Netbooks are small and affordable computers intended to complete our regular PCs. Most have accepted the fact that netbooks are more or less all plastic, a side effect from the low price. ASUS looks to have decided to change this. It has announced an updated model of Eee PC 1002HA called 1002HAE, which offers both aluminum case, in three different colors (red, blue or black), and faster processor.
ASUS Eee PC 1002HAE comes with Intel Atom N280 and even if the clock frequency is the same, 1.6GHz (as N270), it has a faster processor bus (533MHz).
Other than that things are pretty much the same as the preceding 1002HA. Switching from plastic to aluminum also resulted in a lower weight, down from 1.45kg to 1.2kg.
The price will be around $500 when it launches in Japan on May 16th, if or when the aluminum netbook will reach outside Japan remains to be seen.
