Asustek chairman drops three Es

While Asus was always pushing back the boundaries of engineering, the firm also was no slouch when it came to marketing names either, claimed Shih as he announced the wee device would be called the Eee PC.

You all know the Wii, he remarked, now here comes the Eee.

Invited on stage by Intel sales and marketing chief Sean Maloney as he outlines a 45nm future Shih showed the device would boot within 15 seconds thanks to its 2Gbof SSD flash storage.

We couldn't quite work out what Intel chipper would power the device or when it would be available but Shih said it would cost just $199.

Maloney described the wee Eee - more of a kneetop than laptop - as a "fine addition" to the other products Asus punts. He reckons it will be instrumental in wiring up the next one to one and a half billion computerless souls the chipmaker has its eye on. µ