While our best people Darksaber and W1zzard are at Computex 2008 gathering info and pics for you, I'll be reporting everything else that's not covered by the event. First of all, I'll start with some info leaked yesterday before the official start of Computex. ASUS has confirmed the official specs for their ASUS Eee Box desktop PC. Take a look below.

For those of you that want more of the GIGABYTE vs ASUS EPU saga, today I'm happy to inform you that after ASUS threatened to sue, it's time for GIGABYTE to issue a public apology and say I'm sorry. According to a report by DigiTimes, GIGABYTE agreed to publicize an official apology in local Taiwanese newspapers on June 1st. Although GIGABYTE continues to claim that their DES technology is superior to ASUSTeK's EPU, GIGABYTE's chairman will appologize for using a misleading picture of blown capacitors claimed to be used on many ASUS motherboards. In exchange ASUS has agreed to drop all proceedings related to the issue. Now after everyone is happy, where are our brand new Intel P45 motherboards?

Under enemy pressure ASUSTeK is now being reported to bring forward the launch of its 10-inch Eee PC to June 3rd, in an attempt to surpass rivals MSI and Acer.

With Micro-Star International (MSI) expected to officially launch its 10-inch Wind series notebooks and Acer planning to launch an 8.9-inch Aspire low-cost PC in Europe priced at 299 euros (US$469.49) over the next few weeks, Asustek Computer has decided to rush forward plans to launch a 10-inch version Eee PC, according to notebook industry sources. The Eee PC 1000 is now expect to be launched on June 3 along with the Eee PC 901 and Asustek is also preparing lower priced versions of current models, the sources noted.

There aren't any further details just yet, but if the info is correct the launch date is near.

ASUS today released the ASUS P5N72-T Premium motherboard. Equipped with the ASUS exclusive EPU technology for astounding energy savings, this high performance motherboard supports enhanced specifications of the front side bus and memory - able to reach an FSB of 1600MHz (originally 1333MHz) and 1200MHz (originally 1066MHz) respectively.

ASUS is preparing to unveil a number of new products during the upcoming Computex 2008, but one of them deserves special attention. Named ASUS EN9600GT Matrix, this will be a tricked out GeForce 9600GT video card equipped with a specially designed hybrid cooler. The custom dual-slot cooler of the card consists of a large aluminum heatsink with heatpipes and a fan that will start working only when the card runs 3D applications or the temperature rises considerably. Besides all this, the new card will come with a black PCB, single DVI and HDMI outputs and optical sound output. Clock speeds are still unknown, but the EN9600GT Matrix is very likely to be highly overclocked, considering the big cooler and the Republic of Gamers badge on its fan. More information about the card will be unveiled during Computex 2008.

ASUS, leading provider of high-performance graphics solutions, today launched the world's first VGA and multimedia docking station - the ASUS ROG (Republic of Gamer) XG Station. With extremely detailed and impeccable design, the XG Station has attained the honorific of being conferred with the red dot design award honourable mention 2008. The XG Station is also bundled with the EN8600GT/HTDP/256M graphics card, and equipped with an Express Card interface - seamlessly integrating notebook computing with powerful PC graphical power. It also incorporates 4 USB 2.0 ports and Dolby Technology - doubling as a USB hub that delivers true AV enjoyment.

ASUS' plans to release a desktop version of the Eeepc have been known for quite some time now. However, that's all we really did know. Now, we can confirm that at least ASUS decided to name the desktop version of their fairly successful little laptop. ASUS has decided to call it the Ebox. Said Ebox will look suspiciously like a Nintendo Wii, but will be much more like a computer. We can also confirm that the Ebox will have up to 2GB of RAM, up to 160GB of hard drive space and a slot-loaded optical drive. Current rumor has it that this machine will be powered by the diminutive Intel Diamondville motherboard family. ASUS is expected to unveil more details on the Ebox when they launch it on June 3rd at Computex 2008. It should cost somewhere in the ballpark of $200-$300USD.

ASUS is taking the legal battle against GIGABYTE's false statements to the next step, informing today that it has officially filed a lawsuit against GIGABYTE for defamatory acts. Yesterday (May 22nd 2008), ASUS has also reported GIGABYTE to the Fair Trade Commission of Taiwan.

Gigabyte, without a full understanding of ASUS' engineering design and methods, has made false accusations against ASUS motherboards' EPU features and the quality of ASUS' motherboards' components.

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ASUS has prepared a full list of motherboards that will support AMD's 140W CPUs. This is necessary for AMD's upcoming Phenom 9950 2.6GHz processor that has 140W TDP. CPUs with TDP of 125W are also supported by these motherboards. The following list is not full, more 140W CPU ready ASUS motherboards are expected to be announced soon:

Two new promo sites have been launched today. The first one is looking to promote the latest motherboard offerings from ASUSTeK Computer and can be found right here. The second one is BFG's new website dedicated to power supplies called BFG Power. The site allows you to preview different PSU models, view specs, see recommendations and compare different models. You can check them whenever you want.

