In August, pictures and details of an upcoming Eee PC S101 surfaced on Asian rumor sites. Those sites said the machine had the same guts as Asus' other Eee PCs, but with a more stylish external design and an inflated price tag.
The guys at Bit-Tech have now taken a closer look at the system, and they've posted a three-page article with plenty of photos and official details. The system they manhandled had a glossy "burnt orange" lid, an aluminum palm rest, and a slim profile with a thickness of just 0.71-0.98" (18-25 mm). Reportedly, Asus aims the Eee PC S101 at "corporate types that want the portability of an Eee, but want something a bit more stylish." That's probably why the machine comes in a leather-trimmed suede wallet, too.
Aside from its flashy design, the S101 has much in common with the Eee PC 1000: a 10" 1024x600 display, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1GB of RAM, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 2.0. However, the S101 has 32GB of storage split between a 16GB SSD and a 16GB SD card, and it packs a 4,900mAh battery instead of the 1000's 6,600mAh unit. Weight-wise, the S101 tips the scales at 2.3 lbs (1.07 kg), compared to 2.94 lbs for the Eee PC 1000 and 3.2 lbs for the hard-drive-toting 1000H.
Interestingly, while rumor sites quoted prices between $699 and $899 for the S101, Bit-Tech says the system will actually cost just £30 ($53) more than the Eee PC 1000H. That's £399 in British pounds, but pricing could end up around the $500 mark in the U.S. if the difference between the S101 and 1000H stays the same on the other side of the Atlantic.
