Asus announced two Eee PC models at COMPUTEX Taipei 2007; the Eee PC 701 and the Eee PC 1001.The 701 base model Eee PC 4G was released on October 16, 2007 in Taiwan. Three additional models followed. The originally-announced second model (1001) was also expected, but later Asus renounced any plans to release it to the market. Asus sold over 300,000 units in 2007, and planned to sell several million in 2008. Intel has described the Eee PC as in line with its “World Ahead” marketing drive—which aims to provide anyone around the world a chance to own a PC.
Both the price and the size of the device are small in comparison with similar Ultra-Mobile PCs. The Eee series is one response to the XO-1 notebook from the One Laptop per Child initiative. At the Intel Developer Forum 2007, Asus demonstrated the Classmate PC and the Eee PC, and listed specifications for four models of the Eee PC. Asus at the time claimed that models may start at US$199, and range up in price and features to US$399.
The final price and specifications for the Eee PC, officially announced in September 2007, was more expensive than Asus originally intended. The price rose to US$399, from US$199, while the size of the included solid-state drive remained 4 GB. The 2G Surf has since gone on sale with 512 MB of RAM included.
Since October 13, 2007 the Asus website shows revised specifications. In some countries, the products have the marketing names EeePC 8G, 4G, 4G Surf, and 2G Surf, though in other countries the machines are still designated by the model numbers 700 and 701. The 4G Surf uses socketed RAM but some revisions do not have a door to access the slot.
Asus announced a desktop version of the Eee PC, without an integrated display, to be released in 2008. Asus announced that a version of the Eee PC with Microsoft Windows XP pre-installed would be released by the end of the year 2007. It was, however, not released until January 2008. In Japan the version is known as the 4G-X.
A 4G Eee PC released on February 2, 2008 in the city of Mumbai, India and is being shipped with the customized Xandros OS and not the Windows XP Starter Edition.From April 5, 2008 Asus plans to sell two versions of the Asus Eee PC with Windows XP. One of them will come with 8 GB solid state and a 4 GB SDHC card. The second version will be sold without the SDHC card. The Windows XP and Linux Xandros versions of the Eee PC will sell for the same price. The Windows version is planned to include Microsoft Works 9.0; the Linux version comes with OpenOffice.
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