Asustek to Release Windows-Based Eee Until the End of Q1

Sub-notebooks have sold tremendously well during the last quarter of 2007, and especially the small and eye-candy Eee PC from Asustek. As any business that can bring huge revenue over a small timeframe, the sub-notebook market has been invaded by miscellaneous vendors to showcase their own version of UMPC.

However, Asustek is not to pull back and, in order to stay on top, has started performing small changes to the Eee platform. If the Eees were appealing until now, they are sure to become even more popular with the advent of the newer models to come with pre-installed distributions of Windows XP.According to Asus' spokespersons, the Eee models to feature Microsoft's operating system will be the 4G and 8G. The Windows-enabled sub-notebooks will hit the North American market until the end of the first quarter.

"The Eee PC has been a tremendous success since our initial launch in November last year, and our channel customers tell us they want to offer even more options to their end consumers. With the new Windows XP based offerings, we expect to engage with a broader customer base whose existing software and applications require a Windows' based device, " said Jackie Hsu, President of ASUS America Channel.

This is not the only surprise that is being cooked inside the Asus Labs. The company has announced that the small and cute Eee PC will be soon available in a larger configuration with a 10-inch LCD display and a 8.9-inch screen to replace the current 7-inch model. We cannot estimate how well Windows XP will perform on the 7-inch (800x480 px resolution) display. Although this would be enough to run the Linux graphical user interface, it proves inefficient when it comes to the Windows user interface.

Asustek has announced that the Windows-based sub-notebooks will keep their low price, but failed to give further details about the retail price per unit.