With all the news surrounding ASUS's 8.9" Eee PC 900, it's easy to forget about the original 7" Eee PC 401. The device first appeared on retail shelves in late October and has since gone on to become a huge seller for ASUS.

ASUS is looking to boost sales even further with a new variant of the original: the new Eee PC 4G-X which should hit Best Buy store shelves on April 9. The 4G-X contains all of the same internal hardware as the original 401 2G, 4G, and 8G models but includes Windows XP Home instead of Xandros Linux for the operating system.

Unfortunately, ASUS appears to have never heard of nLite, because the default install of XP Home takes up 1.8GB of storage space on the 4GB SSD -- a veteran of nLite can get the installation down under 1GB by removing unnecessary bloat.

Laptop Magazine installed its usual array of software to perform benchmarks and was only left with 153MB of free space to work worth. Luckily for potential 4G-X customers, ASUS throws in a 4GB A-DATA SDHC card in the box to alleviate some of the storage woes.

Speaking of extras included in the box, ASUS also includes an optical mouse to go along with the SDHC card.

Most expected ASUS to release a Windows XP-based version of the Eee PC, but at a higher price point than the Linux version -- not so according to PC Magazine. Even with the addition of Windows XP Home, the 4GB SDHC card and the optical mouse; the 4G-X still retails for only $399. That pricing makes it quite a bargain and can be easily recommended over the standard Xandros Linux-based version which retails for the same price without the extra goodies.

For a preview of the Eee PC 4G-X, you can head over to Laptop Magazine or Hot Hardware.