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As I mentioned this morning, Asus has added a few new netbooks to its Eee PC 1000H line, with a new “E” at the end. There’s an Eee PC 1000HE, and an Eee P C1000HAE. Both have the new chiclet-style Eee PC keyboard with the right shift key on the left side of the up arrow. There’s also a bit more surface area on each key because the bezels have been reduced.

But what I didn’t know this morning is that it’s not just the keyboard that’s new on these netbooks. Asus has also packed some more power into the batteries. In fact, the “E” is supposed to stand for “extended.” The Eee PC 1000HE and 1000HAE will both come with 6 cell batteries, just like the current versions of these machines. But each cell is now 2.9 amps instead of 2.6. And that little difference could provide an extra hour or so of battery life.

I say “could” because I obviously haven’t been able to put this theory to the test yet. Asus claims that you’ll be able to get as much as 8.7 hours of battery life from the 6 cell battery on the Eee PC 1000HE. But I’m guessing that under real world conditions you’d be more likely to see around 6 or 7. I usually get about 5 hours from my Eee PC 1000H.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the main difference between the Eee PC 1000HE and the Eee PC 1000HAE is that the latter lacks 802.11n and Bluetooth.

You can check out the information placard from the show after the break.