First Look: Asus Eee Box

 

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Posted on 18 Aug 2008 at 12:33

Asus is almost solely responsible for creating the current market for inexpensive ultra-portable laptops, thanks to the popularity of its Eee PC range. Now it hopes to do the same thing for low-cost desktop PCs with the Eee Box.

The Eee Box is absolutely tiny - around the size of a paperback book. It's small enough to fit onto the back of most PC monitors. It simply attached to a standard VESA mounting bracket, creating an ersatz all-in-one PC. Alternatively, it comes with a stand so it can be positioned vertically. Beware that if you do so you'll have to hold the Eee Box steady when inserting and removing USB devices and memory cards as it wobbles around.

There are four USB ports, as well as a memory card reader that supports both SD cards and Memory Sticks. Draft-N WiFi is built-in and there's even a S/PDIF port for connecting a surround sound amplifier. The DVI port and the Intel integrated graphics chip had no problem displaying the 1,920x1,200 pixel resolution of a 24in widescreen monitor.

The Eee Box is essentially an Eee PC 1000 but without the keyboard and display. It has a 1.6GHz Intel Atom N270 processor and 1GB of RAM, so it's fast enough for web browsing and office work but, unsurprisingly, it's not suitable for more demanding tasks such as editing video.

It played standard definition DivX videos flawlessly, but it dropped frames when playing high definition WMV files. Unlike MSI's Titan 700, (reviewed in What's New, Shopper 248), which came without any operating system at all, the Eee Box comes with Windows XP Home Edition. In use, it generally felt quick and responsive.

The 80GB hard disk is big enough for storing office files, but it isn't large by today's standards. Unlike MSI's Titan, the case isn't designed to be easily opened so the hard disk can be swapped out for a bigger one. However, one of the main compromises to achieve the small dimensions (just like the Eee PC 1000) is that there's no optical drive, so you'll need a USB drive for watching DVDs or installing software from discs.

Our first impressions of the Eee Box are generally positive. It would make a great standard definition media centre PC or a second computer for a child, especially if you already have a keyboard, mouse and monitor. The Eee Box should be available from September for £220. Look out for a full review in Shopper issue 250.

Author: Alan Lu