Insider - the eXpansys staff blog

I am pleased to report we have finally received our eagerly awaited first shipment of the 4GB 701's (both black and white models), albeit a day or two later than first advertised and expected. We are rushing these through so we can get yours shipped this evening, if you are fortunate enough to have ordered early. Sadly, there will be a few of you out there that will be disappointed when the courier doesn't come a-knocking in the next day or so - we are in the same boat as other online retailers as demand has outstripped supply. I have, however, received advanced notification of ASUS’s second shipment date of the 27th November, so if you haven't placed your order yet, don’t hang about, as I envisage availability is going to continue to be an issue in the run up to the Christmas period as the word gets out to the masses that the product is as good as we all expected it to be.

Eee Roadmap
I’ve noticed there have been a few questions on the forums about model options available and can confirm that the UK will only be seeing the models/colours listed below, at least at the time of typing this. Unfortunately, there is no 1GB option listed on the ASUS UK roadmap, although with the plethora of external USB & memory card options available from our site, the on-board 4GB shouldn't prove to be a limiting factor.

• 701 4GB/512MB due 12/11/07 - arrival 15/11/07
• 700 2GB/256MB provisional due date 10/12/07
• Green, blue and Pink models due Feb '08, spec's TBA

What's in the box?

• Eee 701
• Battery (wrapped separately)
• UK 3 pin power cord
• Soft Carry case
• Support DVD
• User Manual
• Quick User Guide
• UK Warranty Card

Out of box experience
Hats off to ASUS for producing such a quality piece of hardware at such a competitive price point. If pre sales are anything to go by, they're definitely on to a winner with the Eee PC. Having only seen the marketing and sales blurb myself before today, you can rest assured Asus haven't cut any corners from a product quality perspective, they’ve clearly transferred their high standards of build quality from its bigger brothers, you won’t be disappointed, allied to everything on board being solid state it should prove to be a robust alternative to lugging the laptop around. Admittedly, if I'm to be picky the screen could be a little bigger but for the price point it’s the only trade off and a compromise I could live with, and is still comparable in viewing area to other higher priced UMPC's.

Upgrades, accessory & bundle options
At present info is limited as to the available accessories, although as the production runs level-out I imagine this will change. Be sure to return regularly to our site as we put bundles together and list accessories as they become available.