FCC Looks at DDR3-Equipped ASUS Eee PC 1016P

The past few months have been filled with announcements of new mobile PCs, be they netbooks, ultrathin laptops, notebooks or even 3D-equipped machines. The multitude of such announcements is partly owed to the growing demand for such portable personal computers, but the real reason is that fresh CPUs and other hardware have been developed for this segment. On the one hand, Advanced Micro Devices unveiled its own series of mobile processors not too long ago. On the other hand, Intel released netbook CPUs with support for DDR3 memory.

Netbook DDR3 support was a feature that OEMs wanted to see for quite a while and will let such PCs perform better than all their predecessors. Knowing this, ASUS put together the Eee PC 1016P, even getting a prototype out in time for demonstration at this year's CeBIT electronic show. The netbook didn't start selling, however, instead fading into obscurity without any hint as to when, if ever, it was actually going to start selling.

An official announcement has still not exactly been made, but the Federal Communications Commission has, at the very least, confirmed that it wouldn't be long until store shelves have to make room for this newcomer. The 10.1-inch device boasts an LED-backlit 1024 x 768 display and runs on either the Intel Atom N455 or N475. Of course, should one decide that DDR3 isn't necessary, an Atom N450 is available as an option.

Other specifications of the entry-level laptop include WiFi, 10/100 LAN, Bluetooth 2.1 or Bluetooth 3.0, Intel GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) 3150 integrated graphics, 1 or 2GB of RAM and a hard disk drive of either 160GB or 240GB of storage space. There are also 3.5G/3.75G or WiMAX wireless connectivity and a battery life of up to 9 hours. Unfortunately, no exact release date is known for now.