Yup and with XP as standard and an extra 4gb flash card plus optical mouse plus the free wifi subscription to ntt making it an unbelievable Japanese study tool. And yes it also fits in a manilla envelope!!!

http://www.engadget.com/2008/01/24/asus-...-standard/

Kinda unrelated, but just wanted to mention that Engadget has a Japanese website too now!

http://japanese.engadget.com/

Wow...I'm drooling.

Still, I think I'm going to wait around for a while for the next generation of these gadgets. I doubt it will be long before they're making them with more storage and selling them for less money.

I can't wait to play with one of these at the local Eden or Softmap stores. Hopefully they get them soon. I am seriously tempted.... Tho I kind of want the touchscreen and tablet form-factor of UMPCs, at half the price this seems a much better deal.

I really wish they had left out XP. I've been waiting for the Eee PC's release in Japan but would rather not have to deal with all the headaches that XP will bring. From that link it seems that Asus just didn't want to deal with translating it's own Linux OS into Japanese...

I guess the real question is does an import+shipping for non xp version cost less than the jp version? If it doesn't, then why not just wipe the xp install and put your favorite linux in its place.

[ファブリス]

With Windows XP, wow. Personally I would wait for the newer version that has a slighlty wider LCD screen, I guess if it comes in US the wider screen will also eventually appear in Japan.

the wider screen version apparently has exactly the same number of pixels as the current one just bigger so in terms of real estate it aint bigger. Im not sure how long asus will wait till they get a bigger res screen. At the moment there flying out of the warehouses so i guess they'll wait till that dies down.

As for linux you could just wipe xp off safe in the knowledge you have the install disc and install the eeelinux package that some fanboys have knocked together. I have no idea about linux and its support for japanese. I think asus chose xp over linux because they knew that there was plenty of software on xp which is available in japanese.

Im normally hesitant to be a first adopter of anything due to the ridiculous pricing i.e. iphone and amazon kindle but when something as cheap as this comes on the market doing all that it does i aint going to wait.