I stopped by J&R Electronics this evening and got a good look at a couple of Eee PC 2G Surf models. They have three on display, one with a white lid, one with pink, and another with green. I didn't have my 4G model handy, but fortunately there was a black 4G demo unit handy, so I was able to compare the different models side by side.

First up, the 2G Surf lacks a webcam, as we knew it would. But surprisingly, it still seems to have a spot in the front panel for one. When you look at the screen from the front, it looks exactly like a 4G unit with speakers on either side of the display, and a little grated area for a webcam at the top. The only difference is that you don't see a camera lens.

When you flip the units over, you'll notice the other main hardware difference: There is no RAM access panel. If you want to upgrade the RAM, you'll have to disassemble the case. The plastic case also has a different feel to it. While my 4G unit has a smooth polished plastic feel, the 2G units (and the black 4G at the store) had a rough plastic finish. It probably makes it easier to grip the Eee PC and make sure the tiny computer doesn't fall off your lap, but I didn't really like it.

As for the software, I'm sure this isn't a comprehensive list, but I did get a sense of what Asus removed in order to fit the OS and applications into 2GB while leaving users with a little bit of room to play with.

The Eee PC 2G Surf has:

• 1876MB of storage
• 1466MB are used by the system
  
• On the in-store units 31MB of the user storage as already used
• That left just 379MB free space for installing applications or storing data. That's 20% of the total disk space.

I went through the tabs in Easy Mode and found the following applications that are available on the 4G are missing from the 2G Surf:

• eBook (Internet tab)
  
• World Clock (Internet tab)
  
• Mail (Work tab)
  
• Notes (Work tab)
  
• PIM (Work/Accessories)
  
• Science (Learn tab)
  
• Language (Learn tab)
  
• Crack Attack (Play/Games)
• Sodoku (Play/Games)
• LTris (Play/Games)
  
• Voice Command (Settings)
  

Overall, I'd say they made the right choices. If I didn't value the quick-restore feature that comes with the Eee PC, I'd think about deleting the UnionFS file system and removing most of those applications from my 4G to save a few MB of space.