The final specifications and prices of newcomer Asus Eee PC 900 in the UK have been made public, including the operating systems the laptop supports, namely Linux or Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP Home.

On Tuesday Asustek Computer Inc. unveiled the new 900 that comes with an 8.9-inch display running at a resolution of 1,024 by 600 pixels, significantly improved when compared to that of the previous Eee PC 701 model, which has a 7-in. display running at 800 by 400 pixels. The laptop also features 1GB of memory, Intel UMA graphics card, Intel Mobile CPU, Wifi, VGA out, and SD/MMC slot, a 1.3-megapixel camera and either a 12GB or 20GB solid-state drive (SSD) for storage. In the case when Windows XP is installed, the laptop comes with the smaller version of SSD. The Asus 900 weighs 990g and its dimensions are 225x170x20-34mm.

"The Microsoft Windows version allows more experienced users to seamlessly use the Eee PC through the familiar Windows interface and incorporates Windows Live features like Windows Live Messenger for instant messaging and Windows Live Mail for consolidated e-mail accounts on the user's desktop," said Asustek in a statement issued yesterday.

Wide scale shipping should be carried out within the next two weeks and in UK for instance, it should be officially released on May 1st. Even though for the U.S. neither a release date nor a starting price have been announced yet, it is fairly safe to assume that the cost will probably not exceed by much the price quoted by the company yesterday of about $513.