Asus Plans Touch-Screen, Dual-Core Eee PCs

The company's 2009 offerings should include a touch-screen Eee, dual-core Eee, and one that will retail for around $300.

Asus’ successful Eee PC will continue to snowball features through next year, but a version near $300 is also on the way, according to Taiwanese news outlet DigiTimes. Samson Hu, Asus’ general manager of the Eee PC, revealed details of the line’s future in an article published Thursday.

Among the biggest updates will be a touch-screen version of the Eee that’s been talked about since January, as well as a faster dual-core version. News of the dual-core version, which will be based on an upcoming release of Intel’s efficient Atom processor, essentially blows the lid on the processor, which hasn’t yet been formally announced by Intel. Although the company hasn’t yet decided which Eee notebooks will get the update, prototypes are expected to debut at CES 2009.

For those who want to see a return to the Eee’s original selling point – rock bottom price – those days may not be far away, either. According to DigiTimes, Asus president Jerry Shen also announced that an upcoming Eee release should retail for less than NT$10,000, which translates to $307 USD.