ASUS has posted new information on accessories for the Eee PC line on the Eee PC homepage. The accessories line includes:

• An optical mouse, which matches the different Eee PC colors
• Noise-isolation headphones which come in black or white
• Replacement power adapters
• And best of all: Batteries!
  • 4 cell 5200mAh
  • 6 cell 7800mAh

The 6 cell battery is great news for those who felt battery life on the Eee PC was lacking in it’s current state. Also, replacement power adapters are great for those who have had mishaps with the originals already!

According to DigiTimes, ASUS beat their initial expectations of shipping 300,000 Eee PC’s this quarter by 50,000. That means that there are already 350,000 Eee PC’s out there!

According to this post on Gizmodo, the Eee PC is going to finally be for sale in Japan, and a 16gb version will also be available for purchase there.

This brings up several questions: Will the US and other parts of the world also get the 16G version? Do we even need that much? Will it use a mini-pcie card to get to that amount like the current 8G model?

We will have to wait and see!

For those who regularly read the eeeuser forum, you probably know by now that the Eee PC 8G, 4G Surf, and 2G Surf are now all available for purchase in the United States.

There are reports that the 8G Eee PC has no onboard SSD storage, but instead uses a 8G SSD card in the mini-pcie slot. For more information, check out this forum thread. The 8G’ s price is $499.

The 4G surf model goes for $349- it has a smaller battery then the regular 4G, and does not have a webcam.

Finally, the 2G surf model costs $299, and according to this thread actaully features 512mb of ram instead of the anticipated 256mb of ram. Good news!

Thanks, ASUS, for doing the right thing.

ASUS released a press release yesterday clarifying their position on the yellow “Warranty void if removed” sticker on the bottom of the Eee PC devices that covers the RAM slot:

ASUS wishes to assure its customers that merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the ASUS Limited Warranty.

This is great news for those looking to upgrade RAM or to see if their Eee PC comes with a Mini-PCIe connector. Now, you do not have to worry about voiding your warranty because of that sticker.

However, on the Mini-PCIe issue, it is interesting how ASUS words one line in the release:

ASUS Computer International (“ASUS”) recently received feedback from one of its valued customers with questions concerning the purpose of a seal stating, “Warranty Void If Removed” over the access door to the single SODIMM slot on some models of the ASUS Eee PC

Interestingly enough, the slot(s) below the access door is only described as a “single SODIMM slot.” There is no mention of a Mini-PCIe slot.

[edit] This is from the ASUS North America website. The press release also appears on the Canada website.

Which Eee PC did you get?

It seems as though there are two models of the ASUS Eee PC 4G: the “7A” and the “7B.” Both are the same price ($399) and identical to the untrained eye. There is one difference: the 7B is missing the second mini-PCIe (PCI Express Mini Card) expansion connector.

Yes, that’s the slot that this forbes article talks about for expanding the storage of the Eee PC:

But Asustek clearly wants to connect with the first billion, too. For instance, the 2- to 8-gigabyte memory cards can be upgraded to 32 gigabytes

Apparently, they’re not so much interested in the first billion anymore.

How can you tell which one you have? The serial number starts with either “7A” or “7B.” This can be found on a sticker on the back of the Eee PC. Of course, to see for yourself if your Eee PC actually has the second Mini-PCIe slot, you have to destroy the little yellow tab covering the screws of the hatch on the bottom of the Eee PC. By doing this, you are voiding your Eee PC’s warranty. If your SSD dies within the next year, you not only don’t have a warranty to get it fixed, but also can’t pop in a new SSD storage module into the secondary Mini-PCIe slot- since there isn’t a connector for it.

Early reports indicated that the loss of the connector had to do with black colored units or units shipped to the United Kingdom. I can confirm now that my US Pearl White Eee PC 4G bought via Newegg does not have the second Mini-PCIe connector. It is a 7B unit.

I’m now left with no warranty and no second Mini-PCIe connector- on a device that cost exactly double the original announcement from way back in June.

The weirdest part is that it seems to just be missing the connector itself, which is just a piece of metal. Cost savings? $1.

Regardless, I’d like to hear what ASUS has to say about this. I’m not very happy at all.

[edit @ 1:10am]:

Apparently, according to this thread (thanks muha), there are some users with serial numbers that start with 7B that actually DO have mini-pcie connectors. What in the world is going on?