With Dell announcing their new Mini 9 this week, it seems the netbook craze has reached a fever pitch.  Perhaps as a result of the increased competition at the low-end, Asus is trying to expand into more expensive (and profitable) market niches.  Remember Asus was the company that created the netbook market with the Eee PC.  After the jump, see why the N10 has dropped the Eee name and grown into a real notebook.

Asus has smartly dropped the Eee branding from this newest netbook as it tries to move the category into higher price levels.  The N10 does its part to play the role of a premium netbook.  There will be three configurations of the N10.  All of them have a 10.2″ LED-backlit WSVGA screen, 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor, 1.3 megapixel webcam, and a 6-cell battery that works for up to 6.5 hours.  Below is a chart breaking down the three N10 models.

Asus N10 models

In addition, all N10’s should come with Express Gate, Asus’ preboot OS, a premium 2-year warranty that includes 1 year of accident protection, 3 USB 2.0 ports, an ExpressCard slot, and weigh about 3.5 pounds.  The hybrid graphics, especially, allow the Asus N10 to compete with ultraportable Sony laptops that cost twice as much.

Still unknown is when the N10 will go on sale.

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