According to this article from DigiTimes, ASUS will indeed announce the final Eee PC prices on October 16th. It does officially confirm that the $199 price point can only be reached by contract orders, as expected. An initial batch of 10,000 units will hit Taiwan markets after the announcement. By the end of this month, Eee PC’s will be available in the BestBuy / Newegg channels (as suggested in the last news update.)

Furthermore, x94scorp on our forums noticed a new update on the official ASUS website where the RAM specifications of the devices have all been raised. The 8G model has 1GB of RAM, the 4G and 4G Surf models have 512MB, and the 2G Surf has 256MB. Have the specifications been raised? Interesting!

It looks like we might actually see the Eee PC on brick and mortar store shelves and traditional internet retailers, according to this article from Reuters. Specifically, it states:

“In the United States, the company plans to sell the low-cost laptops through channels such as Best Buy and Web-based retailer Newegg.com”

Some of the other highlights:

1. ASUS has received an order for 1,000,000 Eee PCs by one customer for an emerging market
2. Will market Eee PC in China this year or next year

[thanks ninjaluke!]

One final note- Sorry about the recent downtime! Our dedicated server became overloaded several days ago. We’ve changed to a new type of hosting and all should be well now. Please make sure to let us know via the Contact Us link at the top of the website if you notice any problems as a result of the move.

The official Asus Eee PC product page has received a few more updates, specifically a table showing the possibly finalized specifications of the four models. Most notable are the device names and the battery types. The model names (going from highest end to lowest end) are: Eee PC 4G, Eee PC 2G, Eee PC 2G Surf, and Eee PC 2G Pure. In the same order, the battery specifications are: 4 Cells 5200 mAh, 4 Cells 4400 mAh, 4 Cells 4400 mAh, 2 Cells 2600 mAh.

Also, check out this review (the original is in Russian) that has CPU-Z information about the processor along with benchmarks. It appears to be the Eee PC 700 model. [thanks pulped]

The French Eee PC blog Blogeee has up part three of their great series of reviews on the Eee PC 701 (the original French version is here.)

Finally, it looks like ASUS removed the reference of the Eee PC 801 on their website- it was up, then removed, then up again, but now removed once again…

Remember the Eee PC flash slideshow on the official Asus Eee PC website that’s been the same since way back in June? It finally changed- and a full new website is up! Check it out here. It still looks like a work in progress, but maybe it’s proof that we really are approaching a release date. There are three languages that you can view the site in- English, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese- maybe a sign of the first locations the Eee PC will be released to.

Also, from other website updates, looks like there may be an Eee PC 801 model (thanks Yesh!)- possibly with an 8″ higher resolution screen!

Hungry for more Eee PC reviews? Check out these links:

1. “The most complete EeePC 701 real test”
   This is actually a post from a blog written in Chinese about the Eee PC (Chinese, translated to English), you can see the original here. It links to a several-part review written by another blogger, jeremY. The sections are:
   1. First Look
   2. Analysis of the market
   3. Part 1 of the full review
   4. Part 2 of the full review, includes movie
   5. Part 3 of the full review, software
2. polocanada’s Reviews: Part 1 and Part 2
   Posted as comments on this website, great insight into the device. It’s especially nice because it’s honest thoughts from a user who doesn’t have much experience with Linux. Nice work!

Oh, and check out this green colored Eee PC 701: Chinese or translated English

According to an article in DigiTimes, Asus has once again delayed the Eee PC 700 and 701. Now, shipments are not expected to begin until the end of October or early November.

The reasoning? They want to add more software.

…Huh?

It’s odd as working prototypes of the Eee PC have been around since the original announcement way back in June. Reviews keep popping up in many different languages of production quality devices. Asus keeps insinuating through the press that shipments are right around the corner, only to continuously delay shipments further. Now, they’re delaying because they want to add more software? What’s there to add? Why will it take so much time?

One must wonder- what is really going on? Specifications are still not solidified, pre-order prices are higher then the original announced prices, and Asus continues to keep us guessing and in the dark about everything.

What’s the deal, Asus?

Rumored information from the recent Intel Developer Forum has been posted in an article on the Inquirer website about the upcoming Eee PC model lines. They speculate that there will be at least four different varieties:

Models: 700-C / 700 / 701 / 701-6

700-C: 2GB, 256MB DDR-2, no camera, 2cell battery, no wifi, wired ethernet, 56k modem, $199 price (they also say this model will be available on tender only…)

700: 2GB, 256MB DDR-2, no camera, 4cell battery, wifi, wired ethernet, no modem, $239

701: 4GB, 512MB DDR-2, camera, 4cell battery, wifi, wired ethernet, no modem, $299

701-6: 6GB, 512MB DDR-2, camera, 4cell battery, wifi, wired ethernet, no modem, $399

We are not fully sure how accurate this information is, however the inquirer does claim that it is straight off of an Intel data sheet. If this does turn out to be accurate, the 2GB/246MB boost on the 701 model seem to be a solid upgrade from initial speculation. However, if the speculation that the 700 models have soldered on SSD and RAM components is true, you would pretty much be forced to buy the 701 if you wanted 512MB of ram- which isn’t so bad as you’d technically be getting the speculated “$399″ model for the $299 price.

But of course, as always, this is just more speculation!

For the full article, click here.

[thanks, Fluffywings!]

The folks over at the French speaking blogeee have posted the second part of their Eee PC 701 review. The French language version can be found here, while a translated version into English can be viewed here. They do a great job of illustrating the exact size of the device, and provide many new pictures.

For those interested in seeing the Eee PC in black, check out these pictures via AnandTech of the Intel Developer Forum 2007. I must say, it really looks great in that color!

Also, check out this review in French full of pictures of the white unit for comparison. The author does a nice job of showing the details of the unit AND the carrying case. Enjoy!

[thanks to all who sent me both links!]

There’s been a lot of talk on the forums about whether or not the RAM in the Eee PC will or won’t be replaceable. We even reported recently that the RAM wouldn’t be replaceable. We were wrong!

I now can confirm, thanks to ASUS, that the RAM is indeed replaceable. There will be one slot, and it can be fitted to 1gb maximum memory. Great news for many of the readers out there who were sincerely worried about not being able to upgrade.