The original Asus Eee PC created quite the buzz in the computer world. It's not that it was particularly powerful or anything like that, but people loved the build quality and the compact form factor. One of the bigger problems with the Eee PC, no pun intended, is that the seven-inch display is too small for some folks. Asus is addressing that with the Eee PC 900.

French site Blogeee.net got a peek at Asus' press release for the for the CeBIT trade show currently taking place in Hanover, Germany, and it reportedly announces a bigger Eee model. The press release isn't up on Asus' site yet, but Eeeblog.net says it talks of an Eee PC 900 with an 8.9" display, 1GB of memory, and 12GB of solid-state storage capacity. Despite the meaty hardware, the device will reportedly retain the same form factor as the Eee PC 700 - not a surprising design choice, since the 700 has a fair amount of empty space around its display. Eeeblog.net says we can look forward to the Eee PC 900 hitting stores in the summer. Pricing will climb from €299 for the Eee PC 700 to €399 for the Eee PC 900 in Europe. Considering the current relationship between European and U.S. hardware prices (and the sinking dollar), I'd wager that the new laptop will be priced somewhere in the neighborhood of $499 in the United States.