Digital Home Thoughts: The Asus Eee Now Available For Pre-Order

The Asus EEE is finally available for pre-order from our affiliate partner Expansys!

If you haven't been following this device like I have, here's the quick version: the Asus Eee is a small (7" screen), light (2 pounds), inexpensive laptop that uses solid-state (Flash) memory for storage (15 second boot up? Check!) and runs a Linux-based operating system but can also have Windows XP installed on it. The big news was that this was supposed to come out at $199, but apparently Asus had trouble sourcing the screen for the price they thought they could get - so the price jumps $100. I suspect it was more along the lines of "Hey, people are freaking out about this, let's make some money while we can!". Whatever the reason, it's shameful Asus would announce a price of $199 and not deliver - yet at $299 it's still an impressive little device for the price and I want one. ;-)

First there's the $399 version which is dubbed the Asus Eee PC 4G. It differs from the less expensive unit in that it has a bigger 5200 mAH battery (which lasts 3.5 hours), and an integrated 0.3 megapixel Webcam. The $299 version is similar, but instead uses a 4400mAh battery and lacks the Web cam. Trusted Reviews has the first full review on this product that I've read, and it gives you a solid overview of the device.