What's a mini-top? Well, I just made that term up, but basically, the Eee PC is the stage between a Pocket PC / PDA and a small laptop. Some people referred to this variety of computational machine as an "ultra-portable" PC, or "ultra-portable" laptop. The three E's, by the way, translate into the slogan: "Easy to learn, easy to play, and easy to work."

Many people were anxious to get their paws on the Eee PC: I was on hand today for the official Canadian launch at my local hardware super-retailer, NCIX, and there were about 15 people in waiting line, in the cold, waiting for store to open, so they could grab one. The online stock apparently also sold quite quickly.

So! Let's get into some numbers here. First off, the small size of the Eee PC: it weighs 0.9 kilograms, and has a 7” inch display. The display was crisp and clear, and runs at a 800x480 resolution. The keyboard was a small as you'd expect in such a small device, but generally speaking, typing on it was not far off of what you'd experience from a regular-sized laptop. Though, if you do have some big fat fingers, you might be in trouble!

The Eee PC comes in three versions: the full-featured Eee PC 4G model (which I spent some time with today), and the 'lighter', less-expensive, forthcoming 4G Surf, and 2G Surf models.

The Eee PC comes preloaded with a graphical variety of Linux, made from a 3rd party. Preloaded into the OS is a wide variety of applications: you have the standard OpenOffice-type applications, a web browser, Skype, and about 5 Linux games (such as Penguin Racer and Crack Attack!). The upcoming Eee PC's will ship in both Linux and Windows and XP flavors.

The OS boots up near instantaneously thanks to the 4 gigabyte Solid-State Drive. The Eee PC 4G also has 512 MB of DDR2-400 memory, a built-in camera and microphone, WiFi, and a battery that'll last you about 3.5 hours on a charge. The Eee PC 4G also has 4 USB ports, which greatly enhances the flexibility of the device, and a respectable, 900 MHz Intel Celeron-M CPU.

At NCIX, the Eee PC 4G sells for $400; at another US online retailer (Newegg.com), the price was also $400.

Some might have hoped the retail price to be a bit lower -- Asus originally planned to release a Eee PC somewhere closer to the $249 mark; but time and changes in design brought the $400 Eee PC 4G that I saw today.

The forthcoming 2G (2 gigabyte) Surf Eee PC will retail for about $269, and will retail near the end of November. This model does not have a camera included in it -- but for $269, it seems like a very good deal. Hopefully I'll get a chance to take one for a spin, and see how it is.

Aesthetically, the Eee PC has a compact, neat appearance. While it isn't small enough to fit into standard-sized pockets, it's about the size of a slim hardcover book -- so it's portable enough not to put out your back when your carrying it around. While the 4G model only currently comes in “Pearl White”, the upcoming future editions will be available in black, pink, green and blue.

Judging from the personal reactions to the Eee PC I witnessed, and my own brief time with the fancy device, I believe Asus' claim of selling an Eee PC every 2 seconds today. The “ultra-portable laptop” seems particularly well suited to students and younger folk (especially those on a tight budget), and could also be useful for many specialized business tasks were a lot of raw horsepower isn't needed, but a flexible, non-battery-hogging platform is.

And coming pre-loaded with a Linux kernel also benefits my opinion of this device.

However, while the Eee Pc 4G is currently almost in a class of its own, their will undoubtedly be quickly-increasing competition for this market share. For example, also just today, Wal-Mart begun selling a VIA based small-laptop. Also Linux powered (by gOS, a Ubuntu 7.10 derivation), the Everex TC2502 Green gPC has a 80 gigabyte HD and 512 MB of DDR2, and is selling for $199 USD.

All this competition translates directly into cheaper and smaller, faster, more functional computers -- which is just plain fantastic for everybody not wanting to spend $1500 on a 15 pound monstrosity that needs a recharge after 25 minutes (like my old laptop). Isn't the march of technology great?