COMPUTER-CHINA

Microsoft has further extended the life of Windows XP so that computer makers can include the operating system on low-cost desktop PCs, the company announced at the Computex trade show on Tuesday.

The Eee PCs 901 is on the market in Taiwan as of Tuesday, while the Eee PCs 1000H will be out on June 13 and the Eee PCs 1000 will come out sometime in early June, according to Asustek. Later this month, the three new Eee PCs will be available in Hong Kong, Japan and Korea as well as other locations in Asia.

Later this year, the new mini-notebook computers will be available in Europe, an Asustek representative said. No time was given for North or South America.

Several new rivals to Asustek Computer's popular Eee PCs low-cost have launched so far at Computex this year, but Asustek fired back on Tuesday with new models based on Intel's Atom microprocessor.

Atom was designed to be a low-cost chip aimed at this growing segment of mini-notebook computers, which have 7-inch to 10-inch screens, weigh less than 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) and connect wirelessly to the Internet. The microprocessor is also easy on batteries.

Asustek has taken full advantage of Atom's power efficiency in its new Eee PCs 901, Eee PCs 1000 and Eee PCs 1000H mini-notebook computers, putting six-cell batteries in each for eight hours of running time. The company used Intel Celeron M processors in past Eee PCs.

The main difference in the new notebook computers is size. The Eee PCs 901 has an 8.9-inch screen, weighs around 1 kilogram and has a small keypad. The Eee PCs 1000 and Eee PCs 1000H carry 10-inch screens, larger keyboards and weigh between 1.3 to 1.5 kilograms, depending on whether a user chooses an SSD (solid state drive) or HDD (hard disk drive) for storage. The H in Eee PCs 1000H stands for HDD, the 80G byte storage drive inside.

The Eee PCs 1000 and 1000H are also a bit more expensive. While prices will vary by market, in Taiwan, the Eee PCs 1000, which runs on Linux only and carries a 40G byte SDD, costs NT$19,988 (US$662), compared to NT$18,988 (US$628) for the 1000H, which comes with either Linux or Windows XP. The Eee PCs 901 also comes with Linux or Windows XP, carries 1G byte of DRAM and either a 12G byte or 20G byte SSD for storage. It costs NT$16,988 (US$562).