According to Benson Lin, president of Asustek's Asia-Pacific division, Asustek Computer will completely phase out its 8.9-inch Eee PC netbooks in 2009. Why such a dramatic move? 10-inch models are "becoming the mainstream specification in the market," according to Lin. DigiTimes says Asus expects 10" Eee PCs to make up 95% of all its netbook shipments this year, with 7" machines aimed at telecom companies accounting for the other 5%. The popularity of 10" Eee PCs isn't a new phenomenon. When we whipped up a poll to ask readers for their favorite netbooks last September, the Eee PC 1000H got the most votes (18%), while only 5% of folks picked the Eee PC 901. Right now, 10" Eee PC models are available for as little as $349.99 on Newegg, and going with a lower-specced 8.9" machine only saves you 50 bucks. Both systems have the same display resolution of 1024x600, however.

It's okay if they're fitting the 10 inches in the same case size as the previous 8.9", 'cos they did have large bezels. I'd rather see more 1280x800 10" screens than 1024x600 however. Or even 1366x768 16:9 10" screens.