Asus has unveiled the Eee PC, X101, its first Meego based product and the first official one from a major manufacturer based on the Intel-backed operating system.

The device has a wing-shaped inspired design with a maximum thickness of 17.6mm down to 3mm at the front and weighs a mere 950g. 

Unsurprisingly, it is based on an Intel Atom based processor - the yet to be released N435 - although Meego is, in theory, compatible with other architectures as well.

The N435, we believe, is a 45nm Pineview part clocked at 1.5GHz with 512KB cache, DDR2 memory and a TDP likely to be around 4.5W.

From the outside, the X101 looks like any other ultra portable device; it has a rather large bezel with the distinctive Eee PC logo, a front facing camera and five-row chiclet keyboard (complete with Windows keys ;-) and an extra large touchpad and a huge power button.

Powered by a two cell Lithium Ion 28Whr battery, it supports a two second instant-on resume. One thing we've noticed is the number of slits underneath the laptop itself, possibly to ease cooling.

Asus has also bundled in its own Asus @Vibe and Asus App store for what Asus describes as "cloud content enjoyment".

Other features that we observed are two USB ports, Wi-Fi, a 10.1-inch WSVGA display, one audio-out port and an HDMI port. There's apparently no SD card reader. Availability has yet to be confirmed but if this baby manages to pack a 3G modem and has a great battery life, it will be a winner.

The X101 will also be available with HDD and Windows; it will be available from $199 which should translate into UK street prices of under £150.