You know that Asus Eee PC 1004DN I told you about earlier today? The one that comes with a DVD drive? Yeah, that one. Well I took another look at the spec sheet and had to do a double take. Virtually every netbook on the market today has an Intel Atom N270 CPU, so I kind of assumed that’s what this model had as well. But nope, it has an Intel Atom N280 CPU.

What’s the difference?

The Intel Atom N280 features a 1.66GHz clock speed, compared to the 1.6GHz speed of the N270. And the N280 has a 667MHz bus, compared with the 533MHz bus on the N270.

Will users notice a major difference in performance or battery life? It’s not likely, but anything’s possible. An Asus spokesperson tells me that a handful of new Eee PC models will feature the new Intel Atom N280 CPU, while most older models will keep the N270.

Oh, and I noticed two other things when I went and took another look at this netbook for this post. It also features an ExpresCard slot and an 8-in-1 card reader instead of the usual SDHC/MMC card slot that Asus uses for Eee PC netbooks.

Update: CNet reports the N280 also features the new GN40 chipset which will offer better graphics performance, particularly with HD video playback.