Asus has tagged a new sub-brand dubbed Seashell to its popular Eee PC netbooks. The reason for the name seems to be in honour of the carbon fibre materials used for the casing of the latest model, the Eee PC Seashell R101. The casing features grooves and textures on its surface, like a shell from the sea. Besides the new look, the R101 is obviously positioned for the student market in other ways. The carbon fibre makes it ultra-light, and it comes with a price that should suit most knapsacks. According to local reports, sellers are also offering a free DVD Writer with the package as an extra incentive for students awaiting the start of the new term. Inside, it's basically a standard netbook, with an Intel Atom N450 processor running at 1.66GHz, 10.1-inch display, 1G of RAM, a 160GB hard disk drive, 1.3-megapixel webcam, and Wi-Fi and Ethernet for getting online. You'd probably want to upgrade the RAM to boost performance, and maybe the hard disk drive if you have lots of multimedia files. The battery is a bit lacking with only a 3-cell option, compared to some 6-cell models out there. However, the company says that its Super Hybrid Engine, a software application that lets you slow down your CPU to squeeze more power out of your system, will stretch battery life to a respectable six hours. The Eee PC Seashell R101 costs HK$2,599. Pros: carbon fibre casing makes it only 1.1kg, Super Hybrid Engine for extended battery life Cons: 3-cell battery, low RAM, small HDD that needs upgrading
