TechSpot - PC Technology News and Analysis

Late last month, the first shipments of Asus’ low-cost notebooks hit the US retail market in the form of the $399 Eee PC 4G, featuring a 900MHz Celeron processor, 512MB of DDR2 memory, a 7-inch display, integrated webcam and a 4-cell 5200 mAh battery good for 3.5 hours of use. Now, it appears that a more affordable model of the popular notebook is starting to appear online.

Newegg began offering the lower end Asus Eee PC 4G Surf for $349.99. For $50 less, you have to do without the integrated webcam and you will get a smaller battery with a rated capacity of 2.8 hours. Also, you apparently won’t be able to upgrade the RAM beyond the included 512MB like you can with the Eee PC 4G model.

Although not so powerful spec-wise, the two-pound laptop has garnered lots of positive reviews from around the web for its portability and price. It even topped the list of “most wished for” notebooks at Amazon this morning. If you want to hold out for an even cheaper notebook, however, the 2G Surf model should be available soon for $299.