Windows (though I tend to use Windows less and less now) and every time I finish doing the work that requires Windows (true I need Windows, but I have not yet tried using wine to run internet explorer so I might not actually need it) I clear the cache and other internet files, run Disk Cleanup, run RegistryFix (I know, I'm pretty fanatic about keeping it clean), delete the log that RegistryFix produces, and then reboot into Linux. With Linux, once I finish working, I just suspend my computer; no other work necessary. I may be missing things equivalent to all the work I spend in Windows (I have used and am more accustomed to Windows and know what there is to clean) but I don't notice it in Linux, so it seems like less work to run Linux compared to Windows. It is slightly harder to install software that isn't available from the Linux distribution's software updates, but you get used to the pattern after awhile and I haven't had software problems in Linux once I got it configured how I wanted. I cannot install Service Pack 1 for Vista (although it is probably due to my extremely low disk space, but I do have the minimum required amount) and I would assume that a modded "stripped clean" version may cause problems when one wishes to install another program or even an update from Microsoft, for that matter.

tl;dr
Nothing important

[Mike Alt @ Apr 16th 2008 3:36AM]

Review: http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2008/04/16/Asus-Eee-PC-900/p6

[Mike Alt @ Apr 16th 2008 3:41AM]

Oops, that link was to the last page of the review. It starts here:
http://www.trustedreviews.com/notebooks/review/2008/04/16/Asus-Eee-PC-900/p1

[jpxdude @ Apr 16th 2008 4:46AM]

Battery life rated at 2.5 hrs only? Thats kinda low...

[linuxamp @ Apr 16th 2008 3:51AM]

So if I want to use a PCIe card I have to remove my hard drive? That sucks.

[adrian @ Apr 16th 2008 4:58AM]

Come on folks.... please stop flaming / getting so irate, with those persons who happen to think that Apple is innovative and simply the best thing since sliced bread (did they invent that too? it is pretty cool... and slim... airey even)...... I digress....where was i?... .oh yes, the point being that these persons, who are the targets of your, in most cases, well justified comments, are mostly very very young, problably school children (and young at that), they have little deductive reasoning powers and virtually no powers of in-depth retortion. It is like mauling a dead sheep or having a battle of wits with an un-armed man.

Come on !!! Please...they are just kids...now stop getting at them ! You could seriously damage their ego's.

Thank you for your kind attentions.

[Jim Nastik @ Apr 16th 2008 9:24AM]

mmm... bread!

[Wodheila @ Apr 16th 2008 6:31AM]

Well, now we're back to $600.