ASUS Looks to Tame Rivals With Atom-based Eee PC 901

ASUS readies yet another addition to the Eee PC family

Yesterday, DailyTech reported on MSI's new Wind notebook which will do battle with ASUS' Eee PC 900. The MSI Wind has a slightly larger footprint than the Eee PC 900, but adds such features as an 80GB 2.5" SATA HDD, 10" display, and Bluetooth (on the high-end version).


These features can all be had for the starting price of $399 according to MSI Director of U.S. Sales, Andy Tung. The pricing puts serious pressure on the 8.9" Eee PC 900 which is priced at $549.99.

With all the buzz on the internet turning towards MSI's Wind, it's not too surprising that pictures of a reinvigorated Eee PC 901 have "leaked" to the internet. Blogeee.net posted a number of new images depicting a more rounded and chrome-laden model.

As the name suggest, it appears that the Eee PC 901 will still soldier on with an 8.9" display instead of the forthcoming 10" display -- this would continue the precedent set by the Eee PC 701 (7" display) and the Eee PC 900 (8.9" display).

No other new information was provided other than the fact that the Eee PC 901 is equipped with Intel's Atom processor -- presumably the same 1.6GHz unit found under the hood of the MSI Wind. The pictures also show that ASUS finally wised up and moved the Kensington lock from directly adjacent to the VGA port to the opposite side of the machine unhindered. The dual-array microphone is now positioned under the screen (instead of on top like the Eee PC 900), and the machine also appears to have gained a few quick launch buttons above the keyboard.

Hopefully, the new Eee PC 901 will come with a lower price tag to compete with upcoming notebooks from MSI and Dell. However, ASUS may have to do some serious component and model shuffling to erase the $150 deficit between the current Eee PC 900 and the base $399 MSI Wind.