It looks like Asus is preparing to sell a sexy new version of the Eee PC in Japan. The unit itself will pretty much be the stock 4G unit that we've come to know and love with a 900MHz Celeron processor, 4GB SSD, 512MB RAM and 7-inch display. But Asus plans to bundle a 4GB SDHC card and optical mouse with the Eee PC. Oh yeah, and they're also preloading Windows XP instead of Linux.

So what will a Windows license, memory card and mouse cost you? About $70. Asus is expected to sell the Asus Eee PC 4G-X in Japan for about ¥50,000 or $468 US.

Update: CNET adds that Asus could ship an Eee PC running Windows XP in the US as soon as February or March. No word on how much that model would cost or whether it would be bundled with an SDHC card or mouse.

[via EeeUser]

Asus is continuing to roll out new models of the Eee PC at a furious pace. The original 4G unit has only been out for about two months, and already you can find 2GB and 8GB varieties. Now we've got word that Asus plans to add a 16GB version to its lineup.

Asus will be launching the Eee PC in Japan soon, and Akihibara News reports that it will be available in 4GB to 16GB varieties. The site is also reporting on a rumor that you'll be able to get Windows XP preinstalled. While the Eee PC officially supports XP and pretty much any version of Linux you want to throw at it, (and unofficially, you can shoehorn OS X or Windows Vista onto it if you're up for a challenge), every unit sold at retail to date has come with a custom version of Xandros Linux preinstalled.

I get the feeling that if Asus plans to launch a 16GB model in Japan, it won't be long before we see a US release.

Of course, I probably shouldn't be surprised to see Asus turning out all of these different varieties so quickly. For the most part, these are all the exact same unit with just a few changes in off the shelf components like RAM and SSD. I'm still holding out hope that Asus will decide to introduce a low cost Eee PC with a 10-inch screen into the mix, but that will require building a whole new case, which could take a bit longer. And as long as the original 7-inch version is selling well, which it seems to be doing, there's not a lot of incentive to mess with a successful formula.

[via Gizmodo]