Netbook Rumor: ASUS Eee PC E1004DN to feature DVD burner, arrive in April

Image courtesy of Slashgear Despite their earlier pronouncements about scaling back the number of mini-notebook models, it seems that ASUS is coming out with yet another Eee PC. As first reported about a month ago when Brad at lilliputing unearthed some FCC photos, the Eee PC 1004DN will feature an Intel N280 processor and what appears to be a tray-loading DVD burner, making this one of the first netbooks with an optical drive and possibly the first to hit the U.S. Also included is the GN40 chipset, which can render HD video, although it didn’t work all that well when we tested it in the Eee PC 1000HE. Other specs include the usual 10.2-inch, 1024 x 600-pixel display, Windows XP, 1 GB of RAM, and a 160GB hard drive, three USB 2.0 ports, and VGA. At least there’s an 8-in-1 card reader and 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi. The 10004DN measures 10.4 x 7.1 x 1 inches–no different from most netbooks– making us wonder a) how ASUS was able to cram an optical drive in there, and b) how much wasted space must there be in other 10-inch netbooks? Want to see some more pretty pictures? Engadget China has some close-ups of a pretty beat-up system. As the Digitimes article reports, the 1004DN will launch in April, followed by the 1008HA in May. What’s the 1008HA, you say? Here’s a link to all of our coverage, including eine kleine hands-on video from Sascha. At the very least, it’s one more system for UMPC Portal to add to its collage.