Nice. Not sure how well these will sell given the novelty of the smaller ones.
I bought mine thinking it would be a novelty gizmo (4G Galaxy Black, 2GB RAM, 4GB SSD, 16GB SDHC, Windows XP Pro SP2, EeeCTL). I thought I would use it for a few weeks, and then it would sit on my shelf most of the time after that, and only break it out to show off. I've now had it for almost a month now and it's much more than that. It's now entirely replaced my 6 month old DV6000Z (15.4" laptop). I wish I had this when I was going to college.
Because it's so small and lightweight, I can take it anywhere. I even use it at church as my Bible (in the case it sort of looks like one). I take it with me at work. It comes with me to local hotspots. Basically, wherever I go, it comes along.
What really opens up the possibilities is docking it to a keyboard, mouse, speakers, and monitor- and using it as a mobile workstation. If I wasn't a gamer, I would certainly be using this Eee exclusively and get rid of that power hungry, bulky, heavy desktop. It performs surprisingly well for a 630MHz processor. And when I need the extra speed, I crank it up to 1GHz.
Some things I hoped a future version would address (and hopefully they will)...
1) Screen size. I expected it to be small because of the price and size, but I really wish I could have paid more for a slightly larger screen. And not just larger, but better resolution.
2) Keyboard. The size isn't bad, it's just the design. Right shift to the right of the up arrow is just plain stupid. And some keys ignore strokes because they are picky and want to be pushed straight down. Hitting the key on the corner often does not register. With more practice, I can type on it almost as fast as my desktop. But there are still occasions where I get ticked off at that right shift key.
3) Disk space. Same as everything else, I understood that the price and size required certain sacrifices, after all, this isn't a normal laptop. But 4GB is just a tad bit too small for my needs. 8GB to 16GB would be perfect. But right now I have a class 6 16GB SDHC card that works as a good enough substitute for a larger SSD drive.
Some things I hope they keep the same:
1) Size.
2) Price.
3) Durability.
4) Hackability.
I think those 4 define the Eee.
For $600, I would consider the new Eee, but only if it came with a touchscreen and came in black
.