The operating system preloaded on the 1000HE will be a genuine copy of Windows XP (first released in 2001) and which helped make the Eee PC famous during its debut in 2007.

The 1000HE will initially ship with Intel's Atom N270 processor, but releases will be available with the N280 chip "soon", according to ASUS.

With specs pushing that of a regular notebook, the 1000HE has a 160GB hard disk, a 10-inch LED screen running at 1024 by 600 resolution, 1GB of DDR2 RAM and a keyboard 92 per cent the size of a "regular" desktop keyboard.

Unlike its predecessors, the 1000HE will be a "heavy" 1.45kg, well above the 1kg de facto standard for netbooks.

For connectivity, 802.11N and Bluetooth are built in along with the standard Ethernet port and card reader.