Asus Eee PC 1018P Aluminium Netbook with USB 3.0 Out This Week

This autumn's back-to-school netbooks are already starting to trickle out onto the market. The Asus Eee PC 1018P, announced at the beginning of the summer, is the first model to be released from Asus' new collection and is due to hit the UK this week.

Asus Eee PC 1018P Find the best price

With the compact and stylish 1018P, Asus ditches its standard shiny black casing in favour of brushed aluminium—the current must-have material. This netbook is certainly easy on the eye, and is also testimony to the progress Asus has made over the last few months in product design and finishing.

The 1018P has a 10.1-inch screen with 1024 x 600 pixels, although it unfortunately has a glossy finish. The netbook also has an Intel Atom N455 processor which, unlike the N450, can handle DDR3 RAM. The hard drive has a capacity of 250 GB and Wi-Fi N connectivity is on hand for networking.

Asus has decided to equip the 1018P with two USB 3.0 ports, which should help encourage uptake of the new USB standard, supposedly ten times faster than USB 2.0.

The Asus 1018P should have a pretty good battery life thanks to its 6000 mAh battery, although we'll have to test it for ourselves to find out for sure.

The Asus Eee PC 1018P is due for release this week for a suggested retail price of £349.

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