Asustek Computer will start commercial shipments of its Eee personal computers (PCs) as early as next week following several delays. The Eee PCs will be aimed both at emerging and well-developed markets, meaning that the Eee PC will tangibly strengthen Asus’ positions as a leading notebook maker.

Asustek plans to announce the price tag for its Eee PC on October 16, said Jonathan Tsang, president for sales and marketing at Asustek Computer, reports DigiTimes web-site. Retail prices on the Eee PCs will be higher than $200, whereas contract purchases will be able to obtain them for $199. Eee PC will emerge on Taiwan market on October 16^th with the initial batch of shipments no larger than 10 thousand units, it is reported.

Asus Eee PC 701, one of the first base configurations of the Eee PC, is based on Intel mobile chipset and microprocessor, supposedly Intel 910 chipset and Intel Celeron M ULV 353 (900MHz). The notebook is equipped with 512MB of PC2-3200 (DDR2 400MHz) memory and 2-16GB of flash memory instead of the hard drive. The Eee PC will feature 7” screen and 800x480 resolution, three USB ports, audio jacks, 10/100Mbps port and wireless WiFi (802.11b/g) interface, as well as a 56K modem. The device will also be equipped with a card-reader and a 0.3Mpixel web-cam.

In the USA the manufacturer plans to offer its low-cost machines through Best Buy and Newegg retail chains by late October. Exact pricing in the U.S. remains unknown.