Coolest Gadgets has been following the story of the UN working on a sub $100 notebook for kids around the world who can’t really afford to join the information age. Well, that movement has had a ripple effect for all of us, especially students. With millions of kids getting out of school this month for a well-deserved summer break, news comes that next fall, a $199 laptop will be available for students just in time for school next fall.

Unveiled at Computex this year, the Asus Eee PC 701 will come preloaded with Linux (which explains it’s low price tag) and may also include XP driver support. In addition, it’ll have a 7-inch screen LCD screen, an Intel Celeron M 800 / 900 MHz processor, 802.11 b/g WiFi, 512MB of DDR2-400 RAM, and perhaps may even be going the solid state way with SSD flash drives of 4, 8, and 16GB for storage.

And with many schools doing tests online, there will also be an Ethernet card for network connectivity, a modem (I’ve got to ask why), and even a 300K pixel webcam for chatting and video conferencing. The graphic chipset is powered by Intel’s UMA, while the sound card will be Hi-Definition audio coupled with both a built-in stereo speaker and microphone.

Battery life will be about 3 hours with a total weight of a just 2 pounds. Not bad for $199.