ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Up For UK Pre-Order

ASUS' prince among netbooks, the Eee PC 1008HA "Shell", is beginning to show up for pre-order at various UK retailers.  The rumor had been that the 1-inch thick Atom netbook would land in the UK sometime during April, but right now there doesn't seem to be a consensus among stores: estimates at Amazon are still putting it 1-2 months away, while the BT Shop suggests just 1-2 weeks.

At Amazon, the ASUS Eee PC 1008HA is listed in Midnight Blue, and priced at £379.50 ($564); the BT Shop undercuts that, at £368 ($547) for the blue (they seem to be powered by Dabs, who also have it listed with the same details and price).  Meanwhile Laptops Direct UK have it for £399.97 ($594), in all three of the release colors: blue, red and white.

Announced back at CeBIT in March, the Eee PC 1008HA cleared the US FCC at the start of April; however the company has kept quiet on possible release schedules.  The 1008HA uses an Intel Atom N280 1.66GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM and a 160GB hard-drive; not much different from other recent netbooks, but what you're paying for here is size and glamor.  Check out the hands-on images and demo video for more details.

[via Portable Monkey]