The oxymoron-ical "luxury netbook" that is the Eee S101 [Portal page] has now touched down in the US. The S101 can be bought for $699, though people new to the netbook space should be aware that there are other netbooks that easily compare in performance to the S101, but cost a few hundred dollars less. The S101 manages to be so expensive because of its high styling and thin physique. It looks like all of the initial US models have a 16GB SSD, and are available in graphite and brown colors.

S101 purchase page links:

• Newegg.com
• Amazon.com
• Zipzoomfly.com 

[Liliputing]

Engadget seems to have gotten some nice hands on time with the Eee S101 [Portal page]. Their impressions were pretty lite, but identical to some that we have heard in the past. Of course the most prominent aspect of the S101 is its (relatively) high price tag of $699. Then there is that dubious tiny right shift key which couldn’t be more annoying to type with. However they did seem to like the multi-touch trackpad, the screen, and the thinness of the S101. Swing by Engadget to see the hands on impressions and the gallery.

The Asus Eee S101 has gotten its own official press page. Featured on the page are some good videos, images, and probably most importantly some release dates. On the first screen of the product page, you can roll your mouse over a bar on the left that is vertically labeled as "S101 launch schedule", and you can see when the S101 has apparently launched, or will be launched in the future, and what locales that each date corresponds to. There are some videos talking about the S101 and Eee PCs in general, and also some press photos from the initial announcement. One section of the page mentions that the S101 runs almost completely silent, and uses Asus’ exclusive "Super Hybrid Engine" to push the S101 to 5 hours of battery life.

[Electric Vagabond]

It was only made official a short while ago, but Mobile Computer already has a review of the Eee S101. Head over to the site to catch the full review (with plenty of pictures), or check out some highlights I pulled out below:

• "gorgeous", aesthetically pleasing
• underside looks just like the bottom of any netbook; exposed vents and internal parts cover
• keyboard identical to the Eee 1000, still has the annoyingly small shift-key to the right of the up arrow
• large trackpad that matches the lid color, single button instead of separate left/right buttons, click feels good on both ends of the button
• Windows XP version will have 16GB SSD, while Linux will have 32GB
• battery ran for 3 hours and 45 minutes on Battery Eater’s ‘classic’ test [impressive!], over 5 hours with light usage
• runs quietly [reviewers weren't even sure if there was a fan inside], performance matches other 1.6GHz Atom Eee PCs

All of the aforementioned points show the S101 as being a quality product, however it looks like the price will be around $699. Some people may say that the price of the S101 is too high for a netbook, but I say: let’s welcome the broad range of pricing and spec options that consumers now have. Maybe this ‘higher-end’ netbook will spur other companies to bump up the quality of their netbooks, or perhaps offer premium versions of their computers.

Finally, a new Eee PC is announced that can be easily visually identified apart from its other several thousand variants. Asus seems to want to prove their dominance in the netbook area by creating a product that manages to fill the oxymoron of the ‘high-end, low-end computer’ category.

Announced several days ago is the Eee S101. Considering we are calling this a netbook, you can probably guess the specs: 1.6GHz Atom CPU, 1GB of RAM, 10.2" 1024×600 screen, and 3x USB 2.0 ports (I’ll spare you the rest of the generic netbook specs). At least the S101 throws something interesting into the mix, as it will be offering SSD storage solutions of 16/32GB and up to a 64GB SSD is rumored to be available.

This new model looks quite visually appealing with some nice rounded edges, and what appears to be brushed aluminum. The rounded edges of the screen look as though the S101 will have somewhat of a flush close similar to that of a MacBook Air. The S101 is thinner than its predecessors, and will come in brown or graphite. Check out the official images below:

[Liliputing], images from [Notebook Italia]