Asus launches Eee PC 1000HE

The Eee PC family continues to spiral out of control, with the latest addition slotting into the 1000-series in the form of the Eee PC 1000HE.

Instead of running off an Intel Atom 270 processor, as per the majority of netbooks currently on the market, the Eee PC 1000HE is powered by the new 2.66GHz (typo) 1.66GHz Atom N280 chip.

Don't get too excited, though, as the FSB jump from the Atom N270's 533MHz to the 667MHz of the N280 only results in a minimal increase in clock speed - 0.06GHz, to be precise.

Battery life also gets a boost, with Asus claiming the 1000HE will be capable of a not inconsiderable 9.5 hours away from the mains.

Of course, to get anywhere near 9.5 hours you'll need to do little more than read a text document with the screen's brightness whacked right down, but it's an improvement on previous models in the Eee PC 1000-series.

The rest of the specs look pretty similar to the 1000H: 10in LED-backlit screen, draft-N Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 10Gb of online storage.

The Eee PC 1000HE is available for pre-order over in the States at $399.99 - a time-limited discount of $25 is applicable when ordered through selected stores, such as Amazon.

As yet, there's no indication of when it will be available this side of the pond, or indeed how much Asus will be flogging it to UK-based customers. We suspect the '$' will magically turn in to a '£'.

[ Asus]