Well, this is interesting. PC World and InfoWorld are both running articles by Dan Nystedt at IDG News Service today. Both reports are likely based on the same source article, but they seem to have two very different angles. InfoWorld says Asustek turns to Celerons amid Atom shortage, while PC World says Asustek Aims New Eee PCs at Emerging Markets.

In other words, Asus chose to use the 4-year old Intel Celeron M 353 chip in the upcoming Eee PC 904HD and 1000HD either because:

1. There’s a shortage of Intel Atom chips, so if the company wants to keep pumping out new laptops, it has to resort to older processors
2. Intel wants to keep the prices of some units low by using older, cheaper processors which should help boost sales in emerging markets like India.

Both sound plausible. But for some reason the emerging markets article suggests that while the 904HD costs the equivalent of just $477 in India, it will cost $650 in the US. That’s not low cost – it’s $100 more than the company is selling the Eee PC 901 for! Granted, Asus dropped the price of the 901 recently to compete with the MSI Wind and similar laptops, but at $650, the 904HD ain’t exactly a bargain, especially when you consider the fact that it’s got a slower, more power-hungry CPU than the 901. An PC World says the 1000HD could cost as much as $750 in the US.

I’m hoping someone simply fed IDG or PC World the wrong numbers. I have yet to see an official US price for either unit.

The Hong Kong PDA Users Group, or HKPUG managed to get some alone time with a pre-release version of the Asus Eee PC 904HD. The 904HD features an 8.9 inch display like the Eee PC 900/901, but has a larger case and keyboard like the Eee PC 1000. That means it has a bezel around the screen that’s reminiscent of the ugly bezel on the original Eee PC 701.

The 904HD also comes equipped with a 900MHz Intel Celeron processor and not the faster 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU that the Eee PC 901 and 1000 use. But before you go thinking this is just a glorified Eee PC 900, Asus has increased the computer’s storage capacity. It looks like you have two hard drives (or partitions) of about 40GB each, which means the 904HD comes with 80GB of storage.

The folks at HKPUG have posted a few photos that should give you a good idea of how the computer looks. And they’ve also cracked open the case to show off the location of the hard drive and other internal components. Oh yeah, there’s also a video.

[via Eee PC News.de]

Asus has decided to throw its naming conventions to the wind and launch two new Eee PC models with rather nonsensical names. The Eee PC 1000HD is pretty much just like the Eee PC 1000H, but instead of an Intel Atom CPU, it features an Intel Pentium M Dothan CPU running at 900MHz.

In other words, you get a 10 inch screen, 80GB hard drive, 1.3MB camera, 6 cell battery, and Pentium processor. I suppose it’s possible that the H stands for hard drive, since the Eee PC also has one of those, and that the D could stand for Dothan.

But then Asus goes and names another new model the Eee PC 904HD. And while that model has a 9 inch display and a hard drive, as you’d expect from the name, it features a 900MHz Intel Celeron CPU. I’m so confused!

In all other respects, the Eee PC 904HD looks like a cross between the Eee PC 901 and the Eee PC 1000HD. It has the case stylings of the 901, but has an 80GB hard drive, 0.3MP camera, and a 6 cell battery.

For anyone keeping track, that brings the Asus model number lineup to 10. If you can’t quite recall the differences between the 701 2G Surf, 701 4G, 701 4G Surf, 701 8G, 900, 901, 904HD, 1000, 1000H, and 1000HD, you can find each item listed on the official Asus products page.

[via Eee PC.net and Mobile Stylus]