I Can't Find any ASUS EEE PC 1005PE

Late last December, Asus came up with its new netbook, the Eee PC 1005PE.

This netbook looks very similar to 1005HA. However, 1005PE has a new processor - Intel Atom N450, otherwise known as the Pinetrail, which boasts of its power efficiency, giving batteries longer life on a single charge. The Asus Eee PC 1005PE can run for a maximum of 14 hours on its battery on a single charge, according to ASUS. In real-world situations, this translates to about 10 hours of use, which is still excellent.

Aside from the processor, what sets the 1005PE from its predecessor, the 1005HA, is the keyboard style. While the earlier 1005HA has flat, tiled keys, the 1005PE has chiclet-style keyboard.

Moreover, the physical storage capacity was also increased from 160GB (in 1005HA) to 250GB (in 1005PE). The pre-installed OS in Asus Eee PC 1005PE is Windows 7 Starter Edition; in 1005HA, it was Windows XP.

These past weeks, I have been looking around stores for an Asus Eee PC 1005PE but I was not able to find any stock on sale. However, I have seen Acer Aspire One 532h and Toshiba Mini NB305 - also using Pinetrail processor - already available. What keeps me wondering is why these two netbooks are already in stores here but not the 1005PE when, in fact, those two netbooks were released later than the Asus netbook.

I have still seen stocks of 1005HA in the stores I visited. I have a theory that they are first selling out the 1005HA before stocking their shelves with 1005PE. It's just a theory.