Pictured above is the new Asus 1201N ION netbook.  It will feature a 12.1 inch screen, Dual Core N330 Atom processor, 250 GB hard drive, Windows 7, 802.11b/n wireless networking and 2 GB of DDR2 RAM.

It is available for preorder from Amazon.com for $499.  This is $50 more than what we guessed it would be when we wrote about the 1201N previously.

This price point may make people uneasy since it’s close to what you could pay for a full sized computer with a media drive but there are advantages.

- Portability due to it’s light weight

- Ability to stream online video due to the Nvidia 9400M video card

- Long battery life with the Atom processor versus a full featured notebook processor

- 802.11n built in for fast wireless networking

You’ll have some time before it hits shelves to decide if you want to pick one up, but if you decide to a lot of people would be upset with you.

1. The Case Against N450 Netbooks

2. ATI HD3200 Vs. Nvidia ION (9400)

3. AMD Congo Vs. Intel Atom Vs. Intel CULV

4. Intel + Broadcom = Pine Trail M HD Netbook Chip

5. ION LE Netbooks Hacked For Better Video Performance