The GIGABYTE versus ASUS saga continues with a new statement issued by GIGABYTE today:

GIGABYTE UNITED INC., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards would like to respond to recent statements by our competitor alleging GIGABYTE has made false claims against them. These statements were made in response to a report GIGABYTE detailed for the media which compared GIGABYTE's 4-Gear and 6-Gear Dynamic Energy Saver technology to our competitor's non-phase change and 2-Gear Phase changing energy saving technology. In addition, direct comparisons and testing results were reported between the GIGABYTE GA-EP35-DS3L motherboard and our competitor's P5K-SE EPU.

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The more competition, the better for us. ASUS intends to take its place among Dell and Alienware, by commencing production of its first high-performance laptop under the Republic of Gamers (ROG) line. Dressed in a stunning aluminum alloy shell finish, the G70S holds two NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT graphics working in SLI, Intel Core 2 Duo T9500 processor, 2GB DDR2 667MHz memory, two 300GB hard disk drives in RAID 0 or RAID 1, 17-inch widescreen display with 1440x900 resolution, HDMI outputs and Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate OS. Peripheral equipment includes a 2MP web camera, TV tuner, a wireless module with Intel Wireless-N wireless network support and built-in 4-in-1 card reader. More pictures are available at HKEPC.

Although ASUS promised in January that the company is planning to integrate WiMAX technology into its next generation Eee PCs, DigiTimes today reported that this is not going to happen and instead of WiMAX the recently revealed Eee PC 901 will get Bluetooth as standard option.

After two quarters of evaluation, Asustek believes the WiMAX market will not reach maturity in 2008, and has therefore decided to push WiMAX only in its 14.1- to 15.4-inch notebooks, mainly in the US market, noted the sources. Asustek will keep to its original plans to launch WiMAX-based VX2, U6 and V1 notebooks before the end of this year, however, the cancellation of the WiMAX Eee PC is likely to impact the company's original goal of having WiMAX featured in 15% of notebook shipments in 2008.

ASUS has released a new series of VENTO TA-D chassis. Comprised of the TA-D1, TA-D2, TA-D3 and TA-D5 (released in April this year), this series of chassis utilizes a sturdy yet aesthetically pleasing design that incorporates various innovations with considerate design for easy installations. Additionally, the VENTO TA-D Series also provides an advanced ventilation system that maximizes thermal efficiency for key components - especially the CPU and graphics card.

Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS is to embed a lightweight open source version of Linux called "Splashtop" into all its motherboards it was announced recently. On Wednesday, DeviceVM, the company behind the distribution, said the hardware manufacturer would be putting Splashtop - which ASUS calls "Express Gate" - into a million motherboards a month. Splashtop boots from a flash chip on the motherboard before the main OS is loaded and includes a Firefox Internet browser, e-mail client, Skype and the Splashtop desktop. At first the Linux-based software will be available immediately in the new Intel P45 based P5Q Deluxe, P5Q-WS, P5Q3 Deluxe and P5Q-E series motherboards, due to be out by the end of June. After that the Splashtop OS is planned to be integrated into numerous other ASUS motherboards and even some notebooks in the near future. "In response to great user feedback, our plan is to proliferate Express Gate across our entire motherboard product portfolio, starting with over one million motherboards per month," says Joe Hsieh, General Manager, ASUS Motherboard Business Unit. "Consumers want to turn their PCs on and off like any other appliance, and Express Gate has made that possible."

ASUS today issued a statement in regard to the GIGABYTE claims posted here.

It has come to our attention that a certain Taiwanese Motherboard Manufacturer has made false claims against ASUS motherboards. These claims have given rise to false information being communicated in both the mainstream media and technology channels. ASUS wishes to clarify the issues and so avoid any further confusion. After investigation, it is clear that this company in question made use of a sponsored gathering of local and international media to deliberately spread information that we consider both untrue and without credible verification. This "disinformation" is not only extremely damaging to ASUS but also completely misleading to the consumers.

ASUS reserves the right to take legal action against any individual, organization or corporation which creates or spreads such rumors.

Last week the long-awaited Eee PC 900 has finally hit retail stores. Now, one week later we'll talk about the new upgraded Eee PC 901 model that's rumoured to be the first Atom-based Eee machine. It might look like a regular shiny-white Eee PC 900, but if you take a closer look you'll find some subtle design changes. If we assume that the pictures posted by the French site blogeee.net are accurate, the Eee 901 will be sleeker and more stylish than the original. The noteworthy changes include a redesigned trackpad, the missing ASUS logo and the changed power button position. The computer is expected to be showcased at the Computex 2008 exhibition next month, where Intel is also expected to roll out its Atom CPUs.

I will finish my day reporting a story published by Tom's Hardware that involves two big motherboard manufacturers - GIGABYTE and ASUS. According to GIGABYTE's technical team, ASUS is lying about its EPU (Energy Processing Unit) energy efficiency performance figures and is playing tricks with its users. ASUS claims that EPU outfitted motherboards can deliver up to 80.23% "power savings" from motherboards without EPU components. Yea, but that's not what GIGABYTE thinks. Test results from GIGABYTE's lab show that the claimed 80% energy efficiency is around 58.6% in reality, and ASUS is "playing numbers marketing" and "cheating end users." GIGABYTE engineers continued: "We found that [Asus'] EPU in 4 phase mode CAN NOT act PWM phase changing while Asus still claims EPU is a hardware based energy saving chip. Don't get fooled. The EPU (AIGear3+) is pure software based, not hardware!" "How can you believe it? Everything [Asus] say are lies," they added. GIGABYTE even pointed out that ASUS motherboards use poor quality non-Japanese solid capacitors. Read the full story here.

ASUSTeK's latest low-cost ultraportable laptop Eee PC 900 is now in stock at major US etailers such as Buy.com ($565.99) and ZipZoomfly ($599.99). ZipZoomfly offers the second gen Eee laptop with a 8.9-inch 1024x600 display, Intel's Celeron M 430 processor at 1.7GHz, a 12GB solid state drive, 1GB of RAM (DDR2-400), built-in 1.3MP web camera and Windows XP Home OS. The second etailer Buy.com offers the same laptop with the only difference being the Linux OS and the 20GB of SSD storage (4GB built-in + 16GB Flash based) for $565.99. All current laptops are model EEEPC900-W017 and come in white color only.

In order to cater to the safety and security of consumers, ASUS, leading producer of motherboards worldwide, has announced key motherboard innovations to provide users with the ultimate in safety and data security. Available on the P5Q series and other top-notch motherboards, these innovations include ESD and Overcurrent Protection for safeguarding users against electrostatic discharges and overcurrent; as well as the ASUS Data Guardian (TPM) and Drive Xpert for data security and backup. With these features, users will be able to enjoy a full range of protection during everyday computing.

Exclusive shots from the latest ASUS R.O.G. Maximus II Formula (Intel P45) with integrated SupremeFX Creative X-Fi sound card. Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Not long ago ASUS demonstrated a concept card called Trinity which had three RV670 GPUS mounted through two daughter boards. Today ASUS is taking this concept a step further with the introduction of the ASUS Splendid MA3850M modulized card that is assumed to be more than a museum piece. The Splendid MA3850M has a modular structure with single ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3850 GPU loaded on a ASUS Splendid HD PCI-Express daughter card that is 27% shorter than an average PCI-E graphics card. Moreover, the card supports ATI's proprietary PowerPlay technology, and ASUSTeK's Splendid HD processor that enhances image and video quality without increasing CPU load. Clocked at 668MHz/1.65GHz core/memory clocks and fueled by 512MB DDR3 and 256-bit memory interface the card will perform on par with other generic HD 3850 video cards. The manufacturer did not announce availability or pricing for this new graphics product, but you can find a little bit more info here.

The guys over at NordicHardware have posted a quick review of the ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe motherboard which you might consider interesting. Based on the still unreleased Intel P45 chipset, ASUS P5Q3 Deluxe is the top version of ASUS' future line-up that will include motherboards like P5Q-E, P5QC, P5Q PRO and P5Q. Start reading the full review here.

Today we have one of the first functional P45 motherboards in the world. We took it into the lab and ran some tests to see how it stands up to the predecessors, and what makes it worthy of the Deluxe suffix. Beside the raw benchmarks, we've also done some quick overclocking tests and take a peek at ASUS' new Memory OC Charge technology.

ASUS apologized in public today in connection with recent reports that the company had mislead customers and early reviewers. Several consumers in Hong Kong who purchased Eee PC 900 on the first day of its launch have complained that the battery that came with their systems is a 4-cell, 4400mAh model, not the 4-cell, 5800mAh and 4-cell, 5200mAh batteries that were reported by early reviews. ASUS explained that the bigger batteries were provided to the media for testing by mistake, while the 4400mAh model is the standard that should ship with Eee PC 900. ASUS plans to introduce a 5800mAh upgrade part in the near future. All unsatisifed users will be offered an free update from ASUS. The company is currently ecaluating a replacement program, details of which it will introduce soon.

In a brief conversation Helen Ling, an ASUS representative from the company's UK office, told TechRadar that Intel Atom based Eee PC systems are also going to debut soon. When asked about the arrival of Intel Atom inside the Eee PC she said that the new machine will arrive by the "end of June in [the] UK, I would have thought." Later in the session Ling also added: "I think it should be after Computex". Atom will debut during the 28th Taipei International Information Technology Show (Computex 2008) which will run from June 3 to June 7, 2008. Current ASUS Eee PC 900 low-cost laptops are still powered by a Celeron M processor.