Known as “netbooks” the OS and CPU-lite wordprocessing and web browsing devices look set to gain further upgrades, as ASUS develops their low-end portable product.

Internet storage beyond the 20GB already offered to new Eee PC 901 and 1000 owners is expected, a move that will be seen as a way to offset limited storage of the small flash drives within the devices, and one that will hopefully be adopted by other manufacturers.

The LINUX distro has already been spotted running on Eee PC, and with ASUS set to ship 1 million mobos a month shortly, the Splashtop is likely to become common especially on notebooks.

SplashTop is a portable software platform, an embedded Linux-based internet app running from flash memory and is linked directly to the BIOS. Quick and painless pre-boot access to the included browser (no doubt FireFox) and VoIP (Skype) environment is possible, although the SATA and IDE bus are unavailable.

There may even be opportunity in future for users to add their own apps to SplashTop, thus constomising the environment.

It’s a clever move from ASUS, one which places the importance of a standard OS in a new light.

The new model of Asustek’s Eee PC is just weeks away from release.

Asustek’s Kevin Lin recently announced that the 8.9-inch (!) second-generation Eee PC lineup will include touchscreen panels and even a good chance of GPS support.

Designed to be easy to learn, work and play, the Eee PC notebook adopts Intel’s low-cost notebook platform with memory capacity upgraded from 512MB to 1GB. Similarly the SSD (solid state drive) capacity will be upgraded from 4-8GB to 8-12GB, according to industry insiders.

Incidentally, Asustek’s similarly low-cost desktop is expected to ship at an amazing $199.