Asus Dresses up Eee Line with S101

The newest Eee to hit North American shores gets a fashion-themed makeover, plus premium internals from Asus' previous netbooks.

Injecting some much-needed style into the netbook class of notebooks that it invented, Asus brought its Eee S101 to North America on Tuesday. The classed-up mini notebook features an ultra-slim design, new exterior colors borrowed from the fashion world, and built-in WiMax capability.

Moving away from the toy-like color schemes on its previous Eee PCs, Asus will offer the S101 in both copper brown and graphite, in a thin 0.7-inch thick case with dressed-up hinges and other finish elements. It won’t cost the notebook anything in weight though, which will remain at two pounds.

Like the Eee 1000, the S101 gets a 10.2-inch widescreen LCD backlit by LEDs to extend battery life. Other features include a 16GB solid-state drive, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, and a WiMax radio for compatibility with Sprint’s just-launched Xohm network.

All the extras will push the price of the S101 up to $699 when it goes on sale in North America in November 1.