Asus to release new eee PC models with larger keyboards?

Woke up this morning to the news that Asus will soon be pushing out two more Eee PC models. Word on the street (and by street, I mean DigiTimes and Blogeee) is that the new units will feature larger keyboards.

According to DigiTimes, the new computers will be called the Eee PC 904 and 905, and will feature an 8.9 inch display in the same chassis currently used by the company’s 10.2 inch model. In other words, you get a larger keyboard, but you also get a large bezel around the screen. The idea is that Asus will be able to sell the Eee PC 904 and 905 for about the same price as the exisitng Eee PC 901, but you get an easier to use keyboard for your money.

If this is true, what you’d get is a computer with an 8.9 inch 1024 x 600 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, 12GB to 20GB of solid state storage, Windows XP or Linux, a 1.6GHz Intel Atom CPU, and a big bezel around the screen. Meanwhile, the MSI Wind will pack the same features, plus an 80GB hard drive and a larger screen (with the same resolution) into a case that’s about the same size. And MSI will charge about $150 less.

DigiTimes suggests that Asus is also considering giving the 901 and 900 a price cut or dropping them altogether when the new models hit the streets.

French site Blogeee has posted some images of one of the new models. Apparently the site got its hands on two sets of pictures, because one photoset is labeled Eee PC 903 while the other says Eee PC 904. The 903 looks a lot like existing models, but the 904 is quite clearly a new unit with a larger bezel around the display. No word on what under the hood changes might exist in the 903, or what differentiates the 905 from the 904.