Atom-powered Eee PCs here next month

The latest Atom-powered Eee PC models will be available in Britain on 1 July, Asus has announced.

The Eee PC 901, which has an 8.9in display, will cost £319 including Vat regardless of your choice of operating system. But you get a 20GB solid-state drive if you choose Linux and a 12GB one with XP.

No prices have been announced for the Eee PC 1000, which has a 10in screen. Both models use Intel's new low-drain 1.6GHz Atom processors, which were unveiled at the Computex trade show in Taipei last week.

New features include 20GB of free online encrypted storage and Bluetooth short-range wireless. The 0.3-megapixel webcam of the original Eee PC 700 has been upgraded to 1.3 megapixels and the Wifi now supports 11n.

Enhanced batteries and power management should extend the working life between charges, which was much criticised in the 700.

Asus representative Helen Ling said the company was confident of being able to compete with competitive models brought out by other companies following the success of the Eee PC. "On the Linux software especially we have done a lot of work creating an easy-to-use interface. I think it will take [other manufacturers] a long time to catch up," she said.

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