Asus N10 netbook: pictures and some specs

Its been a little while since we spoke about the Asus N10 netbook (not to be confused with the many Eee PCs out there) and something I wasn’t expecting has come out of the recent information. The N10 still looks good in the new pictures and really enforces the idea that Asus is trying to provide a netbook that’s a little more upscale than the existing Eee line. I’m not sure I’m liking it as much as the pseudo-retro Comodore netbook (I admit there’s some nostalgia that makes the Commodore so appealing), but if the look isn’t swaying me, its hardware may.

While only some of the specs have been released, we do know that it’s running an Atom CPU, though I don’t think there was ever any real question of that. However, much like the original speculation with the Lenovo S10 netbook, it looks like the Asus N10 netbook is sporting a different video card. So is it actually packing a new video card under its grey plastic or is it more misinformation? I’d guess that the nVidia sticker next to the Intel sticker confirms that it does have a different video card.

My question, as was the same with the Lenovo S10 netbook, is how is Asus doing this? The “netbook” spec, or Atom spec, from Intel says that the Atom has to be bundled with the crappy GMA950 video card. Lenovo originally posted they had the X4500 in their machine and redacted it. Is Asus going to do the same? And if not, how’d they get away with putting a GeForce 9300M into the machine?

I’m not complaining — not by a long shot — but I am curious. If Asus is able to swap video cards with this machine, does that mean they’ll be able to do it in the Eee Box as well? That’s the only component holding that nettop back. And what will it mean for performance? 720p content without almost maxing the CPU? 1080p content without dropping frames?

My fingers are crossed. More information as it becomes available.

Aving once again has great information and more pictures of the Asus N10 netbook.