By Evan Ackerman
I decided a few months ago that the first incarnation of Asus’ EEE laptop was not quite enough machine for me. I loved the small form factor and the fact that it has everything necessary to be totally usable (and not much more), but I wanted just a little bit extra, like a bigger screen and a little bit more storage space. Asus has announced the new EEE 900, which looks like it’s going to be pretty much the perfect laptop for my needs. Overall it’s the same size and weight as its predecessor (the speakers have been moved from the sides to the bottom), with an 8.9″ 1024 x 600 LCD, 1gb of ram and an 8gb SSD with Windows XP in the base configuration, and it should offer a battery life of 2.5 – 3 hours. It also may be using Intel’s Atom platform (900mhz Celeron M), which is supposed to be adopted in Q2 of this year.
Supposedly, the EEE 900 will also include a resistive touchscreen (!). However, based on the FCC filing, Gizmodo says no, while DigiTimes quotes Asus’ VP of Sales as saying that the “second-generation Eee PC lineup will include touchscreen panels and possible GPS support.” What it will definitely include is a multi-gesture touchpad like the one on Macbooks (except less fancy), allowing you to use two fingers to zoom in and out on pictures and stuff.
On release (May or June), the 8gb/XP model should retail for $499 in the US.
VIA [ Engadget ]