First Look: Asus Eee Top ET1602

 

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Posted on 31 Oct 2008 at 17:34

Stylish and compact all-in-one PCs, such as Apple's iMac, tend to be expensive. Asus hopes to change this with the new Eee Top PC, costing just £450 inc VAT. Like its range of Eee PC netbooks, the Eee Top has an energy-efficient Atom processor and runs Windows XP.

The Eee Top has a 15.6in 1,280x800 pixel resolution screen. This is smaller than the screens fitted on the other all-in-one PCs we've seen, however, it is touch sensitive. There is a pre-installed suite of software designed to take advantage of the touch screen, but it can't recognise gestures, like the iPhone or HP's TouchSmart PCs.

The suite includes a special version of the Opera web browser and an Asus-branded media player, similar to Vista's Media Center, designed to be used with your fingers. A simplified program launcher, similar in appearance to the tabbed Linux interface used on some Eee PC's, runs on top of Windows XP. Although you can use the standard XP desktop instead if preferred.

Cleverly, the memo program allows you to jot down notes and reminders for yourself, or family members, using either the on-screen keyboard or your fingertip - with handwriting recognition software turning your scrawls into text. A standard USB mouse and keyboard is included.

The Eee Top isn't designed for strenuous tasks - such as editing video or playing the latest games. Its 1.6GHz Atom N270 processor, 1GB of RAM and integrated Intel graphics chip are powerful enough for everyday office and internet tasks, though.

Draft N wireless networking and a memory card reader are built-in. There's also a Gigabit Ethernet connection and six USB ports. Disappointingly, there's no built-in optical drive, so you'll need a USB DVD writer for installing software from disc, watching DVD movies, or making backups.

The Eee Top will be available from the middle of December, in both black and white versions. We'll bring you a full review as soon as we get a sample in our labs.

Author: Alan Lu