The long-awaited netbook has finally been announced and given a starting price

Nov 19, 2009 14:15 GMT  ·  By

This product from Asus is a 12.1-inch mobile platform, which, because of its combination of features and despite it being, officially, considered a netbook, is really something in-between a netbook and a notebook. Packing performance in both the area of application running and that of connectivity, the Asus Eee PC 1201N will satisfy the taste of any mobile PC enthusiast.

The Eee PC 1201N is based on the NVIDIA Ion graphics platform and runs on the Intel Atom 330 Dual Core processor, boasts 2GB or 3GB of DDR2 and uses a hard drive capable of either 250GB or 320GB. The screen is an LCD-backlit display capable of a 1366 x 768 resolution.

The product also comes with a variety of accessories, such as a high quality microphone, a 0.3-pixel webcam capable of digital zoom, stereo speakers and a six-cell 63Wh Li-ion. According to tests, the netbook can supposedly run for five full hours on battery power.

Since netbooks are mainly aimed at Internet access (as their name suggests), the device is outfitted with Ethernet, WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1+EDR connectivity. Asus even offers an online storage service to its customers.

For 12 whole months, the company will provide no less than 500GB of free storage space, to complement the 250.320GB included in the configuration. The Eee PC 1201N also naturally has a VGA port (D-sub 15-pin for external monitor), one HDMI connector, three USB 2.0 ports, one LAN RJ-45 port, two audio jacks (Head Phone / Mic-in), and an MMC/ SD(SDHC) card reader.

The netbook-notebook hybrid comes equipped with Genuine Windows 7 Premium and ArcSoft SimHD software, which turns standard-definition video into near high-definition quality upscaling the original parameters. It comes in black and silver colors and, although it's not clear exactly when it will become available, it will ship for the initial retail price of $499.