Although most Eee PC owners are satisfied with their $350 to $399 USD purchases, they have been faced with the prospect of voiding their warranty by simply removing two screws from the bottom access panel to upgrade the memory.

ASUS covered one of the screws holding the access panel with a yellow "WARRANTY VOID IF REMOVED" warranty sticker. As pointed out by Cliff Biffle, this action violated the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act with regards to "unacceptable tie-ins."

Many Eee PC users simply ignored the sticker and went ahead with the simple procedure of upgrading the memory, but others have been afraid to void the two-year warranty of the device.

In a press release posted on its website, ASUS provides the following clarification with regards to the warranty:

ASUS Computer International (ASUS) recently received feedback from one of its valued customers with questions concerning the purpose of a seal stating, "Warranty Void If Removed" over the access door to the single SODIMM slot on some models of the ASUS Eee PC. ASUS wishes to assure its customers that merely breaking or removing this kind of seal will not void the ASUS Limited Warranty...

ASUS is taking steps to make sure that the seals in question are no longer used in its products that are intended to be sold in any country where these stickers are not permitted.

ASUS' Eee PC has been a bonafide hit with consumers. The tiny, two-pound device certainly isn't aimed at someone looking for a complete desktop replacement, but it gets the job done when it comes to light duty tasks (i.e. email, document editing, web browsing, instant messaging, etc.).

Sales of the Eee PC have been so strong that ASUS is projecting that it will sell 3.8 million units during fiscal 2008. The company will also provide versions of the Eee PC which feature a cost-reduced, feature-stripped version of Windows XP -- current Eee PCs ship with Xandros Linux although a Windows XP driver CD is provided for do-it-yourselfers.