The Eee PC Gets a DVD Drive

By Mark Wilson

Last week it was a rumor. Today it's a fact. The Eee PC (model 1004DN) will be the first Eee with a Super-Multi optical disc drive.

The 10-inch netbook is ordinary in every other way, loaded with the typical N280 Atom chipset (that's the newer one), 1GB RAM, 120GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. And while it may look like a bit like a Mac, from what we can tell, the body is aluminum only around the keyboard, meaning that the underside is still plastic.

The 1004DN is 3.2 pounds (when loaded with a 6-hour, 6-cell battery) and 1.3 inches thick at its chunkiest point. It should begin shipping overseas in April, but there's no word on pricing at this time. [Asus via Electricpig]

Eee PC-in-a-Keyboard Coming Soon

By Charlie Sorrel

If you can fit a whole computer, keyboard and screen into a tiny, fold-up 7" box, why not squeeze one into a keyboard? And while you're there, what about adding a little touchscreen in the space normally inhabited by the number pad?

What's that? Asus did it already? By jove, it did! Look at that! The Eee PC Keyboard is a netbook stuffed inside a keyboard: 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB RAM and either an 8GB or a 16GB solid state drive for storage. The touch screen is a five-incher and can be used for navigation and display. Should you feel the need for something a little larger, you can hook the Eee up to a monitor via VGA and HDMI or, in the case of the more expensive model, the display can be connected wirelessly.

The Eees will be available in May, for $400 and $600. One more thing: Is it just us, or does everything come with an Eee brand on it these days? It's certainly helping out the alphabet's second vowel, although as the English language's most popular letter, it doesn't really need it.

Asus keyboard PC due May. Or maybe June [The Reg]