The Register and DigiTimes are reporting that Asus is delaying shipments of the 8G Eee PC. The company reportedly has discovered some issues with the flash storage used in the 8GB model of the Eee PC family, although it's not quite clear what those problems are.

What neither site mentions is that Asus had already begun shipping the 8G. Some folks have already managed to get their hands on the higher capacity units. Does that mean that existing models are faulty? And if so, will Asus be offering any sort of a buyback deal?

A couple of 8GB Eee PC updates today. First up, it appears online computer retailer Newegg now has some 8GB units in stock for $499. At first, this model appears identical to the 4GB version, except it has twice the storage space and twice the RAM. So you get 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage. So far, the 8GB model is only available in white.

But one member of the Eee User forums has manage to get his hands on an 8GB unit and when he opened it up, he was surprised to find that there's another difference. The entire 8GB of solid state storage space comes in the form of a PCIe card. There's no flash memory on the main circuit board.

That means it will be a bit harder to hack/modify the Eee PC 8G. Of course, if you really want to get a Bluetooth module working, you're going to have to whip out the soldering iron anyway.

[via I4U News and Asus Eee Hacks]