ASUS Eee PC 1008HA "Shell" Gets Unboxed

The ASUS Eee PC 1008HA "Shell" doesn't get its official UK release until May 15th, but that hasn't stopped Electricpig from unboxing the 1-inch thick netbook.  ASUS' economy-friendly netbook alternative to the MacBook Air, the 1008HA is a mere £379 ($570) for what the company claims is their thinnest Eee PC yet.

Squeezed inside that tapered-edge chassis are an Atom N280 1.66GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive.  ASUS throw a PSU and carry-case in with the netbook, but other than that it's barren in terms of included accessories.  Even the battery is pre-installed, since ASUS have chosen to keep bulk down by fitting a non-user-replaceable pack which they claim is good for up to 6hrs.

The keyboard doesn't adopt the easy-type chiclet style of some of ASUS' other recent netbooks, such as the Eee PC 1000HE, but is still of a decent size, and the ports have all been hidden away behind flaps.  Performance is unlikely to surprise us, so your £379 ($570) is really going on styling more than anything else.