It looks like the Eee PC models are continuing to be strong in the marketplace, as the Eee PC 901 12G is currently the most popular item in the Computers & PC Hardware category of Amazon.com Also rounding out the top 10 are the Eee PC 900 16G (white, Linux) in 7th spot and the Eee PC 900 16G (black, XP) in 9th. The Eee PC 1000H just missed the cut in 12th place.

ASUS UK are now reportedly telling UK users of the EEEPC 900 who are complaining of the supply of an inferior battery with the machine (see earlier post below) that their much heralded “battery replacement scheme” is on hold “until further notice”. This seems to fly in the face of their earlier press release, which makes a big deal of their wonderful customer service in its rhetoric.

Typical of the responses our UK users are getting from ASUS UK is this one, which eeeuser member loopz posted on the battery discussion thread. loopz says it was received from ASUS customer service in the UK.

Dear Customer,

Like I promised I would give you an update as soon as I got one.
The Exchange for the battery is postponed until further notice.
I am so sorry for this late call but I only heard 2 minutes ago about it.
The minute I know something else I will let you know.

With Kind Regards
Glady’s

It seems to me that, with the competition (for example, the MSI Wind) hot on the heels of the ASUS EEEPC 901, ASUS could have handled the UK battery situation far batter. Potential buyers will surely be asking themselves if this is the sort of after sales service they deserve after forking out their hard earned money on a new UMPC - and they will also no doubt be considering the alternatives.

The ASUS press release quoted by Mobile Computer Magazine’s web page starts off with the bold statement “ ASUS delivers unique customer service“.

UK 900 buyers must be finding the customer service offered by ASUS UK truly “unique” indeed.

Interested in the Eee PC 901? Here’s a roundup of information about it:

• Hands on WiMax enabled Eee PC 901 (engadget chinese)
• Side by side by side: Eee PC 701, 901, 1000 (engadget chinese)
  
• Official Specifications (asus.com)
• Eee PC 901 First Look (notebookreview.com)
• Eee PC 901 Unboxing, First Impressions (laptopmag.com)
• Eee PC 901 Mini Review (laptopmag.com)
• Benchmark/Review of the Eee PC 901 (eeepcnews.de) - The page is in German, but the Video on it is in English, really useful for judging performance

What am I most excited about for the Eee PC 901? The battery life!

This past week, pictures and information have come out about the white and black Eee PC 901– the Intel Atom based Eee PC.

Blogeee.net has numerous photos of the white 901:

The photos also show that the 901 is not branded as an ASUS, but rather as an “Eee.” This appears to confirm earlier talk of ASUS spinning off the Eee brand.

Blogeee.net also has photos of the 901 in black:

Digitimes also has more information on the 901. The specifications will be almost the same as the Eee PC 900, but it will feature bluetooth, metallic parts, a slightly different design, and of course the Intel Atom processor. While this sounds great, the price is going to come in at a whopping $650– far away from the intended price of the original Eee PC. With that said, it does have many more features than the original. It will be launched June 3 (though the article doesn’t say it, it’s probably going to be at Computex 2008 in Taiwan.)