ASUSTeK has made two major announcements about its EEE PC at the CeBIT.
The first is that the 900 series has been officially unveiled. In terms of innovations, there is a larger screen that goes from 7 to 8.9 inches which enables attaining a resolution of 1024x600 versus the current 800x480. In addition, RAM goes from 512 MB to 1 GB and flash memory from 4 to 8-12 GB. Finally, the webcam will be increased from 0.3 megapixels to 1.3 megapixels and the touchpad is notably larger. All of this should be available this summer for 100 € more than the 700 series or around 400 €.
The second announcement involves the official partnership between Microsoft and ASUSTeK which aims to provide pre-installation of Windows XP and Works. In theory, this isn’t (yet?) a question of exclusivity and it will therefore be an option as the Windows version should normally be a little more expensive than the Linux Xandros version. The only thing is that Microsoft appears to have made an effort in order that this additional cost, even if it is unknown, remains rather small.
Microsoft thus doesn’t seem ready to leave Linux the exclusivity of the good exposure provided by the EEE and the 3 to 5 millions of units that ASUSTeK is planning on selling this year. We will just have to see if the price is in accordance with the healthy laws of competition.
