Want an 8 hour battery for your tiny computer, but don’t want to build one yourself and risk getting stopped by the TSA next time you pass through the metal detector? If you’ve got an Eee PC 901 or 1000, you can now pick up an 8-cell battery, 8800mAh battery that should be good for about 8 hours of use on eBay. The extended battery costs less than $90.

This battery is developed by a third party, not Asus. So use of the battery may void your warranty and if it overheats, explodes, and melts crucial parts of your computer don’t expect Asus to refund your money. But how cool would it to be able to run your computer for an entire work day without once plugging it in?

Of course, the battery pack is huge, not particularly attractive, and probably a bit heavier than the standard 4 or 6 cell battery packs that you can get from Asus. But did I mention, 8 hours?

[via jkkmobile]

Asus has let loose with the UK pricing for its latest Eee PC models, and overall the prices don’t look that different from the US versions. The 901 will set you back £299 or about $592 US, while the 904 will run £269 or about $533 US. The Eee PC 1000H (with an 80GB hard drive) will retail for £349 or about $691, while the Eee PC 1000 (with a 40GB SSD) is priced at £369 or about $731.

These prices include VAT, which explains why they may be a bit higher than the US versions in some cases.

Asus has also posted a handy little comparison chart that shows how the various Eee PC models stack up against one another.

[via Mobile Computer Magazine and Slashdot]

Amazon has started to accept preorders for the Asus Eee PC 901, 1000, and 1000H. Asus has said the computers will begin shipping in the US on July 8th.

Amazon is charging $699 for the Eee PC 1000 with an 40GB SSD, 10.2 inch display, and Linux. You can pick up an Eee PC 1000H for $649 with an 80GB hard drive, 10.2 inch display and Windows XP. Or for $599 you can grab an Eee PC 901 with an 8.9 inch display and Windows XP or Linux. The XP version sports a 12GB SSD, while you can get a 20GB Linux model for the same price.

The new computers come in black and white, and you can place an order or search Amazon using the box below. (Disclosure: If you place an order through the search box, I’ll get a small finder’s fee).

[via Eee PC.net]

Sure, you can already pick up an Eee PC 901, 1000 or 1000H in Taiwan. And the company’s been projecting a July 1st launch date for the UK for a while now. But up until this evening I hadn’t heard any word on a US release.

But a reader contacted me today and let me know that he had called the Asus pre-sales department on a whim today and asked when the Eee PC 901 would be hitting the US. And without hesitating, the rep told him July 8th. I repeated the experiement and made sure to ask about the Eee PC 1000 and I was told that both models would be available in the US on July 8th.

Now, Asus has been known to miss ship dates before, but it’s seriously looking like the company might be able to beat MSI in getting a 10-inch laptop with a 1024 x 600 resolution screen to market in the US.

On the other hand, Asus will be charging $599 or more for these computers, while the MSI Wind laptop will carry a $479 price tag. The Wind also has a larger keyboard and according to Laptop Magazine gets bettery battery life, which means it might be worth the wait. And who knows? Maybe we’ll be surprised and MSI will actually launch the notebook tomorrow.

thanks Cass!

Update: It looks like the MSI Wind release date has been pushed back to July 7th.

Asus is releasing some more details about the upcoming Eee PC 901, Eee PC 1000, and Eee PC 1000H. When the company unveiled the machines at Computex last week, we got a look at the Taiwanese prices, which ranged from the equivalent of $559 to $658 USD. But it looks like it will cost a few bucks more to pick up an Eee PC in the US or UK.

Still confused about the differences between the Eee PC 901, Eee PC 1000 and Eee PC 1000H? Asus has posted a handy little comparison chart showing how the three models stack up against one another. If the image above is hard to read you can check out the original at the Asus news site.

For the most part, the computers are identical except for size, weight, operating system and the amount and type of storage they use. And of course price. But while Asus has released the initial pricing for Taiwan, I’ve learned not to pay too much attention to the Taiwanese prices, as Asus tends to have different prices for its computers in different markets. I’m willing to bet these computers will cost a bit more in Europe than in Taiwan, while the US pricing will be similar or lower to the Taiwanese pricing.

Our friend Sascha from Eee PC News.de is at Computex in Taipei, and he sent in this video of the video of the Eee PC 1000. As you can see, it’s substantially larger than the Eee PC 900. But it also has a larger screen, keyboard, and touchpad.

What do you think, does a 10 inch laptop still qualify as an ultraportable? Or at that point is it pretty much just a smallish notebook? I’d still rather carry a 3 pound 10 inch notebook around than a 6 pound 15 inch model. But there’s no question that the Eee PC 1000, MSI Wind, and even the HP Mini-Note are substantially bulkier than the Eee PC 701/900/901.

Asus will officially unveil the Eee PC 1000 tomorrow, but French site Blogeee snagged a couple of high resolution images of thew new computer today. And you know what? It looks an awful lot like the Eee PC 901. In fact the two computers are pretty much identical, but the 901 has an 8.9 inch display while the 1000 has a 10 inch screen.

We already knew that the Asus Eee PC 1000 would feature a larger display than the Eee PC 701 or Eee PC 900/901. But Hexus has found evidence that the latest Eee PC model will also sport 80GB of storage space. It’s not clear if that means the Eee PC 1000 will use a hard drive instead of solid state memory. My money’s on yes, but Hexus speculates that the computer could just be using a higher capacity SSD, which means it will likely cost quite a bit more than the smaller Eee PC models.

Asus will introduce the long-anticipated 10-inch version of the Eee PC at Computex on June 3rd. The company has been talking about a 10 inch model almost since day one, but so far the only two Eee PC units available for purchase are the Eee PC 700 and 900 series, which have 7-inch and 8.9-inch screens respectively.