Yes boys and girls, this tapered sliver of a machine really is an Eee PC. And it's really a netbook. It's $429. Here are the specs:
It feels like it's from a third generation of netbook—at first you had the crappy 7-inchers, then larger, better models like from HP and Dell, and now you have this, a super-designy netbook which seems to pull more styling cues from Macs than from its predecessors—the Air's tapering, the unibody MacBook's black floaty screen.
The battery is integrated (which lets it be thin, along with a tricky port design and dongle solution), but Asus is promising six hours—besides, who ever carried around an extra battery for a netbook? Also, it's Li-Poly, so it should stand up to more rechargings. I kinda miss the chiclet keyboard that showed up on the last Eee PC, but otherwise, externally, this pretty thing looks and feels great. Internally, it's standard netbook fare: 1GB RAM, Atom N280, etc., and ran XP just like I expected. So thankfully Asus isn't making you pay more than netbook prices for it: $429, or about a $30 premium over its uglier cousin, the 1000HE. You can pre-order May 18 though and get it for $409.
Eee PC 1008HA Seashell
Model: 1008HA
CPU: Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz 667Mhz front side bus
OS: Windows XP Home
Display: 10" LED Backlit WSVGA 1024x600
RAM: 1GB DDR2
Storage: 160GB HDD
Wireless: Draft N WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR
Battery: Lithium polymer battery 6 hours battery life*
Webcam: 1.3MP with digital array mic
Ports: VGA, 2 USB, 1 LAN, headphone and mic
Weight: 2.4lbs
Price: $429
[Asus]