Asus, Windows XP, Hand in Hand on the Japanese Market

Asus has officially launched a new version of their Eee PC on the Japanese market. Before you jump with joy, I must tell you that nothing has really changed in the notebook's hardware configuration. Instead, the manufacturer has pre-loaded the small machine with Microsoft's Windows XP, rather than the eye-candy Xandros.

The hardware specifications are identical to the standard 4GB solid-state drive model (also known as 4G or Eee 701). The 4G-X model, as it is known on the Japanese market also features 512MB of DDR2 memory, an Intel Celeron processor, a 7-inch LCD display that can provide a maximum resolution of 800 x 600, three USB 2.0 ports, a SD-HC memory card reader, 0/100Mb/s Ethernet, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and a 0.3-megapixel built-in webcam.

The US Eee PC's running Xandros come with an Intel Celeron processor clocked at 900 MHz. However, the Windows XP models that have hit the Japanese market report a clock speed of 630MHz. It is unknown whether this is an error or that's the real clock speed for the Japanese market.

The Windows-XP enabled Eee PC will be available in two colors: white and black. The Japanese Eee comes bundled with a 4GB SD-HC card for some 8 GB of total storage. As a gift, Asustek has included an optical mouse inside the package. The device will be available for sale on Friday.

The Eee PC running Windows XP is no news at all. Modified versions have been spotted since it first showed up on the US market. Moreover, there are reports and even movies of the Eee running Vista and worldwide communities of tweakers are trying to make the small device run the Mac OS Leopard operating system.

A Windows XP version of the Eee XP was announced back at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. However, the machine was alleged to sport a 10-inch LCD display with a maximum resolution of 1024 x 720 pixels, which should have been enough to correctly display the Windows XP interface